The Fix. ABC. Monday, March 18, 10 p.m. Let's have a little contest. I'll describe a new TV show, and you see if you can guess who produced it: A (black) superstar is accused of brutally murdering his (white) wife and one of her friends. A genius (white) female prosecutor assembles a mountain of evidence against him, only to have a jury of blockheads vote for acquittal. And now, eight years later, there's been another murder, of the superstar's (white) girlfriend. The prosecutor is called back from retirement to go after the superstar again. "This time," a member of her staff pledges, "we're going to get him." You're right! Marcia Clark, the failed O.J. Simpson prosecutor, is one of the writers and executive producers behind ABC's new legal drama The Fix, and she clearly believes revenge is a dish best served as a TV dinner: stale, overcooked, and tasting like cardboard. Clark, in the wake of the Simpson verdict, was mercilessly ridiculed by everyone from Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi to Tina Fey. But since 2016, when Sarah Paulson portrayed Clark sympathetically if not uncritically in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson, there's a growing body of thought that she was the trial's real victim, a feminist martyr to free-floating American misogny. That, apparently, opened the door to The Fix, which is little more than a primal Clark scream. Robin Tunney (The Mentalist) plays Clark doppelganger Maya Travis, hot in pursuit of movie star Sevvy Johnson, (Adewale Akinnuoye, the mysterious Mr. Eko of Lost). Scott Cohen (The Americans) is tough, cynical defense attorney Ezra, a composite of Simpson's Dream Team of super lawyers. The cast, much better than the scripts deserve, struggles mightily to turn The Fix into something more than a heavy-handed propaganda treatment of the Simpson case. But it's simply not possible. Scarcely a scene goes by without a venomous remark on the manifest unfairness and/or stupidity of juries. Proclaims one prosecutor: "It wasn't about the evidence … [it] was about 400 years of racial injustice and a celebrity client who knew how to break out a megawatt smile." And it certainly wasn't about Clark, err, Maya Travis. "She's tough, but she fights fair," says the defense lawyer. "That's always been her weakness." While there's a lot of talk about how dumbheaded the jurors were, there's no discussion at all—at least in the first two episodes, all that ABC provided for review—about what the evidence there was, or wasn't, against Sevvy Johnson. So we don't know if the state failed to present an eyewitness to the crime, or the murder weapon, or any clothing worn by the killer other than a glove that notoriously didn't fit. We don't know if there were unresolved questions about the chain of custody of the blood evidence, or if a key prosecution witness turned out to be a racist perjurer. All of those things—each of which might have been a significant impediment to a guilty verdict—were true of the Simpson trial, though they've apparently slipped into the fog of Clark's memory. Though one thing she recalls clearly enough: the victims. "I still see them in my dreams," says Travis. Fair enough. But take it up with a psychiatrist, not a television audience.<doc-sep>Marcia Clark — whom you may recall as the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial, or more recently as a character played by Emmy-winning Sarah Paulson in FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” or from ESPN’s Oscar-winning “O.J. : Made in America” — is the co-creator of a new legal drama, ABC’s “The Fix.” And, obliquely, its subject. Robin Tunney (“The Mentalist”) plays Maya Travis, a former prosecutor in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office who several years earlier lost a double homicide case against a famous black person — Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Lost”) as Severen “Sevvy” Johnson, described as “a mega movie star.” When Johnson’s latest girlfriend is found dead on the beach, Maya, who has been living an anonymous, magazine-spread life in the pines with her hunky boyfriend (Marc Blucas) and their horses, is drawn back into the roiling muck of L.A. jurisprudence. Maya gets a call from assistant district attorney Matthew Collier (Ada Rayner), an old colleague who, in his mind at least, runs the department while “mediocrity” Dist. Atty. Alan Wiest (Breckin Meyer) rubs shoulders offstage with Cher and thinks only of re-election. (“I love this new look,” Wiest tells Maya, a line obviously drawn from Clark’s own post-post-Simpson experience.) Soon enough, she is once again leading a case in which Johnson is a suspect. “Miss me?” she asks him, when they come face to face. Advertisement Her return raises the hackles of prosecutor Lini Kampoor (Mouzam Makkar), who believes the case should be hers (“Not just because I’m a person of color and it’s 2019 and optics matter”) and also of investigator and former best friend CJ Emerson (Merrin Dungey), whom Maya ghosted, leaving town without a word, note or text when the case went wrong and she was left “in a thousand pieces.” Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays a movie star suspected of murder eight years after being found not guilty of two others in the ABC series “The Fix.” (Eric McCandless / ABC) REVIEW: Ricky Gervais gets spiny and squishy in the Netflix comedy ‘After Life’ » Opposing her is Johnson’s attorney, and Maya’s old nemesis Ezra Wolf (Scott Cohen, styled in a way to make you think of Robert Kardashian, or Robert Shapiro, and probably both), who refers to himself as the Wolf, and whom we are to take as less principled than Maya — she believes in evidence, even when it lets her down. “She’s tough, but she fights fair,” Wolf says. “That’s always been her weakness.” “I’m not going to sink to Wolf’s level,” says Maya. “I’m going to try my case in court, not the press.” Well, she says that. Things change. (Like most legal dramas, “The Fix” — the title might refer to righting an old wrong, or to “the fix is in” — is a little cynical about the system.) Clark, whose co-creators are the TV-tested team of Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (“Women’s Murder Club”), is doing more than offering inside knowledge of the working of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office; she is participating in a parallel-world sequel, if not actually a re-litigation, of the case that, for better or worse, made her famous. (Even the network has described the show as a “revenge fantasy.”) Advertisement REVIEW: Which new FBI show to watch? ‘The Enemy Within’? ‘Gone’? ‘Whiskey Cavalier’? » And while there are plenty of ways in which fiction departs from fact here, the basics of the original case absolutely have been arranged to make you think of Simpson. Even the name “Sevvy Johnson” has been constructed to scan like “O.J. Simpson.” That’s not a criticism — criminal justice procedurals rip their plots from the headlines, new or old, as regularly as I eat cold cereal for breakfast. And plots in which an old, imperfectly settled case crashes back into the news are as many as the different cold cereals there are to choose from. Should we not have Crispix simply because Cheerios are also available? Still, the series does better the less it makes you think of Simpson — which is to say, your own opinion of that case. On the one hand, it’s difficult to imagine that Clark is involved in a series that might suggest, even through altered proxies, the innocence of the man she fought so hard to convict. At the same time, for the purposes of serial drama, for the interactive guessing game of the mystery, there needs to be some uncertainty as to whether Johnson is guilty at least of the crime at hand, even if we learn he was guilty of the crimes for which he was earlier found innocent. Advertisement REVIEW: ‘Turn Up Charlie’ stars Idris Elba as you’ve never seen him, a manny » And we will be whipped back and forth on this point; Maya will seem very sure of herself and then less sure and then more and so on. She will question her motivations if only in passing. As to Johnson, the writers drop enough crumbs in the two episodes available for review for us to wonder whether there might be something in his repeated claims of innocence. (All claims here are repeated claims; it is not a subtle show.) For these early, busy episodes, at least, they have backed up a truck to the narrative fish market and filled it full of red herrings. That “The Fix” is a melodrama where no point can be made too bluntly nor any emotion too forcefully expressed can’t exactly be called a failing, since that does seem to be the intention. It’s a show where characters say things like, “This time he’s not going to get away with it — I’m going to get justice” and “Next time, it’ll be the face,” and a representative of the Los Angeles legal system goes about official business in a tank top (add leather jacket for more formal occasions). Advertisement But I like Tunney, whose years playing an FBI agent on “The Mentalist” have toughened her for playing a prosecutor here; Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a fine actor who is nothing like O.J.<doc-sep>(CNN) — There are few do-overs in life, but O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark gets one – even if it’s fictionalized – with “The Fix,” an ABC drama that hews just closely enough to that case to spur interest before veering into an exaggerated lane. NBC, meanwhile, drives straight into a creative cul-de-sac with “The Village,” which desperately wants to mirror “This Is Us” and merely provides a reminder that it takes a village, sometimes, to mess up a TV show. Clark shares producer credit on “The Fix,” which focuses on a former prosecutor, Maya Travis (Robin Tunney), who lost her most famous case: The racially charged trial of a British movie star, Severen “Sevvy” Johnson (“Lost’s” Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who was found not guilty of a double murder in 2010. When Sevvy is suspected again of a new slaying, Maya is called out of retirement by her former colleague (“Tyrant’s” Adam Rayner), who shows up at the rural community where she’s taken refuge and tantalizingly says, “He did it again. You have to come back, Maya.” Well, who wouldn’t want a shot at redemption? Still, the O.J. echoes gradually fade as “The Fix” layers on the melodrama and loads up the fridge with red herrings, garnished with office politics and Sevvy’s extended circle, including his grown (and in some instances, estranged) children. In essence, “The Fix” uses the “trial of the century” as a come-on, and a means of differentiating this latest serialized mystery from recent ABC series (see “Secrets and Lies” and “Ten Days in the Valley”) cut from a similar cloth. Perhaps foremost, the show is smartly cast – not only in terms of the leads but around the edges, including Scott Cohen as Sevvy’s sleazy defense attorney (given the production auspices, would there be any other kind?) and Robin Givens as the actor’s ex-wife, whose loyalty comes at a price. It’s hard to assess the show’s timing, more than 23 years after the Simpson trial ended, but only three years removed from FX’s limited series based on that case. If Clark and her collaborators do enjoy the thrill of victory ratings-wise, it would suggest that when it comes to sensational crime, maybe you can win for losing. NBC/Episodic/Peter Kramer/NBC Warren Christie, Frankie Faison in 'The Village' (Peter Kramer/NBC) While the concept for “The Fix” is crystal clear, “The Village” is the dramatic equivalent of a Netflix recommendation – the equivalent of “If you just watched ‘This is Us,’ you might like this.” The basic template, however, is scattered to the point of disjointed, built around the diverse denizens of an apartment building in Brooklyn, where neighbors help each other out. Not surprisingly given the premise, a lot of help is needed. The various plots include a military veteran (Warren Christie) who has recently returned from war, a foreign-born mother (another “Tyrant” alum, Moran Atias) trying to protect her young son after being seized by immigration enforcement, and the couple that serves as the glue for the whole complex (Frankie Faison, Lorraine Toussaint), dispensing homespun wisdom. The main problem is “The Village” feels like it’s trying too hard – as if the show was developed specifically to try replicating the warm fuzzies that its lead-in, “This is Us,” regularly delivers, transparently wrapped in a “family is what you make of it” message. In the old days, coveted primetime real estate behind an established hit might have been enough to give “The Village” a fighting chance. But in today’s media environment, a show this bland is well-advised not to sign a long-term lease. “The Fix” premieres March 18 at 8 p.m. on ABC. “The Village” premieres March 19 at 10 p.m. on NBC.<doc-sep>Former prosecutor Marcia Clark produced a new ABC series called The Fix. The show's plot bears some striking similarities to Marcia's own experience prosecuting the O.J. Simpson case. Many fans have been wondering if The Fix tells a true story. Anyone who regularly watches ABC has seen a promotional clip for The Fix by now. The new drama, which is set to premiere Monday night, is produced by famed prosecutor Marcia Clark — and is highly anticipated as a result. If you've noticed that the previews for the show bear some striking similarities to Marcia's own experiences working on the infamous O.J. Simpson case, you're not alone. The almost-eerily familiar storyline has many fans wondering: Is The Fix based on a true story? This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Let's take a look back at Marcia Clark's real-life story. When Marcia worked as the lead prosecutor in the 1995 trial of former football star O.J. Simpson, she quickly became a household name. But after 134 days of trial and just four hours of deliberation, the jury found O.J. "not guilty" of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, and the prosecution lost the case. Shortly after her highly publicized loss, Marcia stopped practicing law and generally stayed away from the public eye (aside from writing several books and making a handful of TV appearances). And it's not hard to see why: Ever since the infamous trial, she's been publicly ridiculed for everything from her failure to imprison O.J. to her appearance. Lester Cohen Getty Images What many consider to be Marcia's public road to redemption began when Sarah Paulson played her in Ryan Murphy's award-winning 2016 miniseries, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. The actress played a much more relatable version of Marcia than many were used to seeing — Vanity Fair even proclaimed that the show helped to turn her into a "feminist hero." When the series was honored at the Emmys that year, Marcia joined Sarah at the event. The Fix follows a prosecutor with some striking similarities. Now that Marcia has started to make her way back into the public eye, The Fix is her latest — and arguably biggest — project. Much like Marcia herself, The Fix's lead character, Maya Travis (played by Robin Tunney), is a former prosecutor who steps away from legal work and out of the spotlight after losing a high-profile murder case in which a black movie star named Severen "Sevvy" Johnson (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is accused of committing a double-homicide. Sound familiar yet? Devastated by the outcome of the case, Maya spends eight years living on a horse farm in near isolation. But then, the unthinkable happens: Sevvy becomes the suspect in another murder. This time, he's believed to possibly have been involved in the killing of his latest girlfriend — and so Maya returns to the "real world" to help with the investigation and try the case. So, is The Fix based on a true story? The short answer: kind of. Many connecting lines can certainly be drawn between Marcia's real-life story and Maya's fictional one ... but as we all know, O.J. has not been tried in another murder case, and Marcia has not been involved with any of his more recent legal battles. Critics have been quick to say that The Fix is Marcia's thinly veiled attempt at retelling her own story — but true stories are so often used as the basis for crime-based TV shows (Law and Order, anyone?) that it's hard to fault the former prosecutor for doing just that. Perhaps Marcia herself answers this question best in ABC's promotional videos for the show: "Is this a revenge fantasy?" she asks. "Maybe." This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. You can watch The Fix on ABC on Mondays at 10 p.m. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>
If you’re a fan of true crime or its fictional TV counterparts, then you’re likely already planning on tuning in to The Fix, a new show premiering on ABC on Monday, March 18 at 10 p.m. Executive produced by prosecutor Marcia Clark and inspired by her own life experiences, the show shares some subject matter with the criminal case that made her a household name — and a character in Ryan Murphy‘s TV show, American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson. But what’s the deal with The Fix? Check out all the details below. Is The Fix based on O.J. Simpson’s case? It’s hard to deny there are some serious similarities. In the show, a “mega movie star” named Severance “Sevvy” Johnson is accused of murdering his ex-wife. But when prosecutor Maya Travis loses the case in court, he declares himself “an innocent man.” Eight years later, the action picks back up when Sevvy’s new girlfriend is murdered and he becomes a suspect once again. Given a second chance at justice, Maya returns to her work as a prosecutor so that she can put the man she believes is guilty behind bars. In real life, O.J. Simpson was famous for being a football player, not a movie star (though he did have an acting career). However, he was also accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson as well as her friend Ron Goldman. Though he allegedly confessed in an interview promoting his book, If I Did It, as well as in conversations with the book’s publisher, he had previously been found not guilty after being prosecuted by Marcia Clark and the state of California. Though he later went on to face further legal troubles, including criminal convictions, Simpson and Clark never went head to head once more. “There are certain trappings that we used to get audience recognition, so we’re all on the same page very quickly,” Clark told E! News. “Everybody understands this is the place setting, this is the table we’ve set, but we take it in completely different directions. So we get to explore behind the scenes … all the personal drama, and the people involved in the case, and what the pending case does to them. Is the show a revenge fantasy? Considering the fact that Clark lost her case against Simpson, some have suggested that the show is a revenge fantasy. And while promoting the show, she admitted, “Maybe.” She explained, “I wanted to write The Fix because it really does wrap in all of my life experience. The prosecutor loses a high-profile case against a famous defendant … and eight years later it seems he’s killed again. … She gets pulled back into that world to see if she can bring him to justice. … I lived through a high-profile media circus. … It tells the story of what goes on beyond the TV cameras.” Is Maya Travis a stand-in for Marcia Clark? The show may be based on her life experience, but the prosecutor says the main character isn’t based on her. “Though Maya Travis and I share an ‘origin story’ and a devotion to justice, she really isn’t me. I’m sorry, but you won’t learn anything new about me personally,” Clark told TV Insider. “The Fix is a totally fictional imagining of what might happen if the killer who got away with murder the first time winds up charged with murder again — and the prosecutor who lost the first trial comes back to try and bring him to justice this time.” While chatting with E! News, she reiterated her point: “Maya Travis is not me, and Sevvy Johnson is not O.J. Simpson.” Is it more of a legal drama or a crime drama? Though you’d think it might be more of the former considering Clark’s past, she says it’s not going to be set mainly in the courtroom. “We like to say it’s a law show that isn’t about the law. It’s about the people on both sides of the case and what goes on behind the scenes. So we go home with the prosecutors and everyone on the defense side. It’s a soapy, serialized roller coaster of a show that has cliff hangers at the end of every episode. And we promise that by the end of the season you will find out whodunnit!” she told TV Insider. What else has Marcia Clark written?