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? After leaving behind her days as a working lawyer, the prosecutor pursued a career as an author instead. She’s written the Samantha Brinkman series, crime novels with titles like Blood Defense and Snap Judgment; the Rachel Knight series, including volumes Guilt by Association and Killer Ambition; as well as her memoir, Without A Doubt, which tells her own account of what happened during the O.J. Simpson trial. She’s also worked in TV before in Marcia Clark Investigates The First 48 on A&E in which she looked into cases like Casey Anthony’s in an attempt to uncover new evidence. Tune in to The Fix on ABC on Monday, March 18 at 10 p.m. to see the premiere.<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? 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." You can watch The Fix on ABC on Mondays at 10 p.m.