ABC last Saturday night finished with 3.42 million viewers for the premiere of Part 1 of “O.J.: Made in America.” That figure ranks second among all “30 for 30” premieres, behind only ESPN’s debut for “You Don’t Know Bo” from Dec. 8, 2012, which also was a Saturday night. That premiere, which aired after the Heisman presentation, drew 3.6 million viewers. The ABC premiere for the Simpson series also was below the 5.11 million viewers that FX drew for the first part of “The People Vs. O.J. Simpson” on Feb. 2, which was a Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Part 2 of the Simpson documentary series premiered on ESPN on Tuesday night, drawing 1.75 million viewers. That figure sits between the audience drawn for the premieres of “Bad Boys” on ESPN in April ‘14 and “Roll Tide/War Eagle” in November ’11 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). ESPN Films Exec Producer Connor Schell said that the net "was pleased with viewership totals" for the opening installment. All five parts of the documentary "are available to viewer via WatchESPN or your program provider's on-demand service." Schell said that several marathon re-airs "are scheduled for the summer months" (David Barron, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/17).
JOB WELL DONE: In Boston, Chad Finn writes this is "not just the best '30 for 30' yet, which would be an achievement in itself." It is the "best thing ESPN has ever done, in any era and across any media platform" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/17). In DC, Deron Snyder wrote two hours into the five-part documentary, he was "already wishing it was longer" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 6/14). In Columbus, Rob Oller wrote under the header, "ESPN Series Has Fresh Take On O.J. Simpson." If Saturday's first installment is an accurate indicator, viewers "are in for fresh insights shared through fair-minded filmmaking" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 6/13).
