OF THE CENTURY

Media editors like to reconstitute old stories on their anniversary dates, and throw the banner "something of the century" in order to get views.

We have passed the anniversary of the alleged "Trial of the Century," the O.J. Simpson murder case.

It is only mildly debatable of what the facts of the case disclosed to the public; but there are still a divide on whether O.J. was the killer of his estranged wife. He was found innocent by a criminal jury but found guilty in a civil wrongful death suit (in which the burden of proof was less).

Simpson sits today in a Nevada prison on an unrelated conviction.

The Simpson case does show America at its best and its worst. And television was the center piece of this cultural roller coaster ride.

Simpson was a star football player. He was a powerful running back who set records in the NFL when pro football was just starting to make its inroads onto American television viewing habits on Sunday afternoons. Sundays were the traditional day of rest; family time not television viewing time. Simpson's mad dashes for touchdowns helped solidify football as the new American pastime.

Simpson was a celebrity. He got national commercials. He was cast in movie roles. He was living the American dream. He was rich, successful, and had the perks of stardom even after his football career was over.

Just as the media likes to build up celebrity stories, it likes to tear them down.

When the slow speed Bronco chase was shown live on national TV, where a fleeing O.J. was attempting to avoid an arrest warrant, the birth of the new celebrity trial had began. This domino led to the LA trial being televised nationally. It led to attorneys playing to the camera and not to the court. It led to an extremely drawn out soap opera that in any other non-televised courtroom would have been slapped down to a one week trial at best. But the weeks droned on because it was "free" programming for the cable network "news" channels who were in the infancy of building audiences. It spawned a cottage industry of legal "analysts" doing play by play and color commentary like the trial was a football game. This led to the current malaise of over analysis and tabloid coverage of any legal case on television.

In some respects, the "reality" of a real man on trial for "real" murders was something that TV executives found "compelling" television. The concept of "reality" television was born in the midst of the muddy gray areas of the situation. Witnesses became quasi-celebrities which birthed the cable culture of the D-list celebrity who is famous for doing next to nothing. In certain respects, this was also the dawn of being rewarded for bad behavior - - - a reality show staple.

So with this backdrop, LOST hit the airwaves approximately 10 years after the Simpson circus. As such, some viewers may have found it a breath of fresh air - - - an intelligently written show with a large ensemble cast of relative unknown actors in a situation familiar to anyone with a basic education in literature: the castaway story.

Some critics immediately called LOST the show of the decade; a must-view show. Appointment television when you needed to actually plan to sit in front of the TV on an appointed day and hour in order to watch the program.  The hype of the show did run up the flagpole some thoughts that LOST could be a show of this generation, but never got to the point of being accepted as the greatest show ever (because that opinion is too personal).

Just as people got caught up in the Simpson trial, LOST had the same elements: relationships, failed love connections, anger, murder, mysteries, misdirection, sleazy characters, bad blunders and an ambiguous moral compass. And just as with the Simpson trial, the conclusion of LOST still stirs some debates years afterward.