The Simpsons, now The Simpson
11/14/06 04:57 PM
Reprehensible or not, here it comes. Plugging his new book, If I Did It, O.J. Simpson will get two hours of Fox's prime-time to talk about the more than decade-old murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Simpson's interviewer, in one-hour doses on Nov. 27 and 29, will be publisher Judith Regan. She also happens to be putting out his book. The specials are tactlessly titled O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened.
Fox has presented some embarrasements in the past, including an icy, awkwardly staged 1998 reunion of figure skaters Tony Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. But this may be its all-time bottom-feeder, even though Fox executive vp of alternative programming Mike Darnell is primed to see it otherwise.
"This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen," he said in a statement Tuesday. "It's the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century."
Simpson was found not guilty of the murders in criminal court, but a civil court later ordered him to pay $33.5 million in restitution to the victims' families. Whatever he receives for his Fox appearances should go directly to them.
Ed Bark