American Crime: The Next Big Hit on TV?

American Crime is not just a series about a murder mystery but a dynamic of the emotions involved in wake of a tragic incident and it’s after effects on the community.

ABC network has been implying its new series ‘American Crime’ will be the next big hit on television. The new series that airs Thursday night came into existence with hype and viewers had extreme expectations with the drama series. It is safe to say the series has not failed all of the expectations and has many redeeming and you could even say excellent qualities. 

The series created by Oscar winning director John Ridley is quite marvelous but also has undeniable flaws. For one the cast is to sprawling and some characters seem to be ill casted for the potential roles and not suite to properly convey the levels of intensity deserving the storyline.

‘American Crime’ is an anthology series with a total of only 11 episodes in its first season. The series explores how a crime can alter the entire dynamics of a whole community. The series starts with a tragic event when Iraq war veteran Matt Skokie dies in a home invasion robbery and his wife Gwen falls in a coma as a result of the incident. The events take place in the small town of Modesto. 

The series mainly focuses on the racial tension as the police make four arrests in suspicion of the robber. The four suspects arrested are a black man, his white girlfriend, a Mexican immigrant and a Mexican American teen. As is the case with racial stereotypes the white girl is released but the others are kept in imprisonment. 

Then the estranged and divorced parents of Matt Skokie enter the picture as the mother is a bitter racist who wants her son’s trial to become a taken as a hate crime, while the father deadbeat gambler and addict. The character pf the mother Barb Hanlon is played by Felicity Huffman, whose used to play Lynette Scavo on ‘Desperate Housewives’ and it seems to be her tie to shine.

Throughout the entire series Huffman delivers bombshell after bombshell performances as a bitter woman past her prime with a sense of false righteousness. Even the encounters as the dysfunctional former couple comes in contact are so powerful in their intensity. 

The show follows a multi narrative take as the situation is shown from the view point of many characters and how it is affecting their lives. However at times the narrative becomes too confusing and some of the characters fall short in maintaining and delivering the concentration of the storyline. The viewer wishes some of the more powerful characters had more screen time.