Commentary

'American Crime' Is Serious Television, But Is That What You Want?

ABC’s “American Crime” is earnest and provocative. 

It explores tough subjects, digs deep into the darker recesses of human behavior and discovers that there’s a wide gap between how people portray themselves publicly and what they do in secret. The show exposes hypocrisy, asks hard questions and puts society on trial.

So let me ask you: Is this what you are looking for in a TV show? Some might answer: Yes, it’s about time that a broadcast network such as ABC produce and support a show as challenging, mature, sophisticated, nuanced and intelligent as “American Crime.” 

Others might answer: This show is way too serious. Is “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on?

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That show happens to be a long-time staple of ABC, along with shows such as “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Bachelor.” In the context of those shows and others, “American Crime” provides an example of just how wide and varied a single network’s programming slate can be.

The upcoming season of “American Crime” is the show’s second, following a first one that produced a gusher in critical acclaim and prestigious award nominations. Like “Fargo” and “American Horror Story” on FX, “American Crime” is an anthology show, in which each “season” comprises a new story with new characters and situations, but with some of the same actors turning up again in new roles.

On the second season of “American Crime,” which commences on Wednesday, returning cast members include Timothy Hutton, Regina King and Felicity Huffman. This year, they’re involved in a sordid sexual assault story concerning allegations that members of a private school’s boys basketball team drugged and raped a male classmate at a beer party.

Huffman plays the headmistress of the school who would like the situation to remain private because her school enjoys a stellar reputation in its Indianapolis community and because she’s in the midst of a fund-raising campaign in which she hopes to raise as much as $40 million to secure the school’s future.

Hutton plays the basketball team’s coach, who doesn’t believe the accusations (at least in the season premiere). King plays the mother of one of the team members. Lili Taylor plays the mother of the alleged victim, who is played by Connor Jessup.

The first episode of the new season sets up the situation nicely and covers all the bases -- most notably, the many obstacles that stand in the way of the truth. Among them is the typical “wall of silence” that gets erected whenever members of a close-knit social group come under suspicion, in this case the school’s basketball team and also the cheerleaders and others who attended the party in question.

Social media plays a part too, of course, as photos of the victim in compromising positions circulate on smartphones throughout the school. Also woven into the “American Crime” Season Two tapestry: Aspects of our sexualized culture and the way it influences teen-age behavior. It’s always interesting when a TV show tackles this subject because TV is as culpable as any other of our mass media in promoting or at least depicting sexual situations.

This season’s storyline on “American Crime” is nothing if not timely. Just last week, three members of a high school boys basketball team in Tennessee were accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman teammate -- allegedly as part of some sort of hazing ritual.

The details of the crime, as reported in the media, were heinous -- particularly the descriptions of the injuries sustained by the victim. Whether the “American Crime” scenario will mirror them will be learned only by watching the show to see how the season unfolds.

If it’s anything like the real thing, this second season of “American Crime” has the potential to be grim indeed.  

Season Two of “American Crime” premieres Wednesday (Jan. 6) at 10 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

 

 

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