The pilot of new ABC TV series "American Crime" opened to solid ratings attracting 8.37 million viewers.
It also opened to great reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the show a 95% rating because of cast and characters emotional portrayals, "mashed up with chilling narratives and a gutsy attitude."
The new drama anthology, created by "12 Years a Slave" director John Ridley is about the life of different people from different race and their journey to the legal system possibly getting affected by their social status and race. Sounds familiar, right?
People easily associate "American Crime" TV series to the Ferguson shooting case last year wherein an unarmed African-American teenager was shot dead by a police.
This issue gripped the country as people stormed the streets of the Missouri city to cry justice for the victim named Mike Brown.
Watch "American Crime" TV series trailer below:
However, the new ABC show starring Felicity Huffman and Timothy was developed before the Ferguson incident occurred. The show's inspiration is the quite similar Trayvon Martin case that occurred in 2012.
When the Ferguson case happened, that is the time "American Crime" TV series creator John Ridley realized their show has a purpose.
"When we started this process, we - as a people, as a society - were coming off of Trayvon Martin," Ridley said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter shortly after the "American Crime" TV series episode one.
"In the writing process of the pilot I got to a point where I thought, 'Is this passe? Am I talking about something we've moved past? Am I trying to talk about something that we've dealt with and moved on from?' In the process of working on the show, Ferguson happened and I painfully realized that we weren't dealing with the past; we're dealing with something that's happening in the now. Then you have other events in New York that are happening and you realize how cyclical this is and that American Crime -fortunately, unfortunately, however one wants to look at it - is a show that could have worked five years ago, 15 years ago, [and] it may work eight years from now. The people and circumstances may be different, but there are things we haven't moved beyond."
Ridley also said that "American Crime" TV series is their opportunity to push for change.
"There was a moment for one potent episode where our DP - who worked on Fruitvale - said to me, 'I feel like we're not moving forward.' I remember saying to her, 'Yeah, it feels that way but you've got to believe that we are.' I don't believe this show is going to change the world in any circumstance, but to have the opportunity to talk about these things in a public forum, in a broadcast forum, I do believe that is indicative of change that we are part of in and of this moment. If it lasts, I don't know, but we're here now and we've got to make the most of this opportunity."
