PASADENA, Calif. — Marcia Clark will examine infamous murder cases on A&E's Marcia Clark Investigates the First 48, but she always will be connected to perhaps the best-known one, involving O.J. Simpson.
At a Television Critics Association panel Sunday, the Simpson prosecutor talked about her seven-episode series (March 29), which looks at events in the first 48 hours of a crime investigation. The First 48 has been a long-running A&E series.
Cases to be examined include the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley, actor Robert Blake’s wife; the disappearance of Drew Peterson’s wife, Stacy; the killing of Chandra Levy; the shooting of Run D.M.C. member Jam Master Jay; and the death of Rebecca Zahau at the Spreckels Mansion.
However, Clark also was asked about the 1995 Simpson trial and whether its return to the spotlight via a recent FX miniseries and an ESPN documentary contributed to her involvement with the show.
"I would have done this show at any point in time, had I been asked. This show is the perfect fit for me," she said, explaining that she's been a true-crime fan since she was 4 years old.
She expressed gratitude to Ryan Murphy's Emmy-winning, high-rated American Crime Story presentation of the O.J. trial.
"I'd have to say the FX miniseries was just the most bizarre, unexpected experience," she said. "Of all the things I could have imagined 20 years later, that Ryan Murphy would say, 'I'm going to shine a light on sexism in the courtroom, shine a light on what it was like to be in the crosshairs,' and that I would be played by an actress as brilliant as Sarah Paulson, who was somehow, without ever meeting me, able to deliver how it felt to be me, (was) amazing. It did give people a truer picture of what it was like to be there."
That said, Clark remains surprised the case, in which Simpson was acquitted of two murders, would resonate more than two decades later.
"I had thought it did go away. Honestly, when I heard from my agent that they were seeking to do this series based on the O.J. Simpson case, I thought, 'Never gonna happen.' Then I heard Ryan Murphy was going to do it: 'It's gonna happen,' " she said. "And then, I thought, 'That's cool. No one's going to watch. They're all sick of it.' That didn't happen."
Photos: Stars present new shows on TCA tour
