American Crime

American Crime’s direction is uncertain, but it looks to be one of the more uncomfortable, engrossing rides any commercial broadcast series has taken. Put away the phone and sit yourself down. You’ll want to see where this goes.

It is an extraordinarily intelligent and compelling look at racial dynamics and polarities.

In lesser hands, the disruptive flourishes would come across as style for style's sake; here, disruption is the goal. And in a lesser show, the characters would come across as a collection of social "types," chosen to represent their assigned issues. Here, they come across as real, deeply flawed people caught in a system that seems to care for none of them.

This is often a stirring and deeply felt portrait of people in an extended state of crisis.

These episodes will stick with you long after watching them.

With grit, guts and some of the best performances you’ll see on TV this year, American Crime aims for truth and pulls no punches getting there.

A penetrating, demanding examination of race, faith, the pitfalls of self-righteousness and limits of parental love.

One of the most powerful and original dramas to grace the broadcast networks in years.

The drama is not perfect, but the ambition behind it is breathtaking.... As if the scope of the show weren’t enough, American Crime ups the ante with surprisingly affecting directorial choices.

It's a thought-provoking drama that doesn't in its first three episodes seek easy black-and-white answers or scapegoats, painting all its characters in varying shades of gray. And while the characters are flawed, they are not insufferable as on NBC's "The Slap."

American Crime is an intentionally exasperating viewing experience; sooner or later, every character does something that’s just flat-out wrong. And yet I can’t remember the last time a network drama had my rapt attention and respect on this many levels at once.

With its frank examination of race, gender and class, American Crime is the more thematically provocative show, a gratifying breakthrough for television and a truly golden child of the age.

This is an ABC drama that is not just good, it’s startlingly good, as bracing in its own way as "True Detective" was on HBO last year.

Wwhat it lacks in fun, it makes up for in intelligence, complexity, and boldness.

The characters interact, the camera observes. And we marvel--not only at the technique and the acting, but at the fullness of each individual point of view, detailing who these people are and how they got there.

Take a look if you think all the good drama is on cable.

Crime works best as an allegory when the racial anxiety casts a pall over the characters rather than actively driving their conversations.

With American Crime, ABC and Ridley are at least trying something. That they succeed far more often than they fail is worth praise in and of itself.

These characters are anything but flawless and one-dimensional. But, they are at their most believable and compelling when they relentlessly defend their children and loved ones and awkwardly try to make sense of their crumbling worlds.

American Crime does a good job of using the police-procedural framework to give viewers a structure that’s familiar and compelling. But Ridley makes sure that that structure is also capacious enough to let the actors stretch out, and, at least over the course of the four episodes made available to critics, this yields at least two superb performances.

American Crime is indeed filled with some impressive material, if you can get past the pretensions.... Both Hutton and Huffman act up a storm.

When Ridley's narrative threatens to get too heavy-handed, the individual struggles and tragedies of the characters keep the story grounded.

American Crime is aimed squarely at drama junkies. Especially those who, tired of having their thoughts and emotions prechewed, packaged and set to music, may have fled broadcast TV for cable, Netflix and Amazon.

The casting is strong all around, which helps pull the series through its weaker stretches, when it does start to drift into a morality play or an overwrought junkie melodrama.

It’s not always comfortable or reassuring. It’s just a strong story told by a strong cast.

Sacrificing and caring for one’s family is expected, after all. What this challenging drama dares to explore is whether that relatively narrow focus leaves much room for extending a spirit of generosity--or even a mild benefit of the doubt--to strangers.

As you may have been able to tell from the ads, the program a bit too often wears the banner of “Very Important Show” but a grounded, talented cast carries it over those melodramatic speed bumps.

Some of the character are so impressively conceived and fleshed out that they ignite the material. Brown’s work proves that Ridley’s material can be generationally spot-on and gender-specific.

Even when the production is heavy-handed, the cast, led by Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman, contributes enough good performances to make the story worth watching.

It's a big swing for ABC and for Ridley, and if it's not a home run, it's also far from a big whiff.

Scenes unfold at a leisurely pace and are punctuated with visual flourishes that allow us to soak up moods and emotions. On the other hand, the show suffers from stretches of starchy dialogue, and the uneven pilot episode doesn't adequately deliver on the promise of what's to come.