Sport Historians on O. J.: Made in America

Editor's Note: Something unthinkable happened on February 26, 2017. ESPN—the seemingly ubiquitous sports media outlet that churns out an unending stream of event coverage, highlights, and snarky commentary—won an Academy Award for Ezra Edelman's five-part documentary O. J.: Made in America. Produced by ESPN subsidiary film unit ESPN Films, the documentary takes inspiration from Ken Burns's historical documentaries and the 2004 French series The Staircase. Moreover, it premiered alongside HBO's The Jinx (2015) and Netflix's Making a Murderer (2015)—long-form documentary projects that examine mysterious murder cases. Like these documentaries, Made in America garnered nearly universal praise. ESPN emphasized Made in America's outstanding artfulness by premiering it at the Sundance Film Festival. It also gave Made in America a one-week theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York to satisfy the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' minimum requirements for Oscar consideration. We asked three sport historians to provide their takes on and critiques of this important and popular film.