Katrina: American Crime Story making huge pivot; Sarah Paulson signs on
A mere matter of days after we first heard from a director that everyone was stalling on the project, indications are that it has started to move forward, albeit with a more singular focus. According to a report from Deadline, the show has acquired the rights to the book Five Days At Memorial, and the story will revolve around the decisions made at Memorial Medical Center in the days that followed Hurricane Katrina. American Crime Story and Ryan Murphy staple Sarah Paulson is also now on board in the role of Dr. Anna Pou, a woman who made a decision alongside her team to euthanize critical patients following many days of being stuck within the hospital without power.
This move gives Katrina a much more singular focus, given that the idea of doing a whole TV series about the events that took place in New Orleans around that time was super-complicated. Add on top of it the show moniker of “American Crime” and this was a season that wasn’t making a lot of sense to us. There are plans to try and find new roles for some of the actors who had already signed on for the project, including Annette Bening (who was originally set to play Governor Kathleen Blanco) and Dennis Quaid (originally hired to be George W. Bush).
Does all of this have the makings of a good season? Well, on paper we absolutely do think that it has a lot more potential than it once did. One of the things that it does seem to have going for it now is a focus, and something that we can wrap our head around as a viewer. Is this the most uplifting source material of all time? Not at all, but we don’t think that anyone is watching these American Crime Story seasons for the sake of uplifting entertainment. This is actually not a part of the Katrina story that too many people are familiar with, so there is an opportunity for education thrown in here as well.
Here is where some of the concern lies
Are we getting to a point where we are watching too many stories based on real-life events? What we mean by that is that these true-crime / true-life stories often feature people who were a part of the events, and we have to feel as though there are elements of them that are super-difficult for people in real life to watch back. This is a narrative that’s come up thanks to the recent Feud lawsuit filed over the first season of the show, and we’re honestly surprised that it was not more of a headline-grabbing issue back when The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story aired.
Sometimes, things aren’t worth revisiting in a fictionalized way. We’ll see the viewer response with this show when it airs, which may not be until 2019.
What do you want to see out on Katrina: American Crime Story, and do you think that this premise has potential? Share in the comments below. (Photo: FX)