History, they say, plays the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. But what about the third time? In the O.J. Simpson case--recalling his 1995 trial and O.J. 2, its 1997 civil sequel--it became nostalgia. As the Juice and his cronies stood accused of robbing a memorabilia collector at gunpoint, the coverage--O.J. 3: What Happens in Vegas--had the misty tone of a high school reunion. My, his daughter has grown! Doesn't his girlfriend look like Nicole? "A lot of these people I know from many years ago," said Dan Abrams on MSNBC almost wistfully.
There was the class of...