O.J. books outnumbered cat tomes: Nearly 40 O.J. books hit shelves, representing everyone's point of view. ''There's never been anything even remotely close to this,'' says Maureen O'Brien, news editor of Publishers Weekly. ''We're surprised by how large and long-standing the public's consumption for this is.'' And they're banking it doesn't end with the verdict. More books are on the way, including a second installment by Faye Resnick (Shattered, about life after the trial, due out in January). For afficionados, there's also Dominick Dunne's deconstruction and an equally weighty volume from Blind Faith author Joe McGinniss. Perhaps the biggest bonanza was scored by Beverly Hills-based Dove Books. The company, which previously produced only books on tape, launched it's publishing division with Resnick's best-seller, followed by three other O.J. books. Perry Mason's now passe: Ultimately, cable might retain some of its new audience, and TV will certainly be invaded by a new crop of talking heads (see box). But the trial's most long-lasting legacy could well be the way it has forced TV producers to reinvent courtroom dramas. Deborah Joy LeVine, a onetime lawyer and creator-executive producer of CBS' Courthouse, recalls that writers on the show came up with a scene in which an expert witness recants his testimony after two days. It was later axed, she says, because after seeing the O.J. trial, in which a witness held solid for five days, no viewer would buy it.
On the upside, the trial probably means we'll witness even more dramas about due process. You don't have to be Johnnie Cochran to pick up on similarities between the Simpson proceedings and ABC's Murder One. Interestingly, both ABC and the show's exec producer Steven Bochco are playing down similarities between art and life, but even Bochco has to tell the whole truth. ''We've gone to school on [the O.J. and Menendez trials], he says. ''I love Court TV.''
(Additional reporting by Sue Karlin, Irv Letofsky, Jennifer Pendleton, and Dan Snierson)
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