‘American Crime’ returns to ABC for second season

There is almost no precedent for what American Crime is doing this season.

When ABC’s critically acclaimed drama returns for a second season at 9 p.m. Wednesday, there will be a new story, a new setting, a new cast of characters — yet the core group of actors remains.

Two of the stars, Timothy Hutton and Elvis Nolasco, played characters who died in the first-season finale. Yet they’re back — resurrected, if you will — along with Felicity Huffman, Lili Taylor and Regina King.

“It’s kind of like being part of a repertory theater group,” says King, who won an Emmy for last year’s work. “You come in and it’s like, ‘OK, we’re going to do our fall production!’ It’s all different now.”

Well, one other thing is the same: American Crime, which received 10 Emmy nominations last year, is still uncompromisingly great television.

Last year’s story, set in California, involved home-invasion murders that fueled racial tensions within the community.

This year’s story moves to the Midwest, where a traumatized high school boy accuses two fellow students, members of the championship basketball team, of drugging and raping him at a party.

While the boy’s mother (Taylor) demands justice, the headmistress (Huffman) can think only about avoiding public scandal and the coach (Hutton) prefers not to believe a word of it.

It’s a showier role this time around for Taylor, who last year played a victim’s rights advocate, counseling Huffman’s grief-stricken character.

“Originally it was going to be a daughter who would be raped,” Taylor says of the new season. “But John Ridley [the series creator/executive producer] changed it to a boy and made the show more complex, because now we come up against prejudices and false perceptions having to do with the issue of date rape.”

It’s a story that Taylor believes needs to be told.

“Date rape in general, whether it’s female or male, is totally underreported, but particularly from the male point of view,” she says. “It’s something that a lot of people don’t really know about, even though they should.

“There are a lot of people out there who are suffering and they need to have a voice. Or at least they need to be able to see a show like this and say, ‘OK, now I don’t feel so alone.’ ”

American Crime isn’t always an easy show to watch. By shining a spotlight on raw and ugly aspects of our culture, it’s hardly the feel-good show of the decade. Yet with performances as riveting as the ones that the cast delivered last year, it’s hard to turn away.

That’s why Ridley wanted to bring much of the original cast back.

“They’re some of the finest actors working,” Ridley says. “We wanted to take these identifiable and in some cases iconic actors and completely bury them in new roles.

“With Regina last year [dressed in full Muslim garb], it was all about her eyes, all about her intensity. Now we see this woman [the mother of one of the accused athletes] and she’s into fashion, she’s got her hair done, she’s an executive.

“Last year, Lili Taylor was an advocate, a professional, in suits. She had it going on. She is now a single mother and a shift manager at a diner. She doesn’t have time to worry about, ‘How does my hair look? Do I have all of my makeup on?’

“Last year, Tim was a recovering addict, a guy living in a small space and trying to reconnect with his kids. Now he’s a leader of young men.

“Every one of these individuals had to do a radical transformation. But when the audience sees them, after five seconds, they don’t see Felicity, they don’t see Tim, they don’t see Lili — they see representations of individuals who are living up the block or around the corner.

“They see people who are real and authentic.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 2:39 PM with the headline "‘American Crime’ returns to ABC for second season."