The Innocent Man

As you can surmise from the title, this show deals with a wrongful conviction. Actually, four wrongful convictions that all took place in the 1980s in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma. The story is gripping, maddening, and nearly unbelievable. Unfortunately, the story itself is hampered by an over-dramatic score and a few too many TruTV-esque re-enactments. It could use more organization and editing. Some episodes seemed to be leading somewhere but ended up largely retreading the same path with different characters. I still give it 9/10 because the story itself is worth hearing. Sadly, it's a story we've all grown too accostomed to.

I rated it 7 because the content is important, but the execution was terrible and that would rate a 5. As so many others have said, the jumping back and forth between cases is very confusing and detracts from the subject matter which is, or should be, of great concern to Americans. The music is awful, and at times drowns out what is being said on the audio tapes. I couldn't make out what anyone was saying half of the time. I was frustrated at the end because there was no clear cut resolution. I know life is like this at times, but I felt so sorry for Tommy and Fritz.

I have to admit, it starts off a bit slow with a lot of information coming through the first 15 minutes. But once everything starts making more sense you just become obsessed and intrigued by the story. I loved how it evolved through the 6 episodes and how every episode left you wantinf more. I can only recommend!

I enjoy True Crime stories, probably more than I should and I also like tales about overcoming injustice.

So this show based on John Grisham's only non fiction work, was right in my wheel house.

The problem with the series is there is a lot of filler and even repeating some of the same points, so although I found it a fascinating subject, I also felt like they could have told this in about three episodes.

Therefore, overall, I'd give this show 8 stars because it presents many important points that we should understand about our justice system, it took a little too long to get to the point.

A lot of interesting characters though, and definitely worth the watch.

Seriously, either get a pen and paper and write down the names of the major characters and associate them with each case/victim. Mother, sister, prosecutor, accused etc... It will really help. Also, when you hear music, hit fast forward for 10 or 20 seconds. It's a good show, but it's confusing and it lingers on a bit. The show also goes back and forth between two crimes and sometimes you're not sure for a minute which crime they are speaking of at the time. I think they could have put all the information you need into 5 episodes instead of 6.