American Crime

It’s stark, harsh and sometimes difficult to watch. It’s also some of the best-made television, dramatizing real-life issues that are as eye-opening as a slap across the face.

American Crime’s direction is uncertain, but it looks to be one of the more uncomfortable, engrossing rides any commercial broadcast series has taken. Put away the phone and sit yourself down. You’ll want to see where this goes.

Scene for scene, it feels more attuned to the daily realities of life in 2016 America than any other drama on network TV. And because it’s a self-contained story that bears no relation to season one, you can jump right into it. I urge you to give it a shot if you aren’t already a fan. Just be patient. It’s one of those shows that needs a bit of time to work its peculiar magic.

The characters interact, the camera observes. And we marvel--not only at the technique and the acting, but at the fullness of each individual point of view, detailing who these people are and how they got there.

Yes, the series sometimes grows a bit preachy: This installment, like its predecessors, tends to indulge in extended scenes whose dialogue can sound as if it were from a PBS documentary or a newspaper exposé. But you have to admire the ability of Mr. Ridley and his actors to wrap the earnestness in a compelling package.

As you may have been able to tell from the ads, the program a bit too often wears the banner of “Very Important Show” but a grounded, talented cast carries it over those melodramatic speed bumps.

To its credit, American Crime puts race on the table as a topic that the characters confront and talk about with refreshing frankness, but the show as a whole is so predictable and lacking in depth that there's little else to recommend it.