A series that takes on issues rarely confronted on network TV : American Crime

OK it's by no means as subtle, well written, or beautifully produced as some of the great HBO, Netflix, or even Showtime pay-cable series but the new ABC series American Crime is pretty engaging and very forthright about issues rarely dealt with or confronted in any TV dramas: race, bias, hatred, and bigotry. Plot involves a the murder of a young man and the sexual attack on his wife, in their home; pretty quickly police investigate and arrest a young Mexican-American (clearly he let some gang members use his hot car, which was spotted at the scene of the killing), an "illegal" Mexican immigrant who's not very sympathetic and has a series criminal background, a black man who's deeply involved in drugs and is living w/ a young white woman who's addicted to meth. What adds a huge dimension to this crime drama is the intense involvement of the parents ad siblings of both victims and accused: the central figures are the (long-divorced) parents of the murdered man: dad (Timothy Hutton) is a feckless ne'er do well father who just wants all this trouble to go away, yet gets drawn in more than he'd like, and completely cold and acidic mother, Felicity Huffman, who plays the race card and is angry at everyone, police and prosecutors especially, for, among other things, not treating this as a hate crime. Over the first four episodes the parents learn increasingly painful information about their children, and they react in a wide variety of ways, ranging from outrage to denial. Yes, at times it's schematic, and yes, the writing is at times strained, but the characters and the plot setup are a real tinderbox and it's hard not to watch and to wonder when everything will explode.