There was a special edition of Geraldo LIVE about the OJ trial over several nights in the 90s.
- one night he had Bugs - another night it was Spence
I saw the airing of the trial and I never subscribed to Showtime so it had to be on another venue that I saw it. At the conclusion, Geraldo interviewed Bugliosi and Spence TOGRTHER and it was about the mock trial, not about OJ. I don't know why you think the airing of the triall would have been limited to Showtime. It's not as if they have exclusive rights to the programs they air.
Showtime did carry the first US airing of a condensed version of the trial in 1986. Two years later, Geraldo hosted a rebroadcast of the program although I've been unable to find a source for which cable channel or network carried it. This is what I found through AI:
Geraldo Rivera’s 1988 Hosting of On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald
Geraldo Rivera hosted the two‑part 1988 TV event On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald, a dramatized “docu‑trial” featuring real witnesses, lawyers Vincent Bugliosi and Gerry Spence, and filmed in the Henry King Courtroom in Dallas
What the program was
On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald was a made‑for‑television “docu‑trial” produced by Tribune Entertainment. It was not a real courtroom proceeding — Oswald had been executed in 1963 — but a staged re‑enactment in which surviving witnesses to the JFK assassination and the murder of police officer J.D. Tippit were recalled to testify
The event was designed to dramatize the legal arguments of the prosecution (Vincent Bugliosi) and defense (Gerry Spence)
Rivera’s role
Geraldo Rivera served as the on‑stage host and moderator for the 1988 broadcast. Press photos from the event show him standing in the Henry King Courtroom in Dallas, Texas, where the trial would have taken place had Oswald lived
Rivera’s role was to introduce witnesses, manage the proceedings, and provide commentary, similar to a live news‑style host.
Production details
Original air dates: November 22 and 23, 1988
Format: Two‑part TV event, filmed in England but staged to resemble a U.S. courtroom
Participants: Real witnesses, Vincent Bugliosi, Gerry Spence, and archival footage of Oswald and other figures
Setting: Henry King Courtroom, Dallas, Texas, as a symbolic backdrop
Here is a trailer from when Geraldo took his turn hosting the trial. This was aired by WGN.
https://www.retrojunk.com/c/wwLU5Eemy7/on-trial-lee-harvey-oswald-special-on-wgntvMy recollection is that the jury in the mock trial that saw all 27 hours of testimony voted to convict Oswald as the lone assassin.
I think the call-in verdict reached after viewers only saw 4 hours of the trial, was that Oswald was guilty but part of a conspiracy.
