NEW YORK (AP) — Television networks returned to the scene of an old obsession Thursday with blanket coverage of O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing Nevada.  The former football star is now set for release this fall.

The biggest broadcast networks, news networks and even ESPN and CNBC set aside regular programming for the odd spectacle that NBC’s Savannah Guthrie dubbed “the parole hearing of the century.”

It was 22 years after Simpson’s trial for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, became a television soap opera.

Commentators harshly criticized Simpson and his lawyer for their performance at the parole hearing. CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin called it “an absolute disgrace.”

A Nevada parole official says if O.J. Simpson is cleared to be supervised in Florida, he would report to a Florida parole officer.

Capt. Shawn Arruti of the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation told reporters Thursday after Simpson was granted parole that if he violated the terms of release, he would come back to Nevada to have his parole revoked.

Arruti says Florida parole officials will decide whether to accept Simpson, but it’s common when an inmate has family in the area like he does.

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