Judge, Jury and Defender.
Disclaimer upfront, I have never got into courtroom dramas, maybe because paperwork and research is dull TV so if it is included it is over the top, but this is often substituted for emboldened and passionate oral arguments in the courtroom. For me I like to see the courtroom reserved for special occasions, not a weekly event and I am sure the vast a majority of trials are pretty open and shut cases which only seem fresh to jurors. Last year The Good Wife received positive attention, proving that Law and Order is not the only legal drama people were willing to invest in.
Outlaw sees Cyrus Garza (Jimmy Smitts) as a right wing supreme court justice who enjoys a drink and a flutter, he is portrayed as both a right wing zealot and the swing vote on the supreme court. It is left up to him to decided whether a man on death row for killing a police officer deserves his case to be heard by the supreme court. Being placed there by the right he is pushed in the direction of not hearing the case, but the death of his father who was an advocate for the little man gives Garza a crisis of conscience and he allows the case to be heard before quitting the court to help defend the man. Garza brings along his clerks who are the usual mix of over the top conflicting personalities we get in these types of dramas (see House, NCIS and The Mentalist), they pretty much take on the task of finding evidence to clear the man’s name before Garza presents his case to the supreme court, the case is not only one but the real killer identified and arrested based on the testimony of one surprise witness. A dark shadow of his gambling debts hang over him as he looks towards a future of fighting cases for the little man.
First of all we have ludicrous premise of a supreme court justice quitting to become a defence lawyer, he goes from the most right wing judge on the court to the an ultra lefty wanting to fight for gay rights and cop killers. this sudden change of heart comes from him watching a video of his liberal dad. But it gets crazier, he then joins a law firm, names his salary, gets to pick his team and his cases and ends up fights for the man he has granted a retrial to. This show feels like it was created by a madlib.
Garza is a insert job with a insert vice, he quits to become a insert new job. This really is level of thought that has gone into this premise. The annoying thing is Jimmy Smitts is a great actor, he has done some fantastic work, his presence alone raises this show up 5 notches to give it 5 notches. One of the big problems is that Garza takes a huge personal leap at the top of the show, so we don’t care about anything else, we don’t care about the man he is defending, we don’t care about his eclectic yet loyal team and we don’t care about Garza for he has seen the light. The hint of his gambling debts just feels tacked on to add story, but since he has just quit a $250,000 per year job to be a lawyer with the super a high salary I’m guessing he isn’t going have to too many issues paying that money back. There are just no surprises in this show, you know he is going to save this man from death row from the outset, therefore there is no drama.
After the first episode NBC have shifted it to Friday’s in their schedule, it probably won’t be long before it vanishes altogether.
Created / Written by: John Eisendrath
Directed by: Terry George
Starring: Jimmy Smits, David Ramsey, Ellen Woglom, Carly Pope, Jesse Bradford
Date premièred: 15th September 2010
UK Details: TBA
, 
and 
which are more risqué than shows on the mainstream channels, but avoid on screen graphic violence, sex and language that are common on the subscription channels. The Shield for example is known as one of the most gritty cop dramas ever produced, it deals with drugs, gangs and bad cops and yet not once in the 7 series was the word “Fuck” ever uttered, compare that 
, 
or 
. So when a new FX series starts you know that they will find a way to push the limits, but more importantly, because money is tight, they can not afford to make a series and then cut it from the schedules only show 2 episodes because it wasn’t performing, for this reason the scripts have to be better.
) and was commissioned for a full series order on the back of this pilot. A full series on FX is around 13 episodes and so shows do not suffer from a sudden order for 9 episodes after the show becomes a hit leaving the writers looking for a way to drag out the series.
Sam Spade or more recent examples such as the brilliant 
and Jeff Goldblum’s Raines), the character portraits and story structure in this episode of Terriers is superb. From the outset we understand the dynamic between the two friends, we understand an obvious outer struggle (money) and gradually learn the greater personal struggles they need to overcome. Hank needs to reconcile his past as an alcoholic cop and face up to losing his wife, Britt needs grow up and take more responsibility in the relationship with his girlfriend. Both men are floundering at the start of the episode, but their path is set at the end; as they look forward, the road may be tougher, but the rewards will be greater.
. Basically you can dress it all up and call it a new idea, but is still derivative of everything else out there.
(known as La Femme Nikita in the states) was remade in English as the 
(also known as The Assassin), this was then re-imagined in the late 90s as TV series 
and now it is pushed out again as part of the 2010 fall schedule. With no kick ass girls on TV right now, this might have seemed like a quick fix to fill the gap, a tried and tested formula with a fresh spin.
, she wants revenge and will stop at nothing to bring The Division down and rescue the girls and boys who have been sucked into becoming highly skilled assassins against their will. So in a way, this is more a continuation of the series rather than a straight re-imagining.
burst onto the scene with mix of tongue in cheek humour, big musical numbers and a cast of entertaining and memorable characters; it was without a doubt the breakout hit of the year and in 2010 Hellcats looks at another aspect of American school life that is alien to us in the UK, the cheerleaders. There are some things about this show that peaked my interest, the series was created by Kevin Murphy who has been head writer on 
as well as penning musical spoof 
. So was this show going to be this year’s Glee or this year’s 
by journalist Kate Torgovnick; Glee for cheerleading it is not (although the CW does site the big dance numbers as reason for picking up the show) and if you have seen 
this really doesn’t add anything fresh. The show itself even references the quint essential cheerleading movie when Marti prepares for her audition by watching the DVD. Personally both in story and style the show reminded me of The Beautiful Life, a girl from the outside enters a competitive new world and has to move in with a bunch of ambitious back stabbing beauties and try retain her sense of identity.
Tom Welling is very much involved in this project, he apparently feels that cheerleading has not been fully exploited on TV. He maybe right here. We have come to learn from almost every other teen series that cheerleaders are all bitchy sluts, but with the story focused on them and a source material that throws up the real drama behind the scenes, this could be an interesting series. However the audience is not the same as 
and so that rich source material stands a good chance of getting sidelined for the usual relationship drama and backstabbing storylines.
, 
and 
still running and 
, 
and 
doing reruns), this is something that others appear to shy away from, certainly other powerhouses like HBO, FX and AMC, for all their great drama have not a single female led show among them… well maybe at push 
.
that I have really felt hooked on a new show. ITV’s latest offering is Identity, a drama that follows the investigators involved in identity fraud.
and followed by Treme, The Good Guys, Outlaw Country, the recently wrapped up 
and new entry Memphis Beat. Since these last two have more than little in common I will review both now.
the pilot sets up that all too familiar police dynamic and while Raylan maybe more gentleman than brute force, his unconventional methods still rials up his boss. With 
has left a hole that many want to fill. They think the trick is to hook an audience in with a big mystery with the promise that if they just keep watching all the answers will be revealed. Persons Unknown comes from the fine writing pedigree that brought us 
, an interesting study on character and how the individual’s unique skills benefit the group. This is not however where Persons Unknown is heading.
