A bi-weekly roundup of legal television
Week of 28 September 2015 – 1 October 2015
Welcome to TV L Rev, a bi-weekly review column of scripted legal television shows currently airing. Lawyers and shows about them are an enduring staple of television content. Spanning genres from serious dramas to comedies, there is always a legal show somewhere on television. There appears to be something inherently dramatic about the legal profession, the often cited “courtroom drama” where conflict is naturally found. There are many juicy ideas inherently in law: lawyers as both heroes and villains, the murky idea of “justice,” and a stage where battles are fought with wits and words over brawn. That said, most legal shows are rarely about the law and legal peculiarities, but rather about the human actors behind them.
Anyway, less pondering the cultural significance of legal TV and more reviewing.
Being relatively early in the new TV season, heavyweights Suits and The Good Wife are yet to come back to the airwaves leaving, only two relative newcomers to hold down the fort.
Beware mild spoilers for How To Get Away with Murder and The Grinder below.
How To Get Away With Murder
Airs: Thursday, 10pm – CTV; ABC
How To Get Away With Murder (HTGAWM)returns for a second season. A modest success in its first season with praise for its diverse cast and lead performance by Emmy-winner Viola Davis, the show involves a disparate group of first year law students interning with their intimidating criminal law professor, competing with each other for classroom glory and, oh yeah, trying to get away with a murder.
Full disclosure, I have only seen the first few episodes the first season, so I’m jumping into the second season without the entire context.
Episode 1 – It’s Time To Move On
It’s probably impossible to summarize the plot given the multilayer conspiracies going on, but here’s my best shot: the convoluted story picks-up soon after the end of the last season, the group has seemingly gotten away with covering up a murder for the time being (success measured by framing an innocent person and causing someone else to get murdered) and Professor Keating (Viola Davis) is trying to return a semblance of normality to the shaken-up group… while covering up yet another murder.
The main plot of the first episode is spent exploring character threads, and a side-plot of the crew stealing the clients of a high-profile murder case using less than ELGC-approved methods. And instead of drawing out the mystery behind the murder that occurred at the end of last season, the killer is revealed in episode one and instead the show sets up its season-long mystery as a dramatic flash-forward of— dun dun duh—Professor Keating being left for dead, bleeding out with a gunshot wound.
HTGAWM is a show I want to like more, primarily because it’s about law students. Not the best episode for new initiates as the story chugs forward seamlessly from the previous season, making a Netflix catch-up mandatory to get the full enjoyment. That said, the commitment to breaking conventional TV diversity and the overly serious tone with the over the top plot, makes the show an entertaining if not a particularly intellectual watch.
The Grinder
Airs: Tuesday 8:30pm – CityTV; Fox
The Grinder is a new legal comedy premiering this Fall. It stars Fred Savage (best known for playing the sick kid in the Princess Bride movie) playing Stewart Sanderson as a young Idaho lawyer who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law, but is a terrible courtroom advocate because he lacks self-confidence. Rob Lowe (best known most recently for playing Chris Traeger on Parks and Recreations) plays Dean Sanderson, Stewart’s charismatic older brother, who played an uncompromising lawyer on a popular TV show for many years. The premise is that Rob Lowe decides he can translate his television lawyering skills to help his brother, the real lawyer, in his cases, much to Stewart’s annoyance.
Episode 1 – Pilot
The pilot sets up the premise; Dean’s show has just ended and he’s feeling a little bit aimless so decides to visit his extended family in Idaho. Stewart is feeling inferior because everyone likes Dean better, and the only thing he has going for him is that he’s a lawyer, and Dean only plays one on TV. Stewart is less than thrilled when Dean starts encroaching on his turf by involving himself in the case. Ultimately Dean bails Stewart out during a trial and the brothers learn they might just be able to get along.
I found the premise to be fresh: the irony of a lawyer on TV complaining that legal television is inaccurate is too delicious to not appreciate. There were a few moments that made me genuinely chuckle and the entire case appears to have a real energy. I would say this definitely worth a look especially if you’re in for some less serious melodrama than you would get from HTGAWM. My one complaint would be on the more technical side, the editing and certain framing of scenes felt janky.
This Week’s Best Legal Moment: Both shows were light on legal content and focused mostly on the character drama, but in HTGAWM there’s a scene of Asher (Matt McGory) turning down sexy times to study for a “CivPro” exam. Real law students say “CivPro”; so realistic!
Rankings (Graded on the Osgoode Bell Curve):
HTGAWM episode 1: A
The Grinder episode 1: B+