There has been Perry Mason, Matlock and L.A. Law. In the first two cases the shows focussed (generally) on the experiences of a solo attorney. L.A. Law took this to a new level by creating an ensemble cast.
Recently, however, there is a fresh crop of new television shows focused on law firms. The newly created shows have followed a "buddy" format.
The Defenders is probably the most "realistic" of the shows. Based on a real Las Vegas firm, Cristialli & Saggese, it presents the viewers with a look into a thriving Las Vegas firm. The fictitious firm Mirelli (Jim Belushi) & Kaczmarek (Jerry O'Connell) handles outrageous, but still believable cases (e.g., stolen sports memorabilia). The show also gives us some glimpse (similar to the CSI shows) into the characters' lives as well as their friendship.
If The Defenders is a law drama with a buddy focus, then Franklin & Bash (Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is buddy show in which the main characters, incidently, are lawyers. An over-the-top show which could easily be called "Lawyers Behaving Badly" this is by far the funniest of the trio of shows. From courtroom antics, to advertising on the backs of bikini-clad women, each week one could play a drinking (soft drinks) game based on every rule of professional conduct these lawyers break. Moreover, the combination home-office-man cave is shown, more often then not, as a party palace. If practicing law could ever be this fun ....
The final show in this trio, Suits, is the most depressing (and most realistic) of the three. The show is set around a top New York law firm and gives glimpses into such "antics" as partner maneuvering, associate hazing, and 80 hour work weeks. What is unique is that first year associate, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), is not a lawyer. In fact, he never went to law school. He has and exceptionally gifted eidetic (total recall) memory. He made a living taking tests (e.g., the LSAT) for other people. In fact is during one of those tests that he meets Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) while fleeing the scene. Harvey takes Mike under his wing as his associate, mainly due to the fact that Harvey didn't want an associate.
Harvey is an archetype of the New York lawyer. He has $3,000 suits, membership in a car club, $1,000 billing rate, and $500,000 sitting in an account to use as his buy-in for senior partnership. Mike, however, has $200 suits and rides a bicycle to work. While he doesn't have $200,000 in law school debt, he also doesn't have a law degree. Thus, his every day is tense with the fear of being "discovered." The mistreatment Harvey gives Mike is probably better accepted by the viewing audience then if it were given to a 1st year associate from Harvard.
So, we have a smorgasbord of "buddy" legal dramas. From the tense Suits to the outrageous Franklin & Bash and the middle of the ground The Defenders. Whether or not any of these shows will encourage or discourage students from going to law school will never be known. But compared to shows like Perry Mason, these aren't your father's law television programs!
P.S. How do I get a job as a television legal consultant? Seriously.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.