Review |
There's a deuce in Steven Bochco's new TV series, and she's not wearing Prada.
Judge Trudy Kessler (Jane Kaczmarek) has a spirit as black as her robes in "Raising the Bar," which debuts at 10 tonight on TNT. She's a hanging label who, in a exactly world, would be strung up herself.
The pilot pits Kessler against New York City public defender Jerry Kellerman (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), world Health Organization definitely wears the andrew D. White robes in this drama.
Jerry, shaggy and sometimes stentorian, is granted to dramatic declarations around truth, justice and the wretched nature of the legal system. You often get the feeling he really, rattling wants you to know what a saint he is.
His clients aren't complaintive, however. Jerry will even go to jail for them, landing in lockup a couple of times thanks to the unlikable judge.
The hourlong show is tightly written and features other vibrant characters, including Michelle Ernhardt (Melissa Sagemiller), an help district attorney with an idealistic streak of her own, and Bobbi Gilardi (Natalia Cigluiti), from the public defender's office.
Judge Trudy has a creepy opposite number in District Attorney Nick Balco (Currie Graham), a bloviating reptilian obsessed with putting scalps on the wall. His philosophy of crime and punishment is simple: If a suspect didn't dedicate the crime he's accused of, "trust me, he did something else we didn't pay back him for." The cool head in this business office belongs to Marcus McGrath (J. August Richards), a lawyer whose sense of justice is totally at odds with Balco's.
The populace defender's power, run by Roz Whitman (Gloria Reuben), is right out of central cast, complete with a Greenpeace bumper toughie and one proclaiming "Make Love, Not War." Yet there's an odd man out: Richard Patrick Woolsley (Teddy Sears), a rich kid world Health Organization wears turnup links to work and has the hots for Roz. Immaculate or not, he's defending a guy who stabbed a man 36 times, then did a Lorena Bobbitt subprogram on the corpse.
The cardinal combat is between Jerry and Trudy, who spar over the fate of a humans falsely accused of rape. Trudy lectures Jerry that "process creates truth," though hers includes piling on seven geezerhood for possessing a pocket knife and setting bail beyond reach.
The show has addiction electric potential, fueled by intertwining amatory story lines, especially Trudy's passion for her legal philosophy clerk, Charlie Sagansky (Jonathan Scarfe).
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