On the Tube
Bochco's bar set higher than his new show can reach
New courtroom drama fails to take advantage of cable's creative freedom
The problem with being an extremely successful writer-producer like Steven Bochco is that the bar is
raised pretty high after having such groundbreaking hits as “NYPD Blue,” “L. A. Law” and “Hill Street Blues.”
Since he has moved from the more conservative broadcast networks to TNT, one expects that his new
legal series, “Raising the Bar,” would raise the stakes in language, program content or some other creative way that many successful cable series do.
Unfortunately, the over-the-top 10 p. m. Monday pilot episode of “Bar” –which is focused on a rape case –is pretty ordinary by legal TV standards. The calmer second episode is stronger, but the TNT promos that refer to it as “groundbreaking” TV are guilty of extreme exaggeration.
In the Bochco tradition, “Bar” raises issues about unequal justice and the games played by prosecutors, defense lawyers and power-crazed judges with agendas even if they are friends with each other away from the court.
The failure to be anything special could be partly because “Raising the Bar” wasn’t really Bochco’s idea. He was talked into doing the series by the show’s co-creator, David Feige, a law professor and former New York public defender who apparently needed Bochco’s name to get it made.
Bochco brings along the same visual style of “NYPD Blue” and other past series and a stable of recognizable actors that have been in some of his previous shows.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Andy Sipowicz’s last partner on “NYPD Blue,” is on board as long-haired, rebellious public defender Jerry Kellerman.
Jerry has a habit of going too far in the pilot, after he accurately announces, “I’m about to defend an innocent guy in front of a crazy judge.”
Currie Graham, who became a “Blue” lieutenant late in the series run, plays the no-nonsense district attorney, Nick Balco, who is willing to skirt the law to raise his conviction rate. Some secondary roles in the series are played by actors in the Bochco Alumni Club who aren’t exactly household names.
The cast includes a few other household names, including Gloria Reuben (“ER”) as Rosalind Whitman, Jerry’s calm, inspirational boss. Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is the wacky judge, Trudy Kessler, who rose to the bench after years of being a public defender. She constantly is tested by Jerry, and her years defending lowlifes has made her cynical enough to say things like “what part of I don’t care don’t you understand” to attorneys pleading for justice when they have the rare innocent client.
The cast includes some young pretty faces, too, including Melissa Sagemiller as ethically challenged assistant district attorney Michelle Erhardt and Natalia Cigluiti as Roberta (Bobby) Gillarido, an attractive, well-connected new public defender. Richard Patrick Woolsey is Teddy Sears, a rich, compassionate public defender who could be making millions working for his daddy. Jonathan Scarfe is Charlie Sagansky, a law clerk with conflicting allegiances and a few secrets. J. August Richards is Marcus McGrath, a smart, African-American lawyer who isn’t uncomfortable following the letter of the law prosecuting black defendants who may deserve a break.
This being a Bochco show, some of the sexual dialogue is played broadly and many of the characters are involved romantically with each other. But if you’ve been a Bochco fan as long as I have, none of the supposedly surprising couplings are all that surprising.
Bochco and his former “L. A. Law” staffer, David E. Kelley, have mined the legal area of the inequities that result because of class or social and mental status before and done it with more humor, more emotion and more shadings.
This isn’t to say that “Raising” — which is directed by Bochco’s son, Jesse, and produced by Bochco’s wife, Dayna — doesn’t have its merits. It is just that we expect so much more from Bochco, especially since cable gives him more freedom to be creative and makes things real.
Perhaps like fine wine, “Bar” will improve with age. After watching three episodes, it initially seems just a little too familiar tasting to savor. Worst of all, it is about as hard to care deeply about it as it is for Kaczmarek’s wacky judge to care about truth and justice.
TV Review
“Raising the Bar” ★★½ (Out of four)
10 p. m. Monday, TNT
