legal drama

Because the man didn't have enough to do with a sci-fi and legal drama in development, the hardest working man in showbiz will be producing The Wedding Store, an hour-long dramedy for Fox set to premiere mid-season. Along with Tim Minear's Drive, the two series represent Fox's big Spring offerings.

The show has a strange, but not unfamiliar history, to Hollywood watchers. The series is based on a similarly-themed 2004 pilot project that Kelley and co-producer Jason Katims, now the showrunner for Friday Night Lights, developed for ABC called DeMarco Affairs and a Fox project that was in the process of being redeveloped. That project was entitled The Wedding Album. The amalgamation we'll be seeing on TV this Spring is described by Kelley as "a romantic comedy about a group of wedding planners dedicated to having their clients live happily ever after, or at least until they get to the parking lot."

The wedding industry has never been more ripe for satire than now. Let's hope the great premise ends in great results.

(S01E02) This opens with a game of Texas Hold'em -- James Woods' character Sebastian Stark seems to enjoy playing poker as much as the actor himself does. Then it occurs to me, maybe a show about a poker-playing actor would have been a better idea (it's only been done a couple times) rather than what this is -- another legal drama.

The case this time involves a murdered cop -- and a chance for new prosecutor Stark to enhance his reputation with the police department following his years as a high-profile defense attorney, which is a good idea for a story, so I've got high hopes starting out. However ...

(S01E01) The premise here is that a high-priced defense attorney grows a conscience and heads up an new unit of the prosecutor's office to convict high-profile (read rich and/or famous) criminals. This set-up is dispensed with in a couple short scenes so we can get on with it. I appreciated that. There's also a subplot with Sebastian Stark (James Woods) learning to feel and become a better father to his daughter. Squeeze in a couple scenes to establish Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan) as a no-nonsense D.A. who is doubtful about having Stark in her department. Then add in four or five difficult-to-distinguish attractive young associates to complete Stark's team, and even before we get to his first case, the one-hour pilot is packed full of character types we've seen in prime time many times before.

Having read or seen next to nothing about this show -- only that it stars one of my favorite actors, James Woods (stepping away from the Hold'em table) and involves lawyering -- I found my excitement-level raise immediately in the opening scene when the action cuts away from Woods' closing arguments in a trial, to Jeri Ryan rolling her eyes at him in the courtroom audience. She plays District Attorney Jessica Devlin. Okay, I'm in for now.

Woods plays Sebastian Stark. That's Stark, not Shark. Don't call him "the Shark" he hates that, at least that's what he says, although there's evidence to the contrary too. Not unexpectedly, Stark is in love with himself, and has mad skills at getting the rich and famous off the hook. Shark the series has a "what-if" premise. What if a high-priced defense lawyer had a crisis of conscience and decided to become a prosecutor? (Slight spoilers after the jump.)

According to fellow TV Squadder Bob Sassone, I could be reviewing one of the last episodes of In Justice before it goes on "hiatus". I'm surprised at this, considering that ABC has been touting the show as the highest rated new drama on Friday nights. That, and I never had a chance to warm up to the show.

Or, this could be all bogus and we could be talking about the show ten years from now and how it jumped the shark in season seven when it became a three-camera, studio audience sitcom. 

Despite the speculation, I shall plow ahead. This week the focus is on Constance Zimmer's character Brianna. What I didn't realize last episode was that Brianna, as well as Jon (Daniel Cosgrove) and Sonya (Marisol Nichols) are attorneys at the National Justice Project. Charles Conti (Jason O'Mara) is the exception; he's a former cop.

I didn't set out to watch In Justice, and the last thing I need is another courtroom drama to love. But it was Sunday, all of my favorite shows were in re-runs or supplanted by tedious TV movies or double-length episodes of Extreme Makeover, my boys were all feverish, and I wanted to do nothing for a while. And so, I didn't change the channel from the very dull Desperate Housewives recap.

And look! There's Kyle MacLachlan, who last played Charlotte's impotent Scottish husband on Sex and the City. And hey! That's Constance Zimmer, who I finally identified as the only reason worth watching the insultingly awful Good Morning Miami. And the criminal who is so grateful to be taken in by the Justice Project - that's one of my faves, she played Sela Ward's sister on the fabulous and much-missed Once and Again. (And if you're still wondering where it is you've seen Marisol Nichols - she played Audrey Griswold on Vegas Vacation. *groan* She's still a hottie, though.)