'Harry's Law' - 'Pilot': In the ghetto
What did everybody think of the new David E. Kelley drama?
"Harry's Law."
Credit: NBC
I offered my review of "Harry's Law" yesterday. Now it's your turn. What did you think of Kathy Bates, Nate Corddry, Brittany Snow, designer shoes and the usual David E. Kelley shenanigans?
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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January 18, 2011 at 12:05AM EST Reply to CommentMan, Alan, you weren't kidding about the setting. This looks like Sesame Street.
Mike
January 18, 2011 at 12:09AM EST Reply to CommentI actually really enjoyed it despite the Sepinwall pre-hate, which usually ends up swaying my opinion in that direction. I understand that it's completely off the wall but I can use a change of pace show like this in the age of all the amazing dramas on cable.
Jim G.
January 18, 2011 at 12:20AM EST Reply to CommentI actually kind of liked the characters played by Kathy Bates and Brittany Snow. But the whole premise and backdrop of the show is ridiculous.
January 18, 2011 at 12:56AM EST Reply to CommentKathy Bates' low key performance is out of order, the random character shifts are out of order, this whole show is out of order!
matt s
January 18, 2011 at 4:05AM EST Reply to Commentliked the first 20 minutes or so and then when it went to the courtroom it got really bad really fast.
oh man. i'll give it another week but if the courtroom stuff is as awwwful as this was i don't think this'll be a regular
(I actually think this'll be a hit for NBC---it seems like something that people will end up liking---and with hawaii 5-0 underperforming and castle being in reruns this should net nbc more viewers then chase at the least.)
all that said---i really thought the set-up actually worked in spire of the complete thrown together of it all---i even kind of liked how quickly everyone accepted Corddry working for Bates just cause he wants to. That's the best character motivation for wanting to anything ever---how many times in life have you done something just cause you felt like it? exactly. i don't know i was fine with it.
seriously at the first ad break my mom came down to see if i was watching it (cause i'm usually with castle) and she was all like you know this could actually be good---sadly all that good will evaporated by the end---the funny thing is---someone could make the comparison to boston legal but the thing is--the opposing counsel was never THIS what are the words? simplisitc with their arguments? such obvious strawmen? i don't know--i just know i was gritting my teeth getting through it---the courtroom scenes on RAISTING THE BAR were more suspenseful.
Still if he can raise the level of writing in the back half--this could turn into another hit for him.
matt s also Bates is choosing to play it low key i think because if this does turn into a drama that runs several years she's gonna want the room to explore her character i imagine. I love Shatner but i somehow doubt that was ever a concern for him even if his character was less exuberent on the practice episodes denny crane were first featured in.
January 18, 2011 at 4:07AM ESTchudleycannonfodder During Boston Legal I kept thinking that William Shatner/Denny Crane could actually die at any moment, and that Shatner wanted his character to go out as crazy as possible.
January 18, 2011 at 3:02PM ESTA.P.
January 18, 2011 at 6:23AM EST Reply to CommentI only tried watching this because I read the review, and thought "well Alan didn't like it, but I'll see what it's really like."
I have to say, the review was 100% spot on. I couldn't even finish it though, by the 5th slow panning in on some character with some cheesy music playing I just couldn't take it. It wasn't trying to be meta or anything with that stuff, it was just a callback to early 90's television.
Just bad.
Oh, and that street shot where the Coudory was scared by the neighborhood's inhabitants was really funny. Mainly because from the opening I thought that street looked like a nice little neighborhood, newly planted trees, clean sidewalks some people strolling around. But then they did that shot that completely negated the scenes with Kathy Bates walking around and getting jumped on/hit. I guess there are just some magic drug dealers and very clean looking hookers in the world that can appear and disappear with the blink of an eye.
RAY CARNEY
January 18, 2011 at 7:00AM EST Reply to CommentMy favorite metaphor for thinking about artists is as students and teachers. (Since I'm a teacher, I admit that my occupation probably biases me.)
Like students and teachers, above everything else, real artists must be humble and willing to learn. They must open up themselves and make themselves vulnerable. That's not a very fashionable stance. We live in a culture that's devoted to being "cool," in control, and above-it-all. The goal is to be wised-up and "in" and smart. That's another source of Tarantino's cachet. His movies are so hip and knowing.
Well, I have news for him. Real art is about not knowing. It's about being humble. It's about admitting how little we understand about who we are and what we need or want. The greatest films are made by artists who dare to plunge into their uncertainties, their places of fear and doubt.
klg19
January 18, 2011 at 9:00AM EST Reply to CommentOh my heavens, that was just a train wreck.
I watched it solely because Alan's pre-review really piqued my curiosity. But, Alan, I don't think even your festival of WTF captured the essential WTF-ness of that pilot. WOW.
My eyes were rolling so much I think I may have dislocated one. The visit from the mother to Bates, the decriminalization rant, the emotional rapprochement between the protection thug and Corddry, the judge's turnaround--the bathos was simply overwhelming. How does anyone greenlight something like this? Aren't there producers?
I did like Corddry fake signing "You shot a guy" to the protection racket guy, though.
Every thing else--including the close-up of the green light in the final scene--was just revolting.
Kianna
January 18, 2011 at 11:24AM EST Reply to CommentOh my dear lord that was dreadful. Eye-rolling glurge of the highest order, and very condescending to boot. Kathy Bates is enough to keep me tuning in, though.
It took "Detroit 1-8-7" half a season to tell a compelling story that made me want to tune in next week. I can give "Harry's Law" a few more hours of attention. But I swear, that set could have been built for "West Side Story" - it's that realistic, that evocative of a real city. Now would Harry and crew be Sharks, or Jets?
IreneInIdaho
January 18, 2011 at 12:30PM EST Reply to CommentIt was like an overly long, underly amusing Saturday Night Live sketch!
Dwayne Mendoza
January 18, 2011 at 12:30PM EST Reply to CommentDisclosure: I loathe every project that David E. Kelley has ever been connected with (yes, that includes "Yuppie Lawyers in Heat", which he just wrote for). But I dearly love a good trainwreck.
So, yeah, I watched. I honestly don't get what everyone is worked up about. Yeah, it was ridiculous-- it sucked chrome balls through a garden hose. But all his shows do.
I know David St. Hubbins said "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever". But I'd love to have someone who hated this episode-- and liked the other swill in his oeuvre-- provide a detailed explanation as to why.
What I can see is this. The energy seems to be missing (much like the last Indiana Jones movies). Kathy Bates makes the mistake of trying to play it straight (she really needs the character she played in "Primary Colors").
But the two biggest reasons the show is likely to fail are:
1. In the 20 years since Kelley's work began airing, viewers now have many more options than then used to. Since people are no longer confined to only four channels, they don't need to "settle" for "best available program at 10 PM Monday." For that reason, it;s very likely this show will have more difficulty finding an audience than, say, DOOGIE HOWSER MD.
2. In the past 20 years, TV programs have gotten steadily more absurd and vastly more extreme. If people want to watch geek shows, they can do much better than the silly tropes Kelley trades in.
But the concept that HARRY'S LAW is grotesquely inferior in quality to ALLY MCBEAL? Don't see it.
Dwayne Mendoza "last Indiana Joens movies" should be singular and not plural. I liked the one with Sean Connery very much-- it's the one they did recently with Shia "21st Century Ted McGinley"-- that I was referring to.
January 18, 2011 at 12:33PM ESTklg19 As someone who has liked some Kelley projects and sincerely loathes this one, I'll try to answer your question from paragraph 3:
January 18, 2011 at 8:26PM ESTThis show felt like Kelley's [spectacularly-failing] attempt to be Aaron Sorkin. Where a show like, say, Ally MacBeal, which I watched through the first two or three seasons until it just got too ridiculous, the Harry's Law pilot felt like it was trying to be Socially Relevant and look at Issues. Ally MacBeal never really bothered with Issues (except over-the-top things like Lisa Edelstein being an oppressed tranny); it was satisfied to present its oddball, ridiculous characters and make them the focus of the story. Here, every other scene was trying to Send a Message, and failing miserably. Or laughably.
Does that help?
LJA
January 18, 2011 at 1:58PM EST Reply to CommentWoah, production values were *terrible!*
Barbara
January 18, 2011 at 1:59PM EST Reply to CommentSoooooooooo disappointed.Kathy Bates should never have done this.The court scenes were so stupid and The law was trounced upon.There never should have been any of the political crap spewed,If I wanted to see politics I would have tuned into the talk show channels.Won't watch this one again
bin
January 18, 2011 at 2:46PM EST Reply to CommentI agree with your basic assessment Alan. It was corny and predictable and unrealistic. I've never been a big David Kelly fan and never watched his quirkier offering like Ally McBeal or Boston Legal.
But, I didn't hate it and I think the reason for that is that I enjoyed seeing a fat gray-haired woman with substance as the main character. Kathy Bates has presence and I enjoyed watching her and seeing a 60ish woman take charge of the screen ... that part was refreshing and interesting because of it. Is it enough to make me tune in again? I don't know, but I did appreciate the idea of a lead character that many would dismiss as over and out instead of someone still trying to live a vital life. I probably will try it again because of that.
jan I have to agree. I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. It's not a "must see," but I might watch it from time to time. However, if they have ANY shows where everybody sings (like they constantly did on Ally McBeal), I'm gone.
January 19, 2011 at 9:40AM EST
January 18, 2011 at 3:12PM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed it, yes there are some serious flaws in it, but its only the pilot so I'll give it some to see where David E Kelly goes with it. From what I can remember it takes some time for his stuff to flesh out
IreneInIdaho William Shatner and James Spader certainly "fleshed out" as the seasons of "Boston Legal" wore on . I thought BL was fairly clever for the first few seasons, but by the 3rd or 4th year, I couldn't stand it. Only knew how much Shatner and Spader had "grown" into their roles by passing through the living room while my husband had it on. As for "Harry's Law," once was enough! Too bad, I really do like Kathy Bates and wish she were in a better series.
January 18, 2011 at 4:00PM ESTTodd girth
January 18, 2011 at 5:48PM EST Reply to CommentWould have watched this show if it had kept Lewis Black, whom it was written for
Karen
January 18, 2011 at 11:01PM EST Reply to CommentI tried but turned it off when it turned into someone else's potical views. Don't care or need that.
bob Haven't watched much David E Kelly, haveya, Karen?
January 19, 2011 at 12:16AM EST