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An ensemble legal drama from longtime public defender and “Indefensible” author David Feige, “Raising The Bar” looks at how justice is dispensed in The Bronx’s courtrooms. It begins as “L.A. Law” did so long ago, with a lawyer dropping dead on the job and the chain of events his passing sets off. “L.A. Law” creator Stephen Bochco serves as showrunner, but his name is not on the first teleplay.
The series’ large-ish cast includes Melissa Sagemiller (“Sleeper Cell,” “Mr. Woodcock”), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (“NYPD Blue”), Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”), J. August Richards (“Angel,” “Conviction”), Gloria Reuben (“ER,” “The Agency”) and Jonathan Scarfe (“ER”).
As one reads the reviews, one pictures many a critic looking at many a wristwatch.
TV Guide gives it a 3 (out of 10) and says:
… shockingly ordinary … A whiff of mildew permeates this earnest ensemble piece …
Entertainment Weekly gives it a “C-plus” and says:
… Charge this one with trying too hard.
USA Today says:
… so slow to start, it might as well be in reverse. The first episode is, simply, flat-out terrible. Which is why, if you're a Bochco fan, you'd be wise to wait for the fourth episode, when Bar moves to mediocre. …
The Wall Street Journal says:
… Despite its updated gloss and cast, in fact, "Raising the Bar" doesn't really break a mold.
The Associated Press says:
… don't be misled. "Raising the Bar" is no breakthrough. … it's dismaying that a series from the man who helped forge TV's future feels like a relic from his past.
The Wall Street Journal says:
… Despite its updated gloss and cast, in fact, "Raising the Bar" doesn't really break a mold. …
The New York Times says:
… liking your job doesn’t necessarily mean you will be good at dramatizing it. … Jerry himself, with his untucked shirts and ties knotted at his rib cage, is such a drag, such a dopey vessel for the show’s naïve rants about the primacy of truth, that I was begging for someone to send him away and submit him to the torture of taking the bar exam in the 49 remaining states.
The Los Angeles Times says:
… an underwhelming new legal drama … It's not all bad, but nothing in it argues that it needed to be made other than to give the people who made it something to do. It's a mediocre misfire in which the odd good parts beg for a better home.
The Chicago Tribune says:
… None of these thinly drawn characters is compelling, and the entire production feels dated and melodramatic. …
The Washington Post says:
… entertaining in a facile way and populated with characters who quickly establish moderately engaging identities. Dull, it's not. …
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:
… as pedestrian as cable dramas come. Executive producer Steven Bochco seems stuck in his old ways, like a dog who refuses to learn new tricks. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… Though tonight's pilot barely works on any level and tries so hard to please and be edgy that it may end up alienating people, future episodes do get better. Not better enough to be gold standards in the genre - we haven't seen a good legal drama in some time, from Bochco or others - but the series fits squarely within the parameters of a TNT series. Meaning it's good, not great. Or at least it gets good enough for TNT, eventually. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… as pedestrian as cable dramas come. … feels like an attempt at a '90s-era edgy prime-time drama whose time has past. …
The Boston Herald says:
… The cast is weighted with familiar faces, but even its collective talent can’t overcome the shoddy scripts. … Never has the justice system looked so silly. …
The Boston Globe says:
… More like lowering the bar. … hackneyed legal drama … Who ever thought Bochco would be serving up stale David E. Kelley? …
Variety says:
… doesn't so much raise the bar on courtroom series as gently limbo under it. … The premise of ambitious but idealistic young legal eagles battling blind and uncaring justice certainly dovetails with TNT's preference for meat-and-potatoes dramas. It's just that the well-trodden formula can't help but feel a trifle musty. … there's no escaping a nagging sense that the series springs from a well-worn playbook …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… a solid legal drama with several appealing characters and above-average dialogue. …
10 p.m. Monday. TNT.
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