New York, cour de justice

I am a huge fan of the all the different Law and Order shows. Of course, my favorite would have to be SVU.

When Trial by Jury came out I thought I would give it a try and really fell in love with it. The main actress Bebe Neuwirth is amazing - I believe she has been in a few of the other Law and Orders for small parts. Over time, I actually found I began to like it better than even Criminal Intent.

Without trying to sound too dramatic, I must admit I am a little frustrated they decided to cancel it. It didn't really have a fair chance I felt and especially for the time frame. Perhaps statistics show differently... I don't know, but to me... Friday night TV can't be good at 10pm - a lot of people are out on the town then.

Trial By Jury failed to live up to its potential. The first few episodes held out the promise of an in-depth look at how the legal system works from all angles, including the jury, but this was quickly altered to a focus on the Bebe Neuwirth character and her investigators. In effect, it became an hour-long version of the second half of the original L&O. Still, the show was interesting and entertaining, and its crossovers with other L&O shows were fun. I enjoyed Neuwirth, both her acting and her character. I wasn't put off at all by her terse manner or cynicism, and I think she had pretty good chemistry with her female sidekick. Some of the story lines did seem to be retreads of stories from other L&O shows, but if the writers could have managed to overcome that trend, and stayed true to the show's original potential, then it might have been another strong entry in the L&O franchise.

I do have to say, however, that even though I liked the show, the fact that its creativity started waning after a few episodes caused me to be less disappointed by its cancellation than I might have been. Jerry Orbach, who was intended to be a regular on the show playing Lenny Briscoe, could have been the sympathetic character this show was missing, but his worsening illness and then death put an end to those plans and probably this show. He was only able to show up during the first two episodes, and even then he looked quite ill. These days, networks aren't generally willing to give a series time to come into its own. If you don't produce ratings in the first half dozen outings, its generally cancellation time.

Law And Order: Trial By Jury is the spin off that didn't sell. Sad it only lasted for not even one season.

It seemed to have everything going for it, a good team of ADAs with Bebe Neuwirth and Amy Carlson as her second chair. Above all it had as an original team of investigators of Kirk Acevedo and the most popular of all the Law And Order characters, Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe.

I don't know if Orbach was sick or even knew how sick he was with the cancer that killed him when he signed for the spin off. In Law And Order prime, his character Lennie Briscoe said he was putting his papers in and was thinking of joining the District Attorney's own squad of investigators.

Orbach only completed two episodes and it was painful to look at him in these episodes that aired after he passed away. It's possible that people who wanted more of Lennie Briscoe just were turned off by the sight of him and no one could really take his place. And he certainly wasn't going to be making return appearances like Carey Lowell and Richard Brooks who were former second chair ADAs.

Such a pity this show didn't take or people rejected it after Orbach died. The team of Neuwirth and Carlson were good, I'm surprised that neither was picked up and made appearances on SVU, Criminal Intent or Law And Order prime.

I have watched almost every episode of TBJ that has aired since it came on and I believe that has given me enough time to make a fair judgement on this show. I've liked it from the very first episode and one of the major reasons why I've liked it is because it focuses entirely on the order side of things. Now I know with a name Trial By Jury that is expected but it not only looks from the prosecutors point of view (which is all wee see on the other 3 L&O installments) but we also see it from the defence side of view too. Defence lawyers meeting with their clients, counseling them on their trials. It is very interesting. I give it 7/10 so far. It has held my interest and I look forward to seeing what else it can offer.

The original Law & Order was 50-50 a cop/lawyer show. SVU is 90% cops. This one is 90% lawyers. The biggest innovation is that we get to be a fly on the wall as the defense attorney plots his/her defense, which has absolutely nothing to do with truth or guilt. It's all playing the system. Tony Bill, in the premiere, calmly describes how he killed the victim and the attorney, Annabella Sciorra simply listens as if this is background information that might come up in the trial and have to be dealt with.

I'm a big Perry Mason fan, where the hero is obsessed with truth and guilt and all his clients are innocent, so this is quite a change. Mason represents what we'd like our justice system to be about. However Sciorra represents who we would want to hire if we committed a crime. She clearly sees her job as getting her clients off: that's what she's paid to do.

Frankly, I think the accused has a right to an aggressive defense that forces the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a shadow of doubt. But if the lawyer knows the client is guilty, responsibility should shift to dealing with extenuating circumstances that might lead to a self-defense or insanity plea or a reduced sentence. That might be better for the client than insisting on a not guilty verdict. And what must the feeling be for a lawyer who knows he/she got a guilty man off. If it's one of satisfaction, there is something wrong.

As to the show, it's promising. I'm hoping that not all defendants turn out to be guilty, (even though all of Perry's clients were innocent), as it kind of sends the wrong message. One of the things I liked about the original show is that they weren't always right and they didn't always win.