Conviction

I was able to view a prerelease copy and its great. Glad to see Stephanie March back into action from witness protection program but we do not right away find out why and how she comes back first episode filled with characters you can relate too and a suspenseful twist. The show keeps you on your toes, and not only concentrates on Law and the "business" part of the show, but mostly with individual characters, their emotions within work and social life, and interpersonal relationships inside the bureau. This show is a mix of Grey's Anatomy's (with characters in relationships with fellow colleagues) and the Law and Order franchise's criminal prosecuting.

Always liked this show, but then I had read up on it beforehand and knew that it was not going to be another Law & Order type show. I knew was written for a younger audience than the traditional viewers of the L&O franchise, and that it would be featuring more of the personal lives of the young attorneys. I felt it was a little confused at first, but that it had found its moorings by the close of the season and I was disappointed that it was not renewed for a second season. It had potential. Its two downfalls were, first off, that people who tuned in were probably expecting a Law & Order type show, and when they didn't get it, didn't continue to tune in. Secondly, it also had a deadly timeslot - Saturday night - when many of its target demographic are not watching TV. If you liked the organization of "The Practice", you'd probably enjoy this series. The episodes are:

Pilot - Nick Potter leaves his law firm to join the New York District Attorney's office which is currently investigating a known drug dealer. Meanwhile, Finn loses key evidence for her case. Soon an assistant D.A. is gunned down and it turns out that another A.D.A. might be involved.

Denial - Steele has to prosecute a 14 year old boy as an adult after he killed his brother with a baseball bat. Peluso must investigate why a high school athlete commited a hate crime. Rossi tries to get a prostitute to testify at a sexual assault trial and Finn gets ready for her blind date.

Breakup - Finn has to investigate why a mother said her daughter was dying of cancer because the autopsy done after she supposedly commited suicide proves otherwise. Potter's friend is arrested for cocaine possession, but when his friend comes to him for help, Potter sends him to Desmond. Meanwhile, Cabot begins an anti-drug campaign.

Indebted - Desmond has to prosecute a well-known rap producer who has been charged with murder. Nick Potter goes on a ride along with two ghetto cops, landing Potter in a meeting with Internal Affairs; Jessica Rossi prosecutes a wife beater, while wrestling with the same problem at home, when her mother tells her she's leaving her father for being abusive, and Christina Finn gets caught up in a case with a spoiled diplomat's son and a strip club.

Savasanna - Finn has to deal with a shaken baby case. Even though his boss wants him to settle a case, Potter says no, but wins anyway. Desmond has a one night stand with a woman from the courthouse. Steele ends up canceling a date with Rossi, but then gets intimate with Cabot moments before she makes a big announcement.

Madness - Desmond spends time working in a psychiatric ward. Peluso is pressured by his newly reunited girlfriend. Finn is loaned out to a cruel prosecutor. Potter fills in for Desmond on a bail reduction case with terrible results. Rossi deals with a family battle concerning a deaf girl's boyfriend stabbing her father.

True Love - Potter ends up being beaten at gunpoint after trying to get a witness to testify. Rossi's case involves a model who says she was assaulted by a well-known professional. Finn meets a hot, young doctor when he becomes her star witness for her latest case.

Downhill - Potter lands an easy case - until a priest wants the charges dropped. Cabot takes the defendant in a case Rossi is prosecuting for an insurance fraud case. Desmond's decision to work with an exclusive men's club comes with a price. Finn deals with a landlord/tenant lawsuit.

The Wall - Desmond and Steele have a tough time prosecuting a case in which a teen died while playing the "choking game". Peluso faces the blue wall when he tries to prosecute a cop killer. Cabot sends Finn and Potter to acting class in the hopes it will improve their appearances in court. Meanwhile, Rossi tries to deal with her very dysfunctional family.

Deliverance - Steele has to go head-to-head with a respected female attorney who defends herself after she is accused of killing her husband.

Indiscretion - The victim's father stands in the way of Steele prosecuting a case. Potter ends up bungling an easy drug case he took from Rossi. Desmond's case involves an Upper West Side couple and a fortune teller. Finn and Peluso have what they call an "almost" date.

180.80 (Finale Part 1) - A young woman is discovered murdered shortly after she was seen leaving a local bar. Soon, the bar's bouncer is accused of her death.

Hostage (Finale Part 2) - The two murder suspects violently take control over the courthouse and end up taking several members of the DA's office hostage while trying to negotiate their escape with the police.

Conviction is a spin off of the Law and Order series. I am a personal favorite of Law and Order, and Law and Order:SVU, I've seen Criminal Intent and it is good, but I prefer the other two. When I saw this show advertised I thought I'd give it a try to see how I would like it.

As I watched it, I have to say, it was a little slow to start, but I did enjoy it. I love that Stephanie March returned and has reprized her role as Alexandra Cabbot from SVU. She was a great ADA on SVU and now she carries that over to Conviction. There are a lot of up and comer actors/actresses and I really think that if NBC gives it a shot, it will be a great show.

There are some stories lines that develop romantic relationships which looks like the difference between the other shows in the Law and Order series. They don't seem to focus on the personal lives of the detectives, the ADA's, the district attorney's, etc. This show doesn't point the spotlight on it, but it does get a little spark, enough to make me want to watch what happens next week.

And it's not just the office romance. The actors in this show really step up with hard shoes to fill. They all seem to have their own personal views on how the law is seen, understood and most of all, how it should be practiced. They step up to help each other and to help the victims they defend in court and most of all, to put away the people who created victims.

This was a good show to watch and with time it will get even better as the stories lines can only get more interesting. If you like any of the Law and Order series shows, you should absolutely check out conviction. I cannot wait to see this show develop. And I've only seen it 1 time.....

I was impressed by this show, of which I've seen two episodes. The theme seems to be that the pace of life and of crime today is so fast that one can no longer seek truth or justice--one must just keep doing what one is doing and perhaps try to be kind to those who can't keep up.

The classic crime show follows the track laid down by Sherlock Holmes and beloved of all mystery readers: the Good Guys are the recurring characters, and they are completely dedicated to Justice, and in each episode/story they track down Bad Guys who have violated the law or morality in some way and try to see that the legal system punishes the Bad Guys for what they have done. Maybe sometimes it turns out that there is no crime actually committed--no Bad Guy this time; maybe sometimes the Bad Guy turns out to be sympathetic and virtuous; sometimes legal system is unable to follow through. But all these conflicts are registered for us through the wisdom of the Good Guys, who represent the desire for Truth and Justice.

In Conviction, the protagonists are not in fact particularly Good Guys. The head of the group of DAs, Cabot, will bend truth, justice, and/or the law to obtain a desirable conviction, and clearly gets a personal thrill not out of Truth or Justice but out of Winning. In another show, she would be shown up as stupid or incompetent, but here she is the smartest and most competent person around. The assistant DAs who make up most of the cast could be divided between those who will bend the law to protect themselves and those who are naively committed to some version of Justice--except that the law-benders have consciences and the committed ones find themselves compromising, and compromised too. Winning a case can be worse than losing one, even if Justice is served for a few minutes in the courtroom. What's more, in some cases even we the audience don't get to know the truth about a case--all we get to know is what the DA knows, and that may not be conclusive.

It is really impressive to have such a large cast, each member with a case, all moving around, bumping into each other, often lying to each other, in one episode. The plot is just a pattern glimpsed in chaos. There is no illusion that when one case ends, the DAs can sit down and congratulate each other; more crime is out there, other cases are bubbling up as the criminals and victims of the preceding one sink into the background. I feel that this could be a very truthful and moral show, precisely because it does not comfort one with the triumph of Truth and Virtue.

In the first episode of a show that I turned on halfway through, the one thing I felt stood out was the acting of a few members of the cast...I felt that they portrayed an amateur or younger lawyer or DA perfectly in comparison to what we see on Law and Order. As for the rest of the show, it is different enough from the other Dick Wolf stuff that I find it more than interesting and will be marking this on the list for next week's show.

I realize that 12 or so years ago this show might not have legs, but compared to what we see now, this makes the short list with The Shield, The Office, and My Name Is Earl as shows to watch in 2006 for me!!!