Witness to Murder: A Darrow mystery

6/10 - a worthwhile addition to the captivating legal/mystery Darrow & Darrow franchise

Hallmark used to stand for the highest of high quality programming. A Hallmark Special was something my parents always let me stay up for. However, after watching the "movie", it is a shame to see they have sunk to the lowest of lows. There's no mystery here, only bad writing, bad acting, bad storytelling, and the cheapest production values I've ever seen. I guess I'm just an old fuddie duddie but after watching this, it makes me long for the good old days of Hallmark.

I'm one that cares less about plot than the actors involved. Love the 3 main , and the intro of new policewoman is excellent.

Kimberly Williams-Paisley and her mother Wendy Malick are leaving a meeting when while getting into their vehicle they see someone from a car firing a weapon at the other attorney they were meeting with. The other attorney is wounded and his paralegal/chauffeur is killed.

A woman the Darrows know is the chief , but they don't believe it for a second and they become her defense lawyers. Complicating things further is that prosecutor Tom Cavanaugh and Williams-Paisley are starting to date. A little reference to the classic Tracy/Hepburn comedy Adam's Rib.

I have to tell you I had this one figured almost immediately and I think any decent mystery buff will figure it faster than I did.

Still good entertainment value though.

OK, I (fortunately) only caught the last half of this "movie". I was surfing through and saw Wendie Malick, and stopped to watch. Then I made the mistake of leaving the sound on.

I have seen the main three leads in many other shows, so I know they do know how to act.

That leaves the "writer" and "director", if they can really be described as such.

The worst was the writing. It is like the writer has heard a few commercials for other much better lawyer shows, and thought they knew how to write a courtroom drama. Hint, next time, watch the entire show, you might learn how a courtroom drama should be written.

The worst example - When the prosecutor calls the police lieutenant as a witness to supposedly describe the trajectory of the bullets, the lieutenant says only a few words, and the defense does no cross examination. This should have been a crucial part of the case, and it was nothing.

Three stars only because they hired Wendie Malick, and at least gave her some decent lines. Otherwise, one star or less.

No spoilers here, it is hard to spoil something so badly written.