The reason why I wanted to watch Justice was because of Victor Gerber. He's such a strong presence on the small screen (see: Alias), I was pretty sure that with him in the lead and the fact that it's Jerry Bruckheimer series (see: CSI and Without a Trace), Justice was gonna be a powerful drama, and not just your average legal TV series (of which there are plenty). I was wrong. (And when will I ever learn that not all JB series' are supposedly with substance?!)Take away the cool special effects, the show is reduced to just that --- average. The stories or cases are old and there is nothing extra-ordinary about it. It's been done on TV many times before. The writing also isn't smart. Some lines state the obvious, spoon feeding the viewers instead of giving us the chance to figure it out for ourselves. e.g. "Alden take the physical evidence. Nobody does scientific evidence like yours, it scares experts more." That line was said 15 minutes into the program. It wasn't a creative way of introducing the characters to the viewers but it did save a lot of time for character establishment. :P
The only thing that's original and fresh about this series is the way they show how the crime actually happened in the end of each episode.
And let me state the obvious copies to House, MD:
1. Ron Trott (Victor Gerber), the big-shot lawyer, a celebrity in his own right, is characterized as cocky, irascible and nasty.
2. Ron Trott works with three colleagues, all younger and all learning from his years of experience:
- the token Black Guy, Luther (played Eamonn Walker). He's the guy who breaks down the cases into categories; the nitpicker or something like that, so that they have a better understanding of the evidence and leads.
- the token cute guy, Tom (Kerr Smith). The "good-looking all American face of Not Guilty" he does most of the talking in court. Because he's such a cutie, jurors are meant to be drawn to him. He is in fact the star of the show, not Gerber's character...who is reduced to merely a supporting cast in my view.
- the token cute but smart girl, Alden (Rebecca Mader). She's is the re-enactment expert. Here is where the CSIsh procedural scenes come in, when she shows how the crime happened, complete with experts' collaboration, videos and props.
Not a loss to TV at all. ;)
Justice
Season 1
Original Airing: August-December 2006
Network: Fox
