Lawyers Pick Favorite TV Shows

Is nothing sacred? Aren’t lawyers and law journals supposed to be humorless and stuffy? The axiom that things might not be what they appear to be has come to the fore again with an announcement today from the American Bar Association Journal of its 25 all-time favorite TV law shows.

Heck, just the fact that the ABA Journal is doing something like this makes me feel I’ve been misjudging lawyers. Of course, it is the summer, a traditionally slow time for magazines. Still…

The interesting thing, though, is that the “jury” of 9 lawyers, 2 academics and a TV critic who made the picks chose some good old shows, some barely legal shows (OK, no jokes on that, please) like its #6 choice, Ally McBeal (1997-02), and yes, a few comedies. Lawyers as funny people. Who knew?

Its #10 choice, for example, was Night Court (1984-92), starring Harry Anderson as the Hon Judge Harry T. Stone, Jon Larroquette as attorney Dan Fielding and the incomparable Richard Moll as officer “Bull” Shannon.

A few cable originals made the list, too, like FX’s excellent Damages (#9), starring Glenn Close. They also chose, at #16, Cartoon Net’s hilarious Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, which ran for 7 years on the network, beginning in 2000. Harvey (voiced by Gary Cole, who’s now got a part in HBO’s Entourage) switched to the law after retiring from his first career as a superhero. His practice included helping settle cases for cartoon characters.

I was shocked, pleasantly, when one of my favorite series, legal or not, the British-made Rumpole of the Bailey (1978-92), came in at #7. Rumpole was an eccentric barrister who always defended, never prosecuted. His clientele generally were petty criminals, with a murderer or two thrown in for good measure.

The top shows? LA Law (1986-94), Perry Mason (1957-66) and The Defenders (1961-65).

My only gripe with their list is its exclusion of one of the best series to ever grace the small screen, Hill Street Blues. Sure it was mainly a police show, but there was plenty of legal (and illegal) action in it, including the steamy, semi-secret affair between police Capt Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) and district attorney Joyce Davenport (Veronica Hamel). It’s still one of the best written series ever. I guess the lawyers didn’t think so.