‘BLUFF CITY LAW’ ON NBC NETWORK

We’re no longer in the era of “Perry Mason” even though it remains a pleasure to catch episodes of Raymond Burr in the titular role of the Los Angeles criminal defense attorney working for the accused both inside and outside the courtroom.

One of the longest-running legal drama series, “Perry Mason” had to be appointment viewing during the golden age of television when only a handful channels were available, unlike today’s surfeit of options.

In today’s climate, there is absolutely no good reason to calendar your favorite network programs for a set time on a weekly basis.

Streaming is so common that you can pick up a show like “Bluff City Law” to watch weeks or even months after the season premiere.

The question to ask is whether the return of Jimmy Smits to the courtroom is worth the effort. Granted, he has the chops for this type of role. After all, Smits was Victor Sifuentes, an attorney involved in plenty of hot-topic issues in the long-running “L.A. Law” series.

In “Bluff City Law,” Smits’ Elijah Strait is a prominent attorney heading up a Memphis law firm that for the most part represents the little guy fighting the system or some faceless corporate entity willfully engaged in bad behavior.

For some odd reason, some of the best legal dramas involve a bunch of lawyers that aren’t particularly likable. I’m thinking of how much I enjoyed the long run of “Suits” on the USA cable network.

Honestly, a show like “Suits” worked even though most of the lawyers were either devious, duplicitous, bad-tempered, egotistical, emotionally distant, abusive to clerks or terribly flawed in too many ways to count.

Elijah Strait has his own set of problems, namely that he’s estranged from his lawyer-daughter Sydney Strait (Caitlin McGee) who once worked in the family firm but left to work for what a plaintiff lawyer would call the “dark side.”

A tough corporate attorney, Sydney demonstrates in the series’ early stages that she’s fearless in the courtroom and shows no compunction about going for the jugular to crush a hapless victim hoping for a payday from a company with deep pockets.

The fight for social justice is apparently not exactly on Sydney’s agenda, but she does take great offense that her father was a serial philanderer, an unfortunate circumstance that caused her to take her talents elsewhere.

After barely speaking to her father for years, Sydney is suddenly thrust back into the family fold when her mother, who also worked at the firm, passes away unexpectedly.

The funeral brings father and daughter face-to-face after years of estrangement, and Elijah begs Sydney to return to fight for what’s right and to “change the world.” What’s left unsaid is giving up the big bucks of corporate work for the satisfaction of sticking up for principles.

During the summer TV press tour, executive producer Dean Georgaris intimated the series would strike a balance between legal cases and personal issues, but then added the first big case would be inspired by Monsanto’s legal troubles.

Once Sydney, despite the lingering resentment and distrust of her father, takes the plunge back into the family business, she proves that her killer instinct is very much in play going up against a corporate malefactor.

Fireworks fly in the courtroom, and Sydney crosses the line when she challenges what appear to be biased rulings issued by the judge and ends up held in contempt of court and forced into a timeout in a jail cell.

The case involves a manufacturer of an agricultural product that has caused one man to have terminal cancer. Now she’s fighting for the little guy in a death match contest with corporate titans.

It won’t take too much brainpower to figure out the end game of this courtroom battle. The fun part is watching the Strait family team maneuvering through the procedural aspects of the law.

In the end, that’s exactly what “Bluff City Law” has to offer, namely a procedural legal drama with few surprises. I prefer a show like “Suits” where it was often a puzzle as how the sharp lawyers would get out of legal jams.

What “Bluff City Law” has going for it is the steady hand of Jimmy Smits at the helm. But is it enough to carry the series for the long run, let alone even one season? I am thinking the odds are not in the show’s favor.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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Written by: Tim Riley

Published: 16 November 2019