Reply #22: Years ago, the lawyer shows were about defense lawyers as heroes

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

Shows like The Defenders, Matlock, and Perry Mason featured criminal defense lawyers who were the heroes. The shows were oriented not around getting criminals off on a technicality but in proving that the prosecution had wrongfully accused an individual. These TV lawyers were protecting their clients' constitutional rights against an oppressive authoritarian system of law. The Defenders in particular avoided simple stances on cases and didn't show the legal process as all black and white. Instead, The Defenders brought out the ambiguities inherent in the law and in right and wrong, stressing the uncertain and fleeting nature of justice before the law.

Personally, I love Law And Order, but it's the first half that I really like. I love detective stories and I really enjoy the writing of the show. I think the plots are usually clever. The second half involving the prosecution is also interesting but I keep waiting for them to show the accused as a wrongfully accused person whose rights have been trampled. I don't think I've seen that in many episodes at all. The prosecution on Law And Order is shown to be white knights whereas in real life DAs are often shady overly-ambitious characters and game-playing liars just as much as the criminal defense lawyers. Usually, by the time the trial part of Law And Order starts, we know the accused is guilty and it's just a matter of outsmarting them and their attorney in the courtroom, usually by digging up new evidence. We always seem to be pulling for the the conviction of the accused on that show, whersas in shows like The Defenders, Perry Mason, and Matlock, the audience was always pulling for the accused.

I think it's interesting to note how in the 1960s, a truly outstanding and extremely well-acted lawyer show like The Defenders (one of the best TV shows ever) was decidedly liberal. Whereas, Law and Order tends to be a bit more conservative. Of course it's the result of the fact that one show had the defense as the protagonist whereas the more modern show has the prosecution as the protagonist. I wonder if a lawyer show today where the criminal defense attorneys are its heroes could attain the success of Law And Order.