PILOT REVIEW: Outlaw

OUTLAW

 

Starring: Jimmy Smits, Carly Pope, David Ramsey, Jesse Bradford, Ellen Woglom

Created by John Eisendrath

Written by John Eisendrath, Directed by Terry George

Jimmy Smits, well-known for his performances in LA Law, NYPD Blue, and The West Wing, returns to TV as gambling and womanizing Supreme Court Justice Cyrus Garza who abruptly quits the Supreme Court in order to "change it." A staunch conservative justice, we learn early on that Garza's liberal activist father was killed in a car crash a year before that Garza survived and his father believed Garza knows he's wrong about his conservative rulings. He goes back to practicing law and forms his team to find cases he is passionate about. This begins in the pilot where a death row inmate is granted a new trial by Garza as justice. When he quits the Court, he spends the rest of the episode as the man's lawyer, fighting to prove his innocence.

Smits is charismatic and fun to watch as Garza but unfortunately that's about all the good things I can about this escapist and preachy melodrama. From the cliche start where it's implied that Garza sleeps with an adversary he just met from the ACLU to the overall premise, it's not TV's next great legal drama. The show can't seem to decide if it wants to be a character drama or a procedural and fails to develop as either in the pilot. Outside of Garza, the rest of the cast feel like cookie cutter characters that the audience finds no connection to. The writer tries to drum up sexual tension between the conservative Eddie Franks (Jesse Bradford) and the vampy Lucinda Pearl (Carly Pope) but it falls flat and comes off contrived. Perhaps the most ridiculous moment comes when Garza's assistant Mereta Stockman (Ellen Woglom), mistakenly believing Garza has three months to live based on a conversation she overheard, professes her love to him in the courthouse lobby. What is this, a 1970s sitcom? What a crazy misunderstanding! The case itself could have been engrossing but does not have time to develop. Although there is a decent twist in it, it's hard to get wrapped up or care about what happens to the accused. One other positive thing to note is that Outlaw seems to be produced better than your average procedural with attractive backgrounds, good sets, and good lighting.

Outlaw isn't likely to be one of Fall 2010's hits in a sleepy Friday night timeslot and with critics already blasting it. Word is they will be covering current events (including Arizona's immigration debate in episode 2) and that could help the cases aspects of the episode. But unless the writing and supporting cast get better, it will go nowhere. If it weren't for Jimmy Smits, it would have potential to be beyond horrendous but he manages to make it at least bearable with a winning performance in a bad show. He deserves better.