PILOT REVIEW: Proven Innocent

PROVEN INNOCENT

Starring: Rachelle Lefevre, Russell Hornsby, Vincent Kartheiser, Nikki M. James, Riley Smith, Clare O'Connor, and Kelsey Grammer

Created by David Elliot
Written by David Elliot, Directed by Patricia Riggen

IN SHORT: Conviction with more conviction

THE PREMISE:
Madeline Scott (Rachelle Lefevre) was wrongfully accused of murdering her best friend alongside her brother, Levi (Riley Smith). After spending ten years in prison, she emerged with a new degree and mission and now runs a wrongful conviction law firm alongside associates Ezekiel (Russell Hornsby), Bodie (Vincent Kartheiser), and Violet (Nikki M. James). Through their clients, they are trying to take down Gore Bellows (Kelsey Grammar), who put Madeline behind bars and is now running for governor. There are also many flashbacks to young Madeline (Clare O'Connor).

THE REVIEW:
I was pleasantly surprised by Proven Innocent and interested to see that it appears to be serial in nature than a "case of the week" show - or at least that seemed to be the case in the pilot. That doesn't mean this is a world class drama by any means. It's still predictable, it still takes tremendous leaps in logic like all crime dramas do. I also had low expectations but it did exceed those expectations for what it's worth. It has a potentially compelling through line and back story that could be quite interesting or could turn out to be a lot of the same.

A big get for this show was Kelsey Grammer, who brings some gravitas to the show and is a larger than life personality for a role that's very well suited for him. Not that the rest of the cast isn't solid, but Grammer's presence almost seemed to legitimize the show even though Grammer has been in a few stinkers himself. I'm not totally sold on Rachelle Lefevre in the main role, but I thought she was alright. The rest of the supporting cast is solid though I always wonder how someone like Vincent Kartheiser must feel after being in one of the greatest TV dramas of all time (Mad Men) and now on a sleepy Friday night network drama that isn't terrible but of course is no Mad Men.

I was interested in the concept of 2016's Conviction, but it ended up being a terrible show. This show has a similar premise and at least at first glance, was a better show. The tighter and more interesting back story helped here as well as a "case of the week" that had some compelling moments. I still rolled my eyes a few times at how conveniently and quickly they were able to crack the case, but I guess you have to go in expecting that to an extent. I think the idea of wrongful convictions is a very rich place to explore for a weekly TV drama. Proven Innocent might be up to the task and it might not be. I could see it going either way.

BOTTOM LINE:
In a very sleepy timeslot on a network that is only decreasing their scripted offerings, it seems extremely unlikely that we'll see very many episodes of Proven Innocent so we may never know what actually happened in the back story.