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'Conviction': Think 'L&O' without grown-ups
"Conviction" premieres tonight (Friday), here is another review! J. August Richards and Eric Balfour star in this newest "Law & Order" spin-off! |
Ellen Gray | 'Conviction': Think 'L&O' without grown-ups
CONVICTION. 10 p.m.
Channel 10.
 BE CAREFUL what you ask for.
For years, some "Law & Order" fans have longed to know a little bit more about the private lives of the prosecutors whose cases they follow so avidly, but "L&O"-meister Dick Wolf and his team have dished out the details sparingly.
And occasionally, jarringly, as when viewers learned that ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) was a lesbian only as she was on her way out the door.
"Law & Order" and its spinoffs, we've been reminded repeatedly, are more about the plotting than the people.
Which is why Wolf isn't putting the "L&O" label on his latest spinoff, "Conviction," which premieres tomorrow night.
"It's multiple storylines and it's character-driven, which is the exact opposite of what the branded shows are," Wolf told reporters in January.
That "Conviction," which focuses on young prosecutors, is also much lighter on the middle-aged people who populate Wolf's other shows is more than a happy accident. NBC, which targets the under-50 set, would dearly love a legal drama that skewed younger. Wolf, who says the average New York prosecutor is 28, is in a position to oblige.
So while you'll see crusty old Fred Thompson as District Attorney Arthur Branch on a TV set in "Conviction's" premiere, the weekly role of grownup has been allocated to the much-younger Stephanie March, whose former "L&O: SVU" character, Alexandra Cabot, is apparently out of witness protection and back to work as a bureau chief.
I'm pretty sure she's the designated grownup because in the two episodes I've seen, hers is the only private life that doesn't seem ripe for extended discussion.
You want driven characters? "Conviction's" got 'em: young ADAs driven by lust, love, greed, ambition, you name it.
Unused as the "L&O" folks are to playing on the character-driven side of the fence, they do seem to hit more than the average number of cliches along the way, and I doubt you'll encounter a situation in "Conviction" that some Steven Bochco series hasn't already explored pretty thoroughly.
But they're pretty people, just about all of them. I mean, I watched more episodes than I care to admit of the WB's dreadful "The Mountain" just to see Anson Mount - who had considerably better stuff to do in ABC's "Line of Fire" - so I'm happy to see him as Cabot's deputy.
Of course, we'll be seeing a lot more of him than we would have if he'd been working on the mothership, where the ADAs tend to remain fully clothed at all times.
| | [by roadi (Philly.com) ] [0 comments]
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