Drama

Steven Bochco has amassed quite a nice little television empire over the years. He’s one of the most award winning producers in television history. He cut his teeth on Columbo and has never looked back. You know his work, or at least you’ve heard of it: Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue are the most famous of these works. Bochco wrote the book on the ensemble police and legal drama. He counts as his students Dick Wolf and David E. Kelley, both of whom got their start working on Bochco shows. He’s had a few misses, to be sure. Does anybody out there remember Cop Rock? I didn’t think so. But, it’s been a little while since Bochco has graced the small screen, so it was with some eager anticipation that I attacked the new DVD release of his latest series, Raising The Bar.

The series involves a group of young folks in the legal profession. Some work in the public defender’s office. Some work for the prosecution. The catch is that they were all college buddies and attempt to keep the camaraderie together outside of the courtroom. Needless to say, it doesn’t work most of the time, as their interests often conflict. The characters include: Jerry Kellerman (Gosselaar). Jerry’s a character you’ve seen a hundred times before. He’s young, rather unkempt, and too principled for his own good. Yes, the series starts out with him willing to go to jail on contempt charges before bowing down to the tyrannical judge. He often faces Michelle Ernhardt (Sagemiller) who is determined to prove she’s more than just a pretty face in the courtroom. She’s desperate for respect, so winning becomes something of an obsession. It doesn’t help that, as the series begins, Bochco has them in one of his trademark opposite sides romances that he appears to plant in every series he’s ever done. The two are often refereed by Judge Kessler (Kaczmarek). She’s a rather morally bankrupt individual with political designs of her own. She doesn’t appear to think that the courtroom is any place for such quaint ideals such as fundamental fairness or justice. Of course, that sets the stage for many of Jerry’s dramatic stands. The public defenders are led by Roz (Whitman), who is rarely in the courtroom and is more of an administrator and shoulder to cry on. Then there’s Richard Wooslsley (Sears). He’s the mandatory rich kid who is rebelling against his father’s establishment mentality. So he works in the public defender’s office instead of in his dad’s political machine. Charlie (Scarfe) is the judge’s clerk and attempts to be the conscience she doesn’t have on her own. He flirts with her to manipulate her but is secretly gay, which is going to cause its own special set of problems. It seems that Angel’s Gunn (Richards) kept the legal knowledge he received through a spell at the infamous evil law firm on Angel. He’s now Marcus McGrath, but make no mistake. He’s still Gunn. He’s the smartest of the group and the most unfeeling. He constantly wants to prove he can overlook race and poverty in his cases and so is extra tough wanting to put them all away. He’s the ace prosecutor here. The prosecutors are led by Nick Balco (Graham) who doesn’t think guilt or innocence should play a part in the equation. It’s a constant source of irritation to him that these young lawyers try so hard to be friends.