What’s it about?

"Murder One" is a high-concept offering from that source of all things dramatic and interesting on American television, Steven Bochco, creator of (amongst other series) "Hill Street Blues", "L.A. Law" and "NYPD Blue".

It is set in a very successful Los Angeles law firm, that in its first season took the daring step of concentrating on one murder, which we followed from its beginnings in the chrome and glass offices of Hoffman and Associates, to its stunning courtroom conclusion.

In the first season we watched events unfold through the eyes of super-attorney Teddy Hoffman, who defends a television and movie star, Neil Avedon, against charges of having murdered fifteen year old Jessica Costello. Ms Costello has not led a sheltered life: her affairs with prominent men accommodate more red herrings than a fish market! Most interesting, and most often implicated as the real murderer, is Richard Cross (played by the marvellous Stanley Tucci – more about him later), a billionaire who was originally charged with the crime. Richard could be a whole other series in himself, but in the end he improbably manages to redeem himself at least enough to make us feel a twinge of compassion for his plight.

Season Two has seen some radical changes in the cast and concept, which is now not quite so "high" (in other words, it wasn’t as successful as Bochco and company hoped, though in Australia it was a big hit). Also, there were several murders to unravel in the course of this television year. Teddy is now gone, which is pretty amazing given the fact that the whole show once revolved around his very bald and very large head (enough cranial space for him to spin a hundred theories over the first season).

In the second season a high-powered prosecutor, James Wyler, leaves his job and stakes his claim on the defence of an alleged assassin of the Governor of California and (you guessed it) his girlfriend/mistress. Once again we meet the prosecutor from the first season, Miriam Grasso, and the power hungry District Attorney who now has the chance to seize the prize (Governorship) he has long coveted. Some of the first season’s Associates are along for the ride, even if their hero Teddy is no longer in the driver’s seat. Returning for the second series are characters Miriam Grasso, Chris Docknovich, Justine Appleton, and Arnold Spivak.

Who's it about?

Bye bye Teddy, hello James Wyler.
Such is the life of a television lawyer. We first see James in action as a prosecutor in court, opposite one of last year’s lawyers, Chris Docknovich. He is quickly punched in the nose by an offended witness - this is what writers call "exposition", where action speaks louder than words. We get the idea immediately that Wyler is not your everyday lawyer (how often does an Australian lawyer get whacked in the face? - not often enough, some of our readers may say!). Wyler soon has even more reason to be angry. We don’t want to say too much, but he will soon leave the District Attorney’s office and find himself on the other end of the bar table. Just a little hint - that awful Roger Garfield, the ambitious DA who wants to be Governor, has a hand in his demise. Will he come to regret it? Anyway, Wyler looks like he might be the goods, but there’s just one credibility problem - he offers to defend the first of this season’s suspects pro-bono (that lawyerspeak means he’ll do it for nothing) - By the way, Wyler has a full head of hair. And he has been known to smile (when was the last time Teddy smiled?)

Ted Hoffman (Defence Attorney) was the Big Cheese, the Head Honcho, the Whole Enchilada, the…you get the idea. Ted was the Boss. Without Teddy in the first series, Neil Avedon would now be making licence plates and watching his back, instead of delicious afternoons in the jacuzzi with his latest Hollywood nymphet. Love him or hate him, you’d beat a path to Teddy’s door if you were ever charged with murder (although here at Law in the Lounge, we might opt for Rumpole, more in line with our Australian style of justice). Unfortunately, Teddy’s absence from the second season was never satisfactorily explained – yes, he’s off somewhere exotic trying to save his marriage, but are we to believe he’s merely left his firm in the charge of the "second team" who wait to be saved by the cavalier Wyler? Here at Law in the Lounge we found this a little hard to swallow.

Miriam Grasso (Assistant District Attorney) is the lead prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office. She’s an absorbing character, not given to the rantings of most television prosecutors. You get the feeling that there’s more in it for Miriam than the thrill of the legal chase, although she clearly has a taste for the notoriety that her high profile cases bring. So she’s a bit of an enigma - would she push as hard if she didn’t believe a defendant was guilty? We’re not sure, but somehow we believe the scales of justice are more than a pretty symbol for her. Win or lose, we know that Miriam will walk away from a case satisfied that she has done her best. Just remember, she likes to see the defending attorneys in her office, where she has the territorial advantage - try to get her on your own turf, okay? Here at Law in the Lounge we like Miriam – silly but true.

Justine Appleton is a lawyer who got up our nose in the first season. She left Teddy’s firm and went to work for the detestable Richard Cross under dubious circumstances. At best she skirted the edge of professional legal ethics. At worst – well, she betrayed Teddy and her principles. In the second series all is forgiven and she is not only back in the bosom of the firm, but she manages to bed the new main man and get the "second chair" into the bargain (that means she sits at Wyler’s right hand side during trials).

Who's who?

Is Anthony LaPaglia the most high profile Australian on American television? LaPlagia plays James Wyler and has been pretty successful since he took up acting. He came to the notice of producers and agents in the U.S. when he starred Off-Broadway - the way so many in television have gotten a break on the small screen. The breakthrough was a play called "Bouncers", where he played eight (yes eight!) different roles. And he’s played opposite some heavyweight actresses: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Scorcese’s "Colour of Money" and "Robin Hood") and Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl. But of course most of us have not had the opportunity to see him on Broadway. You would remember him, at least initially, for his scene stealing performance in Alan Alda’s "Betsy’s Wedding". Then came movies opposite Michael Keaton, Steve Martin, Mimi Rogers, and "Friends" star Courtney Cox.

Jason Gedrick plays Neil Avedon and what a great television debut, at least for those Australian viewers who have not previously seen Gedrick’s work. He must have made a good impression as the murder suspect in "Murder One", because he’s scored a star role in a new American drama, "EZ Streets" (with "Thirtysomething’s" Ken Olin). "TV Guide", the American television magazine, called him the standout performance in the first series of "Murder One", and we agree.

Barbara Bosson plays Miriam Grasso and it’s hard to know whether to be happy or sad for her predicament. Sure, she’s married to creative genius Steven Bochco, and sure, he’s cast her in many of the shows he’s produced. What else could an actor wish for? Well, maybe she’d like to be judged on her performances alone, instead of the constant sniping from jealous critics who suggest (not too subtly) that she would be doing screen tests for soap commercials if not for her marital connection. She earned an Emmy nomination for her work as the enigmatic Miriam Grasso (she’s been nominated five times before), but it’s sometimes suggested that the television community wants to keep in favour with husband Bochco, so they keep giving HER awards - good luck to you, Barbara, here at Law in the Lounge we like your work no matter who you’re married to.

Michael Hayden plays Chris Docknovitch. Michael has starred on Broadway and in London, where he received nominations for a Lawrence Olivier and Drama Desk Awards. The pedigree goes back further than that, he studied at Julliard, the prestigious drama school in New York. He comes to "Murder One" from the soap opera circuit, you might have caught him in "Another World" or "As The World Turns" - after all, a boy has to pay the rent.

Mary McCormack has brought an interesting ambiguity to the role of lawyer Justine Appleton, who is seduced by Richard Cross’s power (while we screamed at the television for her to be careful), which only goes to show that lawyers can be just as stupid as anyone. She’s previously worked on legal dramas, in ‘"Law And Order" and "The Wright Verdicts". You might have seen her in one of the recycled versions of "Miracle on 34th Street", and "Backfire" with Robert Mitchum. You can catch her on video in the very successful "Private Parts", the movie bio of American "shock jock" (that means he’s a radio commentator who relies on shock value) in which she plays his wife.

Daniel Benzali plays Theodore Hoffman. Teddy is gone, but you’ll want to know about him if you’ve seen this show in its first season, or you want to catch it on pay-TV. He was born in Rio to Jewish parents, before the family moved to Brooklyn in New York. Like most actors who come to television, he got his start in the American theatre, though it was in London that he distinguished himself in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Now, an opportunity to guess at his big break (tick, tick, tick…): he starred as Juan Peron in the London West End production of "Evita" . He also appeared in the role of Max in the London production of "Sunset Boulevard". Steven Bochco cast him for a recurring role in "L.A. Law" - there’s that Bochco connection again. Remember, if you’re ever offered a bit part in one of his shows, take it, because you might find yourself in a starring role in a later effort (he also appeared in the Bochco show "NYPD Blue" as a criminal lawyer). "Murder One" did very well in England, and this has brought even more offers of work for Benzali.

Where did it come from?

"Murder One" comes from the studios of Twentieth Century Fox, and is shown on Channel Seven in Australia (where it did very nicely). It was first broadcast in May 1996.

It contains a casting call of Bochco favourites. Directors and writers you have seen on other Bochco shows include (amongst others) Ann Donahue, William Finklestein, David Milch, Charles Haid, Elodie Keene.

The gossip

Jessica Costello and ……..

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE IDENTITY OF THE MURDERER IN THE FIRST SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jessica was always doing something, usually drugs and/or sex, with just about everyone in this show. So there were plenty of suspects when she ended up dead. In the end it was the horrible drug baron Roberto Portlegrei (not his just as detestable son) who killed her. Of course, there was Jessica and Richard, Jessica and Graham Lester, Jessica and…

Teddy and Francesca
She loved Teddy, that was obvious from the first time we saw them together. There was a short fling, whose significance was more apparent in Teddy’s relationship with his missus. Francesca could have been REALLY rich (instead of just very rich) when she divorced billionaire Richard Cross. But what was she doing with him in the first place, and what was Teddy thinking about when the…?

Teddy and Mrs Teddy
We can only think of her as his "missus", because she’s the long suffering wife of a workaholic husband who never sees his family and seems to care more about his clients than…you get the idea, he’s not much of a family man. We were a little surprised when she turned tail and left the nest; but Teddy, he acted like he didn’t even know there was a problem. Come on, Teddy, she’s been trying to get a word in edgeways since the first show - you’re never off the phone long enough to notice anyone else in the house. Want our advice, Mrs Hoffman? Take the money and run. And keep running now that Teddy seems to be chasing after you.

Richard and Justine / Richard and Julie / Richard and Francesca
Richard seduced Justine (in a non-sexual way - it was power that did the trick); he married Francesca and then Julie. We always wondered about his relationship with Julie, although now she’s very, very rich, so she’ll no doubt have the chance to recover from Richard’s timely demise.

Justine and James
We don’t know why James didn’t stick with the first lady friend from the bank – still, there is clearly chemistry between Justine and Teddy, not that it should necessarily be paraded in front of the other lawyers in the office. They seem deservedly peeved that one of their number has turned the head of the boss!

Behind the scenes

Where is Teddy? Not that we’re particularly disturbed by the departure of the chrome-topped tough guy who…it reminds us of that great journalistic cliche that is trotted out every time a famous world leader bites the dust. To paraphrase: Teddy Hoffman strode the plot of "Murder One" like a Colossus. So Teddy has left the firm, or at least he’s taken a leave of absence. Why the hell would a lawyer leave a firm he founded and loves (clearly) a lot more than anything else in his life (his wife worked that one out). Yes, believe it or not, he’s gone on holiday, or perhaps it might be called an extended therapy session, because he’s trying to patch it up with his wife (we thought they were better off apart, he never saw his family anyhow).

Is it normal for the associates in a law firm to seek out a new principal and just invite him in?

Here at Law in the Lounge we have never had a witness die on the stand, particularly as he is in the process of giving crucial evidence! Of course, we’ve had a few judges look as though they’re dying from boredom!

Why did the second series finish so abruptly, just as another murder plot was bubbling away? Guess the plug was pulled.

The facts

"Murder One" is not divided into episodes but "chapters". Why, you may reasonably ask. The answer is…we don’t know. Sounds like a bit of a gimmick to us. After all, it’s not a book, is it?

The show did not rate as well as most Bochco shows in its first season, and has done even worse with the exit of Daniel Benzali and the change in format. In the first season this could be attributed to a huge scheduling headache, which saw "Murder One" pitted directly against the biggest American (and Australian) hit of the season, "ER". So how do they rectify this in the second season? They put it up against "Seinfeld", the other most successful show in America!

Steven Bochco has weighed in with his rationalisation of the disappointing ratings. He sheets a lot of the blame to the media, which left viewers with the impression that an episode could not be missed if you wanted to follow the convoluted plot. In fact, "Murder One" went out of its way to bring the viewers up to date each week while the theme song droned on endlessly - by the time the summaries and theme song were done it was time for a commercial break. This probably has a lot to do with the decision to focus on a few murders this season instead of the one (ah, but what a murder it was!).

"Pa" from the "Waltons" gets a guernsey in this new series (you remember the "Waltons", the rich man’s "Little House On The Dreary"). Talk about casting against type - this time around he’s a villain. Come on guys, do you expect us to believe that Pa Walton is corrupt? This was the man who would tell the bank if they made a mistake ten cents in his favour. Now he’s trying to bribe…well, we better not give too much away at this stage.

‘"Murder One" won the influential "People’s Choice Award" for best television drama in 1996.

"Murder One" was also nominated for Emmys for: Outstanding Individual Achievement In Art Direction For A Series; Outstanding In Achievement In Cinematography For A Series; Outstanding Individual Achievement In Directing In A Drama Series; Outstanding Individual Achievement In Main Title Theme Music; Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (Stanley Tucci as Richard Cross); Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series (Barbara Bosson as Miriam Grasso); Outstanding Writing In A Drama Series (is that enough?)

Stanley Tucci did a nice star turn in the first series – his character, Richard Cross, would never be forgotten once met. But his excellent performance left no hint of what was to come. He co-wrote and directed one of the outstanding films of 1997, "Big Night", a tale of two brothers who battle the odds to establish a gourmet Italian restaurant in the 1950s in New Jersey. Tucci also plays one of the brothers, the maitre d` Secondo. So impressed was Time magazine that they named it the second best movie of the year behind the all-conquering "English Patient".

The legal point

There is a recurring theme in this show around the use of DNA evidence, although they never go very far to explaining what it is or how it helps in the investigation and prosecution of a murder. This might have something to do with the fact that DNA evidence has only been used in courts in the last decade, before this there was a reliance on fingerprints, bloodstains and the like. And therein lies one of the problems in trying to explain it – you can see a bloodstain, the concept behind matching fingerprints is straightforward – DNA is invisible to the eye, and it can only be analysed by the most sophisticated equipment. In fact, it has been widely acknowledged in legal circles that many judges and lawyers do not understand the nature of DNA evidence.

DNA is determined by the analysis of as little as a drop of blood, or even a single strand of hair. It is a molecule that doesn’t live in any particular place in the body, but is found in the cells – and there are about a thousand million million cells in our bodies. The DNA is a kind of instruction manual that explains how to construct a human (or a dog or a fish etc), and most importantly it knows how to make copies of itself – this is how you went from being a single cell at conception to all those thousands of millions of cells.

It is important to understand that each person carries an absolutely unique DNA – this is why it is sometimes referred to as a "genetic fingerprint" or a "genetic code". A DNA test compares the suspect’s DNA with the DNA found in evidence gathered in the investigation of a crime. But problems sometimes arise from the actual collection and handling of the evidence – this argument was used to enormous effect in the O.J. Simpson trial in the U.S. Because the samples are so tiny, the analysis of DNA requires great care, and so is easily mistreated.

This brings us to the last point we want to make here. Why do we see the lawyers arguing over the credibility of this evidence if it is scientifically based? The answer lies in the nature of evidence in a criminal trial. Evidence is something that tends to prove the existence of a fact that is in dispute – so in the case of DNA evidence, the prosecution would say that the presence of the defendant’s DNA at the scene of the crime tends to prove the defendant’s involvement. But it needs to be remembered that the prosecution has what is called a "burden of proof" – they have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the existence of the fact that is supported by the DNA evidence. So it is equally open to the defence to challenge the validity of that evidence on the basis of the collection procedures etc., in order to show that the prosecution has not satisfied that burden.

Our verdict

We had a few problems with the first season, but we can’t fault the sheer guts it took to unravel one complicated plot slowly over the course of 23 "chapters". Our main complaint was the domestic antics of Teddy and his wife…was all that stuff about his separation and the daughter’s kidnapping really necessary? And it was even worse before the separation, when they were just one big, happy family - even though Teddy was never home, and his first move on entering the house was not to see his sleeping daughter but to check the telephone messages (followed by endless phone calls, followed by a quick exit to handle the next crisis…). The only wonder was that Mrs Hoffman held out as long as she did.

In the end, however, the critical accolades this show received are well deserved. But we can see that it may not have been everyone’s cup of tea - in the United States it rated poorly, though here in Australia it went very well. Maybe this had something to do with the relentless weightiness of the plot. Sometimes we wished for a little light to intrude into all that darkness - but then it wouldn’t have been the same show, would it?

All did not bode well for the second series – it’s never easy to handle major cast changes, but thankfully Bochco et al did it well indeed. LaPlagia is perfect for the role of the sometimes heavy-handed senior lawyer. In fact, the consensus here at Law in the Lounge is that we prefer him to Teddy. He’s more real, not the cartoon character that Teddy occasionally became as they tried to stretch the plot over too many weeks. We like his aggressiveness, though believe us, we would not be too keen to pursue justice on behalf of serial killers (let alone pick an argument with one!). All in all, we really liked the second series – make sure you check out this excellent series on pay-TV or in repeat.

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Read this: The legal information contained above is intended to be general information about the law. It is not a substitute for legal and other professional advice. Lawscape Communications P/L does not accept responsibility for loss to any person, who either acts or does not act because of this information.