Fox’s Series Premiere of “Justice”

I just turned off the TV for the night (yes I am heading to bed before 1am if it kills me). But I wanted to share my quick thoughts on tonight’s premiere of Fox’s new legal drama, Justice. I’ll be honest, it’s not that I’m not a fan of legal dramas, but with the 1500 versions of Law & Order airing everyday as well as the countless other ripoffs, I just feel like I’ve become numb to those type of shows. I had relatively low expectations of Justice. Lord knows if it didn’t star Victor Garber and Kerr Smith, as the two lead defense attorneys, I wouldn’t have even given it a shot. But you know what? I’m glad I did.

At first glance, Justice “borrows” from some of the top procedural dramas. Yes, it’s a little Law & Order, yes it’s a little CSI, but it’s all Fox. It was over the top and a bit campy (as I expect all Fox shows to be) but I found most of it unique and enjoyable. Maybe it was my love for my law classes in college, but I thought the focus on the jury’s role in the trial to be a bit different than what we are used to seeing. Just as you are watching CSI and wondering if that’s what happens at every crime scene, I found myself thinking about the effort that goes into planning for a high profile criminal trial. I found it all rather interesting.

As I mentioned, I was familiar with Garber and Smith. Garber is an acting force to be reckoned with, so I was sure he was going to be great – and he was. But it’s been a while since I’ve seen Dawson’s Creek alum Kerr Smith. I had read TV Guide’s negative review of Smith’s performance and wasn’t expecting much from him. But I was pleasantly surprised that Smith held his own against Garber. I think we are going to see him grow into the part even more in future episodes.

The one aspect of Justice that I really enjoyed was the last 2 minutes of the show. After the case has been tried and the verdict read, the audience gets to see what really happened. Unlike many other criminal dramas, the audience is left satisfied with an answer of what really went down.

So yeah I liked Justice. It was just placed on to my already crowded TiVo Season Pass so I guess that says something. I’m interested to see if the show can stay fresh with its unique look at the behind the scenes trial process. If it can, then I’ll be watching every week. But if I see it falling in step with all the other procedural crime dramas on TV, the “Delete” button is just a thumb movement away.

Yeah, so this review is a little vague and scattered, but since many of you haven’t yet seen the episode, I didn’t want to give anything away. If you missed tonight’s series premiere of Justice, it can be viewed tomorrow for free on MeeVee.com.

So what did you think of Justice? Will you watch next week or did Justice already crash and burn? Let me know.

P.S. Next week’s episode features guest star Amanda Seyfried, better known in these parts as Miss Lilly Kane of Veronica Mars.  Now there’s a girl that knows something to do about murder.