With television today, the trend seems to be that if it works for one show, it can’t work for another. This is true for two of television’s newest mid-season shows, “Conviction” and “Sons and Daughters.”
Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf, the mind behind the “Law & Order” series, has put his name behind another lawyer-based television show,
“Conviction.” This legal system drama is set in the New York City District Attorney’s office, where young and inexperienced prosecutors play with the big boys. “Conviction” focuses on seven young, relatively attractive prosecutors, including former “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” character Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot played by Stephanie March.
But “Conviction” does not follow in the footsteps of the “Law & Order” series. Unlike the other Wolf-created crime dramas, this one doesn’t focus on a crime, at least in the pilot episode. There’s no edge-of-your-seat who-done-it type plot. It’s simply about the characters. This presents the next problem.
There are way too many characters bouncing around. There’s Jim Steele, Nick Potter, Brian Peluso, Jessica Rossi, Christina Finn, Billy Desmond and Cabot, none of whom the audience ends up caring about after the first episode. There were just too many things going on at once: a drug smuggling case that Potter and Rossi are working on, Finn’s very first case (and all of her mistakes), Peluso’s love life (or lack there of), Potter’s first day and thoughts of giving up, the death of a main character, the aftermath of said death, a young girl who doesn’t want to testify, a fight between Steele and Cabot… It was just too much to follow, even though some of the story lines were connected. Too many balls were up in the air and viewers didn’t care about catching any one of them when they fell.
“Sons and Daughters,” however, is a great example of how to handle too many characters. Although this comedy has too many characters as well, they all revolve around one main character, Cameron (played by creator, co-writer and director Fred Goss), and are all intertwined into one main plot, which focuses on a dysfunctional family, much like FOX’s former show, “Arrested Development.”
Lorne Michaels, the man responsible for Saturday Night Live, executive produces this comedy show, which contains a mix of both improvised and scripted lines.
“Sons and Daughters” explores married life, parental life and living too close to the extended family. It’s incredibly reminiscent of the now defunct “Arrested Development” with the same sort of voyeuristic look into a dysfunctional family. The pilot episode revolves around Cameron’s parents’ 25th wedding anniversary party and the secret that Cameron’s step dad wants to leave his mom. The secret is spread throughout the family and before long everyone knows except Cameron’s mom, who finally finds out in the next episode.
The whole family interacts well together, all with their own problems that manage to become a part of everyone’s lives. The cast plays off each other wonderfully, and some
of the obviously unscripted lines are hilarious.”Conviction” airs Friday night at 10 p.m. on NBC. “Sons and Daughters” begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC.
New legal drama’s many characters confuse show’s plotline and viewers
Daily Emerald
March 1, 2006
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