Harry's Law

Premise

Harry's Law revolves around Harriet Korn, a recently fired patent lawyer, and her group of associates as they come together to form a unique law firm in a rundown shoe store in Cincinnati. In the second season the practice is moved upstairs to a larger office with the help of prestigious lawyer and friend Thomas "Tommy" Jefferson.

Cast and characters

Main

Kathy Bates as Harriet "Harry" Korn: Once a highly paid, top-level patent attorney, she lost all drive towards this career and was fired. She seems to be finding new passion in being a criminal defense lawyer and running her office out of a shoe store. She is sarcastic, with weather-worn dry wit, and does her best to keep up with young lawyers, who in her opinion "if they knew where they were going they wouldn't be running as fast". Harry strives to see the good in people, often defending questionable innocents even when everything says they are guilty. Gradually becomes less abrasive in the second season, culminating in singing a heartfelt song to her recently deceased first husband (whom she'd rejected as a horrible person throughout the episode).

Nate Corddry as Adam Branch: A young attorney who careens like a billiard ball through the show; after accidentally hitting Harry with his car, he started working in Harriet's law firm, despite her demand that he leave. He greatly admires Harry's skill as a lawyer, despite the fact that during one of the trials in which he was against her she referred to him as an "arrogant little snot." He seems to have powerful women who direct or drive his interests, including Rachael, Harry, and Chunhua. He is known to have a lot of thrust towards a case, and any pretty female in the area. Last seen in a relationship with Phoebe.

Brittany Snow as Jenna Backstrom (season 1; recurring season 2): Harry's assistant when she was a patent lawyer, and retained in the same position when Harry opens her own firm. Jenna also runs the shoe store because she loves style and fashion. It is later revealed she had a "friendly uncle" and because of that trauma her life revolves around pretty things. At times, she tends to have odd mood swings which annoys the others. She has a noticeable habit of walking into the supply closet when she is upset. Snow's most recent appearance on the show was the episode "Queen of Snark". Jenna left the firm for a job at a major shoe company in New York. She has a heartfelt goodbye with everyone from the office. Harry gives her a framed photo of the outside of the shoe store as a going-away present.

Aml Ameen as Malcolm Davies (season 1; guest star season 2): A college student who literally fell on top of Harry when he was trying to commit suicide after getting his third strike for drug possession. After Harry defended him and got his sentence reduced to two years probation, he started working at Harry's law firm as a paralegal. He wishes to become a lawyer and Harry seems to truly wish to help him succeed. He later starts to date Jenna, but is clearly stressed by her odd mood swings. Seen briefly in the second season, with Tommy telling him at the office party in the season 2 finale "all this madness, and it all started because you jumped off a building".

Recurring

Jordana Spiro as Rachael Miller: Adam's ex-girlfriend. She is a very skilled lawyer from a very successful firm. She often gives Adam law advice, and she is jealous of Adam's feelings for Chunhua. She wants Adam to leave Harry's law firm and come back to the successful one that he used to be a part of. She later reveals to Adam that she is dating a psychiatrist named Thomas, to whom she subsequently becomes engaged. At the end of the first season finale, she kisses Adam and reveals she still has feelings for him. Didn't return for season 2.

Paul McCrane as Josh "Puck" Peyton: A District Attorney who often goes up against Harriet in trial. He has an overzealous demeanor and a noticeable habit of repeating a phrase two or three times; he often suggests the maximum punishment with no means of backing down, which Harry describes as "shooting yourself in the foot." He has a meltdown after Harry wins her final case of the season against him, and strips bare before the court while ranting about how screwed up the justice system is and announcing his resignation from the practice of law. Harry decides to help him get back on his feet and they later become friends. He also reveals that his nickname is "Puck" because he liked to play hockey when he was younger, and says only his close friends call him that. He later becomes a defense attorney, and was later charged for alleged complicity in the kidnapping of a child by one of his clients (he had agreed to take custody of the child, without alerting authorities, and wait twenty-four hours before returning her to her parents, as a condition of the kidnapper surrendering her to him). We later learn that decision, as well as his overzealous nature as a prosecutor, both stemmed from a similar incident seven years earlier, in which he had refused to negotiate with another kidnapper, which ended with the kidnapped boy being killed. The incident had traumatized him, and he eventually lost his job and became estranged from his family, in his zeal to prove the justice system still worked. Harry took his case following the kidnapping charge and managed to get him acquitted.

Irene Keng as Chunhua Lao: The Chinese daughter of the owner of the laundromat which is across from the firm. Adam is instantly smitten with her and takes her case when a former worker sues for being fired. They start dating after the case is closed. She was recently attacked and almost raped, suffering post traumatic stress disorder from the trauma, but after a talk with Jenna she was able to get past it. However, after Adam realizes he still has feelings for Rachael, he breaks up with Chunhua. In season two, Adam offers her a job to replace Jenna working in the shoe store. She is later described by her employees as harsh and cruel, leading to an investigation led by Harry to reveal if her actions were unfair. Tries to hand in her resignation at the end of season 2, due to feeling uncomfortable around Adam and Phoebe, but is convinced by Harry to stay because she's "part of the team".

Production

Development

This is the first television series that Kelley has not co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television—instead, the series is co-produced with Warner Bros. Television. On May 14, 2010, NBC officially announced that it was picking up the series. Harry's Law was held as a midseason replacement and premiered in January 2011 replacing the now-cancelled Chase.

In an attempt to make the show more realistic, producers decided to explore Cincinnati more thoroughly in the second season and included an actual Cincinnati business, Arnold's Bar and Grill, as a part of the show.

Cancellation and campaign efforts

Following the cancellation of the series, supporters banded together on Facebook in an effort to bring Harry's Law back to television. The unsuccessful campaign was launched on May 13, 2012, titled "Save Harry's Law".

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Harry's Law holds an approval rating of 43% based on 14 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Harry's Law's twists are easy to predict, with an obvious desperation to be adorable." Metacritic assigns the first season a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Critics offered a range of opinions. Ed Bark described the pilot as "an improbably entertaining outing." Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter noted that while the show was "heavy-handed and occasionally contrived," it benefited from Kathy Bates's performance and "an old-fashioned belief in redemption and fairness." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times criticized the series for tonal inconsistency, writing that it "wants to be quirky and sincere at the same time, and fails at both."

Grace Montgomery of Common Sense Media rated the show 3 out of 5 stars, calling it "idealistic" and "not for younger viewers" due to mature themes. Paul Asay of Plugged In also acknowledged the show's moral intentions but took issue with its handling of adult content, stating, "This is a David E. Kelley drama, which means the storytelling is creative, sometimes smart, sometimes smug."

Rotten Tomatoes does not provide a critic score for Season 2, though audience ratings indicate an 80% approval score based on fewer than 50 user ratings. Metacritic does not aggregate a separate score for the season overall, but the episode "There Will Be Blood" received a 61 out of 100 from critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Some reviewers noted shifts in the show's direction and tone in its second year. Paul McCrane, who joined the cast in Season 2, defended the changes in an interview with TVLine, stating that the series had "refocused itself and found stronger footing." However, TV Fanatic criticized the second season premiere for being "more melodramatic than inspiring," and described the new direction as a departure from the show's initial charm.

Ratings

The first episode opened with 11.07 million viewers and a second-place 2.2 rating/6 share among adults 18–49 at 10 p.m., building from the second episode of The Cape (viewers: #3, 6.19 million; A18–49: #3t, 1.8/ 4 at 9 p.m.) by 4.85 million viewers and 17 percent in the demo.