Public Defenders Get Respect in Hollywood Treatment

Former NYC public defender and current Seton Hall Law professor David Feige co-created, along with veteran producer Steven Bochco, the new TNT drama, Raising the Bar (premiering tonight), about Manhattan public defenders. Feige told the AP he was relieved to finally blast myths that defenders are "schlubby, disillusioned, generally incompetent people who can’t get other jobs. The reality is that my Bronx office hired people from Harvard and Yale" And the office was "in a loft that was a converted ice factory. It had 40-foot ceilings. It was gorgeous.” The show stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar who is almost unrecognizable due to his long hair (Feige had long hair when he was a defender). The NY Times' Ginia Bellefante thinks Gosselaar should be locked "up for failing to find a good barber."

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By Jen Chung in Arts and Events on September 1, 2008 5:46 PM

Comments [rss]

JMH

If the previews tell anything, they'll be spending at least some amount of time out on the street. You can't fake New York. At all. And you should be ashamed if you even try.

Take that, How I Met Your Mother. I don't care how hilariously entertaining Neil Patrick Harris is. It doesn't make up for impersonating NYC on the backlots of whatever production company you're with.

I'll never watch it, but at least Ugly Betty came over to the light side of the force.
Flight of the Conchords too.

aveB4life

i liked that Zack's 1502 SAT score got him somewhere.

nomnomnom

Okay, I watched this last night and it was pretty awful. What was up with the extreme closeups? I don't need to see Zach's fingers or his face all up in HD. And could he cry a little more? Jeeze.

Think2wice

What is the hubbub over Mark's hair. It's eclipsed the buzz around the show like Barack getting eclipsed by Sarah who got eclipsed by Bristol who got eclipsed by her unborn child.

I like it 'cause it says "fuck you and your stylist". Shorn it not Zack.

Peter

I was looking forward to checking out ol' Zack Morris trying on his new duds in a New York Courthouse, until I discovered that it's just another in a tired string of "New York-based" shows that aren't actually filmed in New York City.

If the previews tell anything, they'll be spending at least some amount of time out on the street. You can't fake New York. At all. And you should be ashamed if you even try.

Take that, How I Met Your Mother. I don't care how hilariously entertaining Neil Patrick Harris is. It doesn't make up for impersonating NYC on the backlots of whatever production company you're with.

I'll never watch it, but at least Ugly Betty came over to the light side of the force.