CBS | 11 episodes | Drama
WHO'S IN IT? Patricia Wettig, Jenifer Lewis, Annabeth Gish, Shelley Morrison, Nia Peeples, Michael Lerner (and Jorja Fox who plays a drug addict in the pilot)
SYNOPSIS: Partially inspired by NYPD Blue and the OJ Simpson case, Courthouse portrays the daily trials and tribulations in one courthouse (assumed to be in New York, going by the first episode) and people who are employed there - judges, district attorneys and public defenders.
The show included Jenifer Lewis (as Juvenile Court judge Rosetta Reide) as the first recurring African American lesbian character on TV, but the role was ordered to be toned down for broadcast.
VERDICT: In the opening scene a Judge (clearly disliked, from the brief minute he's in it) is gunned down in the courtroom by an offender he's just put to death. Later on, Jorja Fox's character is dragged by two cops from her hospital bed back to prison, just because another judge felt like exercising his right over Nia Peeples public defender character.
From what I can see, Courthouse was hated. Poorly rated from the offset, I'm surprised how it managed to get to nine episodes (plus three unaired). But is it crap? No, the characters are strong and interesting, and Jenifer Lewis' character is the stand-out (more so than Patricia Wettig who assumed she was the star). The language is a bit more adult - an asshole, a bastard, here and there.
CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Not quite right for 1995, but it would have fared better a few years later. I'd watch more episodes.
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