I suppose there is something to be said for a TV program that is pretty much exactly as advertised. This is Jerry Bruckheimer's take on a legal drama, and, as expected, it makes heavy use of the CGI-intensive camerawork and effects that he's had a lot of luck with on CSI. Like CSI, the show makes use of the same gruff infallible middle aged guy/young idealist pretty boy/no-nonsense younger woman/black guy character sketches (though they dropped the intelligent middle-aged woman - I suppose she didn't test well).
The question becomes whether this is enough to differentiate this show from any of the other legal dramas out there. I should probably point out at this point that I don't really have any particular interest in the legal drama as an ouvre. I'm pretty sure I've never watched more than a couple episodes of any legal drama (at least not on purpose), so it's safe to say I'm a pretty tough audience for a new legal drama. Justice doesn't come close to overcoming my resistance to the genre, given that, aside from applying to CSI formula to the legal drama, it adds two new elements: the emphasis on media-intensive trials and the epilogue (in which the actual events are revealed).
The first is tedious. Like everyone else I know, I have no interest in media circus trials, so the behind the scenes machinations involed hold no interest for me whatsoever. The second aspect is possibly an interesting twist, but, really, there are only a limited number of permutations that could occur (guilty verdict/innocent client, innocent verdict/innocent client, guilty verdict/guilty client, innocent verdict/guilty client), so it seems like it'll get old quickly.
Rating: C-
Reviewed by Padgett Arango