Equal Justice (1990 - 1991)

This 1990 mid-season replacement about a group of young assistant district attorneys is back with a sharper edge. Toward the end of Equal Justice's initial run, the show had become aimless and sentimental; it looked like an acting-school production of L.A. Law. But the new shows are deepening the characters in this large cast — the bureau chief, played by Cotter Smith, for example, is more prickly, less of a pure good guy. The youthful lawyers show similar improvement. Sarah Jessica Parker's Jo Ann, a cute flibbertigibbet, was becoming tiresome; this season, she's wised-up and serious. Debrah Farentino — a busy actress this week, here and in The Whereabouts of Jenny — was little more than Equal Justice's gratuitous sex symbol. But now she's been given an intellect, a private life, and more screen time. The show's writers should also work on upgrading Barry Miller (must he always be puffing on that pipe?) and James Wilder (he may be hopeless — no one with such dead eyes and so uninflected a voice could ever win a jury over). All in all, though, Equal Justice is beginning to make good on its initial promise. B+

You Might Also Like

• Cover Story ABC Winter TV preview -- We tell you about ''Davis Rules,'' ''Equal Justice'' and more | Mark Harris, Ken Tucker
• Television News Analyzing the season's two new law shows | Mark Harris
• Television News The value of fan protests | Susan Pocharski
• Television News Rethinking how we judge TV | Ken Tucker