'The Defenders,'
split personalities
There's no chemistry between the lead characters
By Tom Conroy
Oct 5, 2010
One of the necessities of a buddy movie or TV show is that the buddies have some chemistry. They shouldn’t seem to be wishing they were starring in their own show.
That’s the main problem with CBS’s new comedy-drama “The Defenders.” Its two stars, the TV veterans Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell, don’t seem to enjoy each other’s company. Consequently, we don’t enjoy their company either. The weak dialogue and low-stakes drama make for a long, slow hour.
In the series, airing Wednesdays at 10 p.m., Belushi and O’Connell play, respectively, Nick Morelli and Pete Kaczmarek, two partners in a Las Vegas law firm that specializes in defending people who are accused of committing uninteresting crimes. One of them is a rule breaker who enjoys defying authority. So is the other one.
Despite what TV might suggest, partners don’t have to be mismatched, but if Nick and Pete are supposed to be in sync, they should have a little chemistry. Nick and Pete’s banter is forgettable, and both characters are more likable when they’re apart.
Their relationship is hard to fathom. Although Nick is the bigger loser — he is a heavy drinker and is basically stalking his estranged wife (Gillian Vigman) — he seems to be the alpha male. At one point in the second episode, he drags Pete out to a crime scene and begins ordering him around as if Nick were Oliver Hardy and Pete were Stan Laurel.
But Pete is very confident around the ladies. When we first see him in the premiere, which aired on Sept. 22, he is finishing what is evidently a one-night stand, even though he’s also having a hush-hush affair with an attractive prosecutor (Natalie Zea). They have one of those mutually hostile sexual relationships that are common on television.
Whatever the ethics involved, Pete can conveniently rely on his secret love when he needs to cut a deal with or get information from the district attorney’s office. It helps that she may also be dating her boss.
Generally the show’s attitude toward women is what was called sexist — or maybe male chauvinist — by feminists back in the days when networks worried about that sort of thing. Pete and Nick’s assistant, Sophie (Tanya Fischer), is a ditz who wears garish makeup. One of their partners is an “adult-film lawyer,” so the producers can justify filling the firm’s waiting room with extras dressed like prostitutes.
Even though Pete ends the aforementioned one-night stand with a disgusting joke about oral sex, his date, a flight attendant, says to him, “Thanks for flying Tawney.”
Nick and Pete’s new associate, Lisa (Jurnee Smollett), worked her way through law school by working as a stripper. It’s hard to judge if this fact is out of character, because the character doesn’t have any characteristics.
O’Connell either smirks or looks boyishly abashed throughout the hour. That might work on TV babes, but it’s unlikely to work long on TV audiences.
Belushi’s performance is a little more appealing. The scenes in which he questions witnesses in court are the most energetic and involving in the show.
But they can’t make up for the weak plots. In both the first and the second episode, the outcome of a trial hinges on what degree of manslaughter the defendant faces — literally not a life-or-death matter. In one case, Nick actually gets a judge to rule in his favor by using reverse psychology.
The big payoff in the premiere occurs when Nick and Pete manage to score tickets for — wait for it — Frank Sinatra Jr. He may actually be an amazing performer and a hot ticket in Vegas, but if he is, that’s probably news to most viewers. The scene fell flat.
The producers of this show don’t seem to know how to craft an entertaining hour. As the old legal aphorism has it, ignorance is no excuse.
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