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there, done that
Everything in this show is familiar. Too familiar.
By Elizabeth White
There are apparently four versions of "Law and Order" on TV this fall. One of them happens to be on ABC masquerading as Steven Bochco’s double punch of "NYPD Blue" and "Philly."
"Philly" may be about a defense attorney in Philadelphia instead of district attorneys in New York, but the show looks, sounds and feels so similar to "NYPD Blue" that it seems to be simply a continuation of the first.
Though on different nights, the two shows resemble a "Law and Order" hour in that the first follows the police at work on a case and the second follows a case through trial.
Then again, "Philly" in some ways seems the love child of "NYPD Blue" and another successful ABC drama, "The Practice," about defense attorneys in Boston.
But any way you look at it, it means that "Philly" isn’t very fresh or original.
The lighting and camera work is the same as "NYPD Blue," down to the jittery close-ups that were eventually toned down on the older show. And Kim Delaney reemerges with the same stern countenance that won her an Emmy as a female detective on "NYPD Blue."
Once Bochco finishes his street-scene interstitials–a defining element of "NYPD Blue"–to show that the city is indeed Philadelphia, you fully expect to see Detective Sipowicz rounding a corner at any moment, to fill her in on the case she’s working on.
Only the factual details are different on "Philly."
Delaney is now Kathleen Maguire, a struggling new defense attorney in a small private practice, a single mom and the ex-wife of the district attorney. Her new partner at the firm, played by Tom Everett Scott, is a young playboy lawyer with no scruples, and her ex-husband, played by Kyle Secor, is a hotshot prosecutor with no scruples.
"Philly’s" subject matter is also as stale as an eight-year-old series. The lawyerly shenanigans belong to "L.A. Law," the working mother confrontations are from somewhere else in the 1980s, and the gritty realism belongs to, you guessed it, "NYPD Blue."
"Philly" is blessed with "NYPD Blue’s" old time slot on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Not only will that retain the viewers unaware of the schedule change and unable to distinguish one show from the other, but its 10 p.m. competition is vulnerable to a young show with fresh blood.
"Philly" isn’t up to the task, however, as viewers already indicated in its first outing last week. The show declined in household and adult ratings over the hour, as curious viewers switched back to "Judging Amy" on CBS.
They chose the female legal eagle they already know over the one that just looks familiar.
October 2, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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