FAIRLY LEGAL centers on Kate Reed (Shahi), a top litigator who became frustrated with the endless bureaucracy and injustice she witnessed on a daily basis and decided to become the ultimate anti-lawyer: a mediator. Using her knowledge of the law, along with intuition and a whatever-it-takes approach to resolving conflict, Kate finds the middle ground for a wide variety of adversaries — from Fortune 500 corporations to bitter divorcees. After the death of her father, she finds herself at odds with her new boss, her stepmother Lauren (Williams)…and in bed with her soon-to-be ex-husband Justin (Trucco), himself a lawyer in the DA’s office. Helping her keep all of this chaos at bay is her trusted, geek-chic assistant Leonardo (Vaughn).
I really enjoyed the pilot episode, which you can currently download for free via iTunes US store. Kate is warm and funny in a girl-next-door, Sandra Bullock kind of way. The other characters are fun and interesting, particularly her Dungeons and Dragons playing assistant and the bitch (ex) stepmother and boss. It's got the right mix of kookiness, drama and legal battling.
In this opening episode, Kate is called in to help with one of the firms biggest clients who is trying to settle a car accident issue out of court. When she learns that an innocent boy is involved, she works hard to try to get the clients to do the right thing. Meanwhile, she has only two days to settle a case where a man is trying to sue 3 people that he hired to make his proposal 'extra special'...
It feels a lot like its spiritual predecessor, Ally McBeal in that it is more character and romance driven than a straight-ahead courtroom drama. This show currently airs on Thursday nights on the USA network. It's fresh and funny, and highly recommend checking it out.
If you'd like to download the pilot episode for free via iTunes, click here.
