My Top TV Lawyers, of Whom There Are Ten

Admittedly, it is sometimes difficult warming up to lawyers, as in: what do you have with six lawyers, up to their necks in sand? Answer: not enough sand. That said, I believe I can come up with a list of ten TV lawyers, who are not always entirely admirable, but are certainly interesting.

All lawyers do not all serve the same purpose, i.e. to let murderers and rapists run wild on the streets. For that reason, I have decided to group my top ten into categories. All they will have in common, besides being TV lawyers is that they are well-played.

For the Prosecution

These TV lawyers represent "the people," sometimes in drama; sometimes in comedy. Here they are.

1. Dan Fielding, Night Court, NBC, 1984-92

The main prosecutor throughout the series, Dan Fielding (whose character's real name is eventually revealed to be Reinhold Fielding Elmore) was the guy you loved to hate. In addition to his aggressive prosecutorial style, he was incredibly lecherous and totally insensitive. For example, when his new boss turns out to be a "little person," Fielding cannot stop with the midget jokes, until the boss reads him the riot act.

The character was brilliantly played by John Larroquette, who won the Emmy time after time, until, after four straights wins, he asked that he be withdrawn from consideration to give his fellow comedic supporting actors an opportunity.

2. Sylvia Costas, NYPD Blue, ABC, 1993-2005

ADA Costas, later Costas-Sipowicz, was an appealing character, well-played by the lovely Sharon Lawrence. The fact that she joined so many others on the show, getting nekkid at a few points, had nothing whatsoever to do with my decision to include her on this list. After all, Dan Fielding never took it off on Night Court, but I certainly don't hold it against him.

This character did not last the entire series, although she has the opening words in the first episode of it, when she is questioning Detective Andy Sipowicz on the witness stand. He blows the case for her, getting their acquaintanceship off to a rocky start. Later, they would marry, resulting in the aforementioned sporting of the birthday suit. Unfortunately, in the first instance, her husband (played by the talented, but not particularly glamorous, Dennis Franz) does the same.

Seriously, though, it is more as Andy Sipowicz' supportive wife than as a litigator that this actress earns her place on the list. She just happens to be a lawyer.

Sylvia gets horrifically gunned down in a melee not of her own making in the fifth season, but, while she lasted, she was a real asset to the show, even fully dressed.

3. Jack McCoy, Law and Order, NBC, 1990 to present

This character, played with class and distinction by San Waterston, did not join the show until 1995. Prior to that, he was an attorney on the series, I'll Fly Away, which, I am told, was excellent and, for which work, Waterston was recognized by the Emmy and Golden Globe people. Unfortunately, I never personally saw that series, so I cannot comment on that aspect of his lawyering.

When Fred Thompson imagined he was going to quit his role as district attorney to vie for the honor of being trampled by Mr. Obama in the upcoming election, the slot went to Waterston's character. He has proven to be every bit as tough and uncompromising behind the scenes as he ever was in the courtroom.

Waterston has a number of excellent roles to his credit, among them, the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the brilliant Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War. At one point in his career, both he and Michael Moriarity, the fellow he replaced in this show, starred in a production of The Glass Menagerie.

The Defenders

The more interesting roles seem to go to the people who work this side of the table, and why should they not? Without our seeing the back-story, a guilty man being found guilty is not the stuff of attention-grabbing scripts.

4. Lawrence Preston, The Defenders, CBS, 1961-65

Yes, speaking of the defenders, let us start off this section with the show of that same name. The role was played by E.G. Marshall, who did an excellent job of projecting the attorney's sincerity and dedication to his beliefs.

Those beliefs were on the left side of the political spectrum, which I say, not in a disparaging manner, but as a matter of fact. Because, at that age, my beliefs were in pretty much the same place, I might have liked him better than I would now if I were seeing the shows for the first time. That is not to say that I have sold out to the dark side, by any means, but most of us mellow in our viewpoint with the passage of time.

Marshall was an experienced and versatile actor. He once played a despicable tycoon who gets his comeuppance in the final segment of the Stephen King movie, Creepshow-perhaps the best horror movie I've ever seen.

5. Douglas Wambaugh, Picket Fences, CBS, 1992-96

I think if I were to throw all of the actors on this list into one basket and pick out the best of them, it would be Fyvush Finkel, who played this attorney. He brought both comedy and drama to his role to an exceedingly effective degree. I was delighted to see a couple of old coots from this show, like Finkel and Ray Walston (who played the judge in most of the courtroom scenes), get Emmy awards.

On the surface, Wambaugh seems like the easily-detestable, ambulance-chasing "sharp Jew lawyer," that so many see as the caricature of the profession, but, beneath the surface, he is a brilliant and compassionate individual, who will fight tooth and claw for his clients, no matter how outrageous their cases. To be sure, he did not always win, but his legal tactics presented a major roadblock to leading man Tom Skeritt's attempts to enforce the law. Major roadblocks cause conflict, and conflict is the root of good drama.

I also like that, from time to time, Wambaugh would sing snatches of Tom Lehrer songs. Even in his 70s, he still had decent pipes.

6. Richard Fish, Ally McBeal, Fox, 1997-2002

Let me be frank. I was not a huge fan of the show itself. It was okay, but no great shakes. After the first season, I was on the fence about continuing to watch it or finding something else to do with my time. Then, along came Vonda. That is to say, Vonda Shepard joined the cast as a regular, playing herself as a piano bar singer. As some of you may recall from past articles, this one among them, I truthfully stated that nobody-but nobody-could cover a song as well as Vonda Shepard. In fact, there was not a song she did on the show that she did not perform better than the original artist or artists. Suffice it to say, I continued to watch the series just for that reason.

As you may have figured out, talented as she is, Ms. Shepard was not an attorney of any sort. Still, there was one of the pack of lawyers whom I found generally amusing. That was Richard Fish, the managing partner of the firm Fish and Cage. He was very well played by Greg Germann, who seems to excel at cynical roles.

And, you had better believe, Richard Fish is as cynical as they come. Probably more so than any other character on this list. As far as I can remember, he only tried one case-unsuccessfully, of course-but, as the manager of the firm, it was his job and his pleasure to continuously piss Ally McBeal off. That alone made him listworthy.

7. Ed Grimley, Ed, NBC, 2000-04

JUST GOOFING ON YOU, FOR GOODNESS SAKE! "Ed Grimley" was one of the crazy characters Martin Short played during his tenure on Saturday Night Live. The actual lawyer in this show was Ed Stevens.

Ed, who calls himself "the bowling alley lawyer," because he happens to have stumbled into the ownership of a bowling alley, is a smart, decent, charming fellow, ably played by Tom Cavanaugh, whom I have not liked all that much in other stuff I have seen him in.

A lot of the show's fans were sore when NBC cancelled the series, but the story had pretty much run its course over the time it was on. I think the shark was waiting, right around the corner. If rentals of this series exist (and I am sure they do), you could do worse than check them out, if you missed Ed and the many others in the talented cast, the first time around.

The Corporate Mouthpieces

These people also have their place among the TV lawyers we have been exposed to over the years. Oddly enough, if the two I am listing in this category ever tried a case in a show, I must have missed it.

8. Ted Buckland, Scrubs, NBC & ABC, 2001 to present

Poor Ted, played by actor/singer Sam Lloyd, is without question, the most incompetent lawyer on the list, which, if you're in a comedy, is a good thing.

For most of the series, he serves as the Sacred Heart Hospital director-Dr. Bob Kelso's-whipping boy and all-round stooge. He is painfully shy and justifiably ashamed of his legal prowess and a complete doormat for Kelso, wonderfully played by Ken Jenkins.

It is only when he gets the chance to lead his real-life a cappella quartet, The Worthless Peons (called "The Blanks" outside the show)., that Ted emerges from his cocoon. He would be a very comedic character, even if he did not sing. The excellent singing is a bonus.

9. Marshall Eriksen, How I Met Your Mother, CBS, 2005 to present

I have yet to see Marshall Eriksen (played by Jason Segal) in a courtroom. The big deal about his life as a lawyer (The series started with him in law school.) is that he had such idealistic dreams for his practice, yet he is reduced to working for an evil corporate giant, headed by his even-more-evil best friend, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris).

Just as Sylvia Costas earns her keep as the steadying influence in Detective Sipowicz' life, and happens to be a lawyer, we enjoy Marshall's part in this show for the shenanigans he gets into with his wife (Alyson Hannigan) and friends, not for his unseen litigation.

The Ambulance-Chaser

You know who I mean, don't you?

10. Jackie Chiles, Seinfeld, NBC, 1989-1998

This character (brilliantly played by Phil Morris) is clearly and obviously based on the late (but then alive) Johnny Cochrane, who gained fame in the O.J. Simpson travesty, but who was a predatory personal-injury lawyer if ever there was one.

Unlike Cochrane, who, one would imagine, made himself a pile of money in his pursuit of the ambulance, Jackie cannot make a dime off of his client-Kramer. No matter how good a personal-injury case he has to pursue, Kramer will find some way to screw it up and leave Jackie with nothing, to his very comedic chagrin.

In the end, Jackie gets his revenge by totally selling out Kramer and the rest of the gang at their trial in the series finale. Check it out and the other episodes, if you have not done so already. You will be in for a treat, and Jackie Chiles will be one very amusing piece of the mosaic.

There you have my list of ten TV lawyers, well worth your time in front of the tube. I hope you enjoyed or will enjoy watching them as much as I have.

Sources

Wikipedia

Own watching experience.