Harry's Law: Season 1
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 17, 2011
  • Season #: 1 , 2
User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 48 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 48
  3. Negative: 4 out of 48

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  1. KDHeat3o5
    Jan 20, 2011
    1
    Predictable,stupid and very unrealistic.Terrible premiere and by the looks of it.will only get worse.
  2. Whiston532
    Jan 30, 2011
    1
    The characters are decent enough. Not amazing, but serviceable. Where this show is hurt, and in many ways crippled, is that the defendants are all guilty. Everybody knows this, it's clear. But instead of trying to find something that disproved the charges, or even busting them on technicalities. They clear them by blaming others, or by being nice people. The first episode has a college kid (the first in his family, keep this in mind) who got busted for buying cocaine (a repeat offender too). He gets let go because his lawyer says that he's a nice guy. Seriously. A repeat offender gets let go because he's nice. The acting and everything else is irrelevant. This show has terrible plots.… Expand
  3. markscarls
    Jan 18, 2011
    4
    This is pure David E. Kelly -- good acting dragged down by over-the-top scenarios and totally unrealistic resolutions. Unfortunately, with Kelly in charge, it's more likely to get worse than better. I feel bad for the stars.
  4. semaphore
    Jan 25, 2011
    0
    The absurd arguments and ridiculous courtroom antics might have been funny if Harry's Law was a simple comedy. Unfortunately the show tries to be both comedic and a serious drama with the result of failing utterly at both. Both episodes so far involves the protagonists defending evidently guilty criminals and winning (or at least getting their way) by delivering sermons on society's ills in lieu of any semblance of a coherent legal argument. Apparently, we are expected to sympathise with the likes of an armed robber who couldn't find a less violet way to feed herself, or a Chinese laundry owner who fired a worker for being pregnant.… Expand
  5. dasein30
    Jan 29, 2011
    0
    Horrible. This show suffers disconnect between the whimsical aspects of the show (hey look, my law office is also a designer shoe store!) and its heavy handed social commentary (hey look, my law office is in the ghetto and I'm helping the poor!). This disconnect gives us characters and cases that are unbelievable and unsympathetic. All the clients are guilty, but we're supposed to root for them because they had their reasons. For example, we are supposed to feel bad for an armed robber because she is elderly and hungry. We're supposed to like her because she's quirky and says what's on her mind. The result: she comes across as entitled and annoying, and we actually want her to be found guilty. And Kathy Bates' argument in the armed robber's defense? The government didn't give her what was hers so she had to rob the store. She had to!

    The only entertaining part of this show is seeing how the show creator tries to make the opposing lawyers caricatures we're supposed to loath, yet I find myself really really wanting their side to win. Because their arguments actually make sense. Kathy Bates' arguments center on blaming it on the government or lack of health care or whatever. Basically, no one is responsible for their own actions. If this show actually went to the real ghetto(not the Sesame Street version seen here) and truly dealt with the complexities of the marginalized, then we would have a show worth watching. Instead, we're preached the message that the poor are victims and are justified in doing whatever they want. And if there's something we need more of, its the culture of entitlement and victimhood.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 6 out of 21
  1. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    Jan 20, 2011
    30
    Unfortunately, neither Bates nor Kelley seems to have any heart in this show. Picking up pretty much where he left off with "Boston Legal," Kelley turns the courtroom into Air America.
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  2. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    Jan 20, 2011
    25
    Kathy Bates' surly gravity can't prevail over the silliness of this new series. [24 Jan 2010, p.43]
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    Jan 18, 2011
    50
    When the balance is off, as it is too frequently in Harry's Law, it undermines credibility. Bates is almost capable of making us overlook some of the show's problems.
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