I am – Hercules!!
“Head Cases” is a Fox hourlong, created by writer Bill Chais (“The Practice,” “Family Law”), about a hotshot attorney who endures a nervous breakdown, then starts a new firm with another mental-patient lawyer. It stars Chris O'Donnell (“Kinsey”) and Adam Goldberg (“How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days”).
I loves me both “Scent of a Woman” and “Hebrew Hammer,” but this enterprise puts one in the mind of the later years of “Ally McBeal,” which got less funny as it grew more bizarre. “Head Cases” exists in the kind of wacky sitcom universe in which lawyers can somehow kidnap witnesses and assault opposing counsel without landing in jail. It's certainly in no danger of luring me away from “Lost,” “Veronica Mars” or even CBS’ swell new serial-killer show “Criminal Minds,” all of which air opposite.
But what matters Herc’s opinion? TV Guide says:
… This is like a bad episode of a lesser David E. Kelley series. There’s so much forced wackiness that there ought to be a restraining order …
Entertainment Weekly says:
… It’s a new spin on The Odd Couple, as in “it’s odd how completely, stunningly improbable this premise sounds.”
USA Today gives it a star and a half (out of four) and says:
… Some shows just make you want to head in the opposite direction. With Head Cases, the driving-away force is equal parts concept and cast. You'd be unlikely to rush toward any show about two recently institutionalized lawyers, forced into partnership by therapist blackmail. But Fox doesn't help its case by hiring Adam Goldberg and Chris O'Donnell, who seem ill-equipped to head this or any series, individually or collectively. … Apparently, "explosive disorder" gives you the legal right to slam people in the face and cram people into the trunk of your car without consequence. Or at least such things can happen in the same alternate universe where lawyers get fired for emotional disorders and never threaten to sue — or where producers think Dr. Ruth is still either shocking or humorous. (She's naming female body parts! How cutting-edge.)
Variety says:
… Although the show works a little too hard at being quirky, "Head Cases" does deliver a pair of well-defined protagonists, but initially not the kind of obsessive-compulsive magnetism it will need to flourish in a pretty inhospitable timeslot. … A veteran of failed series, this twitchy character fits Goldberg like an old (if somewhat annoyingly squeaky) shoe, and there are moments of genuine inspiration when, say, he kidnaps a potential witness. OK, so Shultz (even his mother just calls him that, like Cher) would be disbarred before the first commercial break, at least he's entertaining. Still, the buddy-lawyer formula feels a little tired, and the two cases dreamed up for the pilot are equally predictable … will likely require more ingenuity than just Goldberg's antic energy and O'Donnell's perfectly coifed hair to impress viewers. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… Part improbable comedy, part unrealistic drama, "Head Cases" is nonetheless a clever series that gets incredible mileage out of its two central characters. Chris O'Donnell and Adam Goldberg, either of whom could carry a series on his own, team up in a Los Angeles-based legal series that is more about the pairing of an odd couple than the workings of the judicial system. … Andrew Fleming helmed the pilot, energizing the episode with lively shots that get to the heart of the characters and their predicaments. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… Though Fox scores with "Bones" (a nice companion piece to "House"), it fails miserably with "Head Cases," … The normally infallible Adam Goldberg is saddled with a role here too broad for Robin Williams to pull off. … You can bet that advocacy groups for the mentally ill are going to be all over this one. But they needn't bother - "Head Cases" will implode from its own dreadfulness faster than any boycott campaign can hurt it. Goldberg is paired with Chris O'Donnell, who plays a top-notch, career-achieving lawyer who, thanks to an inept plot, bad writing and truncated pilot, has a nervous breakdown over almost nothing, which allows his medical guidance counselor to create this cliched legal-team looniness to help the common man.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:
… a few shows stumble out with such wobbly gaits that it's impossible to envision them going the distance, let alone making it to midseason. A prime example? "Head Cases," an alleged comedic drama …
Newsday says:
… This lighthearted Fox hour hasn't decided what it wants to be when it grows up. … A show can be a comedy/drama, of course, but it needs to get both tones just right and establish some sort of emotional consistency. "Head Cases" hops around from sentiment to silliness in somewhat the same random manner as the non sequitur thought process of Goldberg's two-bit lawyer. Just when you think it's striving for believability, along comes something like a by-the-way kidnapping to help our mismatched mental-mates win a court case. Oops, never mind. That's over. Huh? Too many moments feel false, overblown or contrived. Could there not be something more expressive of Goldberg's low-rent clientele than to immediately introduce "nymphos and porn stars"? …
The Salt Lake Tribune says:
… In the case of the unlikable and near criminal attorneys of Fox's "Head Cases," all they do is make me wonder how they could keep their jobs past the first episode. … Unfortunately, there are two likeable actors portraying fairly unlikable characters in "Head Cases." This is an open-and-shut case that should be dismissed. …
The Newark Star-Ledger says:
… Future episodes could prove me wrong, but for now, this series looks like yet another network pilot that should have been a one-shot movie. Its characters and situations are cleanly defined and superficially amusing, and by the end, the lawyers have begun to crawl out of their respective life pits and started to figure out how to work together. It's a satisfying wrap-up, but a little too neat, and it doesn't suggest that any great depths have gone unplumbed. … Strong lead performances notwithstanding, it's hard for me to imagine what future episodes might bring, beyond an endless rehash of situations depicted in the pilot. …
Herc’s rating for “Head Cases” 1.1?
*1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
9 p.m. Wednesday. Fox.
for just $129.99!! That’s like all 144 hours for – what? – 90 cents per hour!! A better Christmukkah gift is unimaginable!!!
