I am – Hercules!!
A courtroom drama about Las Vegas defense attorneys from writer-producers Kevin Kennedy & Niels Mueller (“The Assassination of Richard Nixon”), “The Defenders” stars Jerry O’Connell (“Carpoolers,” “Do Not Disturb”), Jim Belushi (“According to Jim”), Gillian Vigman (“Mad TV,” “Sons & Daughters”), Jurnee Smollett (“Eve’s Bayou,” “Friday Night Lights”), Tanya Fischer (“Life On Mars”) and Teddy Sears (“Raising the Bar,” “A Single Man”).
I don’t get “The Defenders.” The two title characters are allegedly based a pair of real Vegas attorneys who also had their reality show, but they feel like generic TV constructs. The pilot plays a little like “Boston Legal” if you drained it of David E. Kelley’s wit. The only thing that makes the series stand out for me is the knowledge that two of the guest stars in the pilot, Stephen Root and Natalie Zea, also play far more interesting characters of FX’s far more interesting “Justified.”
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… "The Defenders" is a CBS legal drama starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell - wait, wait, don't stop reading! - that apparently isn't aware that something similar happened way back in 1961. Never mind that, this is totally different. Belushi and O'Connell are two jokers who love the law and practice in Las Vegas and ... oh, forget it. The show is lousy. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… There's actually no reason this couldn't be a perfectly fine legal procedural, except there's no indication that anyone is attempting to make it one. The script is strictly writing by numbers …
The Washington Post says:
… I don't sense a lot new about the show; even its Vegas backdrop seems too well-trodden. Another no-brainstrain CBS drama. …
HitFix says:
… Though he's picked a lot of awful projects over the years, Belushi is not a bad actor, nor a bad light comic, and the pilot uses him well. Won't change the world, but for what it sets out to do, it works. …
TV Squad says:
… I don't mean to make special claims for 'The Defenders,' which is absolutely not reinventing the legal drama for the new millennium. There's still a certain amount of clunkiness in the writing and the generic blandness that affects most supporting characters on network TV is present here too. Yet on this CBS show, Jim Belushi, who appears to be having the time of his life, has been given a role that perfectly suits his talents. Yes, he has palpable talents, which apparently weren't completely eroded by starring in 'According to Jim' for approximately 700 years.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… a standard-issue legal drama, but Mr. Belushi and Mr. O'Connell bring a playful exuberance to their roles that allows the series to rise above its trappings. …
The Boston Herald says:
… seems as if it were written by people who picked up their knowledge of how a courtroom functions from Wikipedia. There isn’t a squib of dialogue in the pilot worth quoting here. The series takes advantage of its Vegas locales and ends tonight with a cameo from Frank Sinatra Jr. It’s still not worth the trip. As the commercials say, what happens in Vegas should stay there.
The Boston Globe says:
… The legal cases are the weakest part of the show, playing out with all the predictable twists and feints. That may be the hardest thing to get right on a TV procedural, and only a few current shows — “The Closer,’’ “The Good Wife’’ — manage to come up with fresh cases and crimes on a regular basis. … Did I want to watch “The Defenders’’ again? Not so much. And that’s always the test. …
The New York Times says:
… Here the love connection is unambiguously platonic and winning, centered on two defense lawyers in partnership …
USA Today says:
… not a great drama, but it is an admirably well-constructed courtroom mystery. And even better for CBS, it's just the kind of easy-to-watch series people seem to like to settle down with lately in prime-time's closing hour.…
Variety says:
… based on the preliminary evidence, there are few grounds to deny a motion to dismiss. … The show would be more defensible, oddly, if its characters could be a trifle sleazier -- more like Bob Odenkirk's amoral attorney in "Breaking Bad," who frankly deserves his own show. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… Although titled "The Defenders," there is no mistaking this stubbornly and unaccountably bland legal show for the bold CBS series of the 1960s with the same name. That series, which starred E.G. Marshall and a pre-"Brady Bunch" Robert Reed, was sharp and provocative where this one feels shallow and forced. …
10 p.m. Wednesday. CBS.
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