 Family Law Kathleen Quinlan is the lead character, a "quirky" everywoman a la Ally McBeal (yet not as annoying, nor as endearing), who finds her moral center and sense of purpose only after her husband leaves her. I can't imagine that very many people are unable to see the Ally rip-off quality to the show –"quirky" law firm, people saying things aloud that they wouldn't actually say in the real world, "quirky" subplots (this episode involved a divorced couple fighting over custody of their dog's cremated ashes), and yes, character-developing conversations taking place in a bathroom. Family Law doesn't seem committed enough to make its main character too "quirky," and throws in just enough "realistic" neurosis along the way to make her vaguely annoying … without being interesting. The central problem is that the show can't decide whether it wants to be funny or serious … hence, an episode in which a crack mother tries to regain custody of her children, peppered with the whole stupid business about the dead dog, and a truly embarrassing scene in which Kathleen Quinlan strips down to a teddy as a means of venting her frustration. I'm not sure this show would even fly on Lifetime. Throw in a kooky secretary (Julie Warner); a shyster attorney (Christopher McDonald) who moves his offices into the law firm so Quinlan can keep the space and pay the rent; and a fiesty, rambunctious (Dixie Carter) attorney who joins the firm to, um, provide spark, I suppose, and you have the fixin's for a show whose target audience is limited to people who just like TV in general. There's nothing special or lasting about Family Law, and certainly no characters to win America's heart. It'll probably plod along without fanfare for a season or two and disappear into the ether, just like I did, but in my case it was all about opium. All the plots get neatly tied up at the end for that vague sense of closure you want after wasting an hour of your life on something you won't remember 15 minutes later (just like my college experience). The only thing I found particularly memorable about watching this show was a Dodge commercial involving a potato factory, which succeeded only in selling me potatoes. I was surprised (in a limited sense of that word) by the inclusion of a Holly Cole song near the end, but in some respects I was more surprised that they didn't just hire Holly Cole to be in the damn show, to make it that much more like Ally. Probably a good thing I didn't catch the following week's episode to review, which involved a child with Down's syndrome. You are spared the reasonably limitless potential for "dancing Down's baby" remarks … "Get Down's with your bad self!" Etcetera. Ironically, I ended up missing the show in favor of getting some retarded junior high girls totally shitfaced then "doing what comes naturally."
Review by Burglar B. Flunked © 1999 |