Review: 'Canterbury's Law' premieres on Fox

BY DIANE WERTS | diane.werts@newsday.com

4:14 PM EDT, March 9, 2008

Ah, yes, the flawed hero. Such screw-up fun to watch, so crankily rewarding to play. Always lucky to have the plucky wife/girlfriend/companion who sticks through thick and thin, despite the flawed hero's, well, flaws. And so fortunate that loyal co-workers/assistants/well-connected pals rally 'round when the chips are down so our crusader can save the day.

On TV now, however, it's the flawed heroine who's hot. Whether sugar-binging detective Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer," barracuda barrister Glenn Close on "Damages," whiskey-swigging bed-hopper cop Holly Hunter on "Saving Grace," or dope-dealing mama Mary-Louise Parker of "Weeds," the what-a-mess yet so-in-control dame is our flavor of the day, complete with her own cohorts, connections and cantankerousness.

Tonight, she's ex-"ER" nurse Julianna Margulies, matured into a barracuda barrister of her own, as the title character of the adult Fox drama "Canterbury's Law." This legal character study packs all the genre's requisite edginess (handheld cameras, percussive guitars) and sleekness (brick and hardwood loft offices), craftily showcasing an "eyes on me" star turn. Margulies actually gets to roar that phrase in the pilot as she walks -- no, barrels -- into her office to light a fire under her underlings.

The Fox news release describes her as "a force of nature," illustrated on-screen relentlessly as Margulies walks and talks and barks and berates with righteous indignation. She's good at it. But we've seen that. Elizabeth Canterbury is forever going to bat for the underdog and the framed, whatever it takes, playing straight or (more often) dirty. Been there, too. The difference here comes in what actually starts to seem like the piling on of personal traits. She's sleeping with her private eye (James McCaffrey), while taking dancing lessons with her husband (Aidan Quinn). They've got a tragic past that's revealed over the course of tonight's introductory hour, whose case just happens to intersect with our heroine's particular pain. She certainly isn't beyond drowning her sorrows, gulp, gulp.

But what "Canterbury" has powerfully going for it, besides the magnetic/vulnerable Margulies, is a cast surrounding her with equal strength, from principled second Ben Shenkman to Terry Kinney as their sneaky prosecutorial adversary, plus an array of effective guest stars from the rich East Coast acting pool. (Set in Providence, the show is produced out of New York.) The writing and production, overseen by "Rescue Me" producers Denis Leary and Jim Serpico, often crackles. Things feel real, even when they seem handily constructed or, in tonight's pilot, a bit too clipped in tone and timing, trying to do too much at once.

A down-the-line episode, provided by Fox for preview, demonstrates less urgency and more layered character study, when a twisty tale of giggly-girl teens on trial for murder runs parallel to Canterbury's own disintegration. Episodes to air in the meantime help set up the other regulars' psyches.

So, what this meaty series is doing scheduled at the 8 p.m. "family" hour is anybody's guess, considering how mature both the treatment and the subject matter are. It's not that kids might watch -- this kind of show is least likely to interest them -- but that adults won't be in the mood at that early hour to watch our convoluted anti-heroine blow her personal life to smithereens while legally (or illegally) saving the unsaveable. She's intense, the show's intense and, hey, isn't that carefree "Dancing With the Stars" show just a click of the remote away starting next week? It might take an Elizabeth Canterbury to solve this baffling case of the mishandled potential hit.

CANTERBURY'S LAW. Julianna Margulies hits the screen hard as a crusading defense attorney whose courtroom finesse (OK, two-fistedness) plays against her train-wreck personal life more effectively than it should. Legal/character drama premieres Monday at 8 on Fox/5.