SummaryOne of several crime and law dramas created by Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law), Murder One boasted a then-unique concept: it would tell a single story -- that of a major murder trial -- over the course of an entire season. In the first season, Daniel Benzali portrayed the lead defense attorney, Patricia Clarkson played his ... Read More
Created By:Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, Channing Gibson
❮ Murder One
Season 1
Season Premiere:
Sep 19, 1995
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
99
User score
Mixed or Average
5.7
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
99
100% Positive
25 Reviews
25 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jan 29, 2014
100
Let's get this out of the way. Last fall's best new drama and this fall's best new drama have one thing in common: a 15-year-old girl. [18 Sept 1995, p.43]
Jan 29, 2014
100
In theory and practice, Murder One is everything that's best about TV. [19 Sept 1995, p.1D]
User score
Mixed or Average
5.7
58% Positive
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
3% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
39% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
Apr 22, 2021
10
Season one was riveting! The cast was perfect and the writing and directing some of the best on television!
Mar 30, 2015
10
AMAZING!!!!! Watched this series when it first came out on TV. Ordered it as box set discs to watch again, just concluded yesterday Sunday March 29th. Beautifully filmed, I agree with Daniel Belzani - what a hunk! The dark and the light shots, make it mesmeric. Keeps you gripped from first scene - the twists and the turns - the court time - the time in the practice. You are enveloped from the word go - is it him, is it her. We did not guess right. We did not want it to end. Wish it was still going. It is far superior to nearly everything in the crime/law genre. What do we do now - nothing like it?
Jan 29, 2014
100
Murder One is shrewdly constructed, quickly absorbing and absolutely first-rate - the best new show of fall...Terrifically scripted and perfectly cast, the show gets its biggest lift from the shaven-headed Benzali, whose brilliant performance as the principled, supremely confident Hoffman could be the best advertisement for defense attorneys since Clarence Darrow. [19 Sept 1995, p.9E]
Jan 29, 2014
100
Murder One is by far the best new drama of the season, a sensational and intelligent combination of grit, mystery and conflict. [19 Sept 1995, p.E1]
Jan 29, 2014
100
None of the fall's 41 other rookies looks capable of playing in the same league...The premiere episode is a knockout. [19 Sept 1995, p.1C]
Jan 29, 2014
80
It's by no means assured that American viewers will commit themselves to what is, in effect, a very long mini-series with no tidy wrap-ups each week. But Murder One sets the stage skillfully for what promises to be the television equivalent of an absorbing excursion into a good Mary Higgins Clark mystery. I wouldn't dream of missing, at the very least, the next few episodes.
Jan 29, 2014
10
One of my all-time favorite TV seasons. This is the kind of thing that would be on HBO, FX, or AMC if it were released these days. Benzali is a bad-ass, and the writing is rock solid.
Mar 21, 2019
9
This is absolutely one of the finest seasons of television the 90’s ever produced.
Jun 16, 2016
6
It has its moments, but TV has come a long way since the mid 90s. While the character of Richard Cross is engaging, much of the plot is not much more than soap opera. Definitely watchable, but there are much better options.
