The Defenders

The show is an old-fashioned courtroom procedural, but the pilot has enough sharp writing and well-greased plot twists to suggest future promise.

The Defenders is 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.

Defenders at least has a sure grip on its tone. [8 Nov 2010, p.40]

Whether Belushi is using the firm's private detectives to follow his estranged wife, or O'Connell is sleeping with the prosecutor who's trying to put his client in jail ("You really don't like me much, do you?" she asks while taking off her blouse), the show has an irresistible outlaw quality.

There's nothing particularly bad about this new legal drama starring Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi as a couple of skeevy Las Vegas lawyers--but then again there's nothing particularly good about it, either.

Sure, it's nice to see Belushi in a new incarnation, and if I were trapped at a car repair shop in front of an episode I might be happy. But there are much better shows out there right now, and only so many hours in my day--and on my DVR.

Belushi and O'Connell are two jokers who love the law and practice in Las Vegas and ... oh, forget it. The show is lousy.