ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
It begins with whooshing graphics and punchy come-ons: ``Will the tears of her spouse help convict her accused killer?''
Then we join the glowing co-anchors at their crescent-shaped panel, by which point we've got a pretty good idea what's ahead.
But wait! Someone's pulled a fast one! This isn't ``Entertainment Tonight'' or the local news after all. Instead, it's something called ``Inside America's Courts,'' a sporty, compact version of the 24-hour cable channel that spawned it.
Court TV gets down! And without stooping.
In fact, for 30 minutes five days each week (weekdays at 5:05 a.m. on TBS, and at 10 a.m. on WGN), the syndicated ``Inside America's Courts'' does the seemingly impossible. It retains the mission and substance of Court TV, yet, stylistically, comes prepared to hold its own in broadcast's brazen, sometimes grubby realm of talk and tabloid, soaps and sitcom reruns.
``Our goal is to be educational, to be informative, and, yes, to entertain,'' says Gregg Jarrett, who co-hosts the program with fellow Court TV anchor Kristin Jeannette-Meyers.
Both lawyers, they come across on ``Inside America's Courts'' as knowledgeable, attractive and committed - lawyers you'd like on your side but probably couldn't afford - as they review the day's top courtroom news and trial footage, shed light on the profession's mysteries, and look at life through the lens of jurisprudence.
And, yes, do it all entertainingly.
``Entertainment is what a trial is all about,'' Jarrett says flatly. ``Trial lawyers are by nature flamboyant characters. They must be, in order to keep the jurors interested. It's perfect for television.''
Of course, the telegenic quality of real-life trials, which escaped most programmers even after cameras in the courtroom became commonplace, has propelled Court TV since it signed on five years ago.
Meanwhile, ``Inside America's Courts,'' which went daily last fall after two seasons airing weekly, taps courtrooms for an even shrewder reason: Here for the taking is a bounty of stories and personal testimony that equals anything ``Hard Copy,'' ``All My Children'' or ``Geraldo'' could marshal.
Better yet, when it's ``Inside America's Courts'' that's showcasing human foibles, misfortune and depravity, they are elevated by the court's own high purpose. Viewed through the rigors of the legal process, human turmoil takes on a larger significance. Here on display, then, is nothing less than the ongoing struggle of a civilized society to preserve itself!
Or let's just put it bluntly: On ``Inside America's Courts,'' you get dirt, but with dignity.
``Viewers like watching these human dramas played out in a forum where there are rules, where there is a decision at the end, where it's not just endless screaming,'' reasons Jeannette-Meyers. ``Our show tells stories in a different way.''
One day earlier this week, the program featured a half-dozen reports. From Los Angeles, there was the latest on the murder trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez. From Detroit, the case of a woman who died when she jumped into a river - but did the defendant ``make her jump ... or did she panic?''
In a Tampa, Fla., courthouse, a woman delivered a child while there with her husband for his court appearance. A court security officer assisted.
And Bernhard Goetz also was part of the show, and finally on the stand, as New York City's ``subway vigilante'' faced a lawsuit from one of his shooting victims a dozen years ago.
``Maybe the people who've been watching talk and tabloid shows but keep saying, `I've seen that topic before,' will watch `Inside America's Courts' and think, `Geez, I haven't seen THAT before.'''
It's Andrew Regal talking. As executive producer, he gives the show its fast-paced, colorful style. He sees ``Inside America's Courts'' as a news show befitting Court TV's standards, and at the same time as a comfortable alternative for talk-and-tabloid fans ``who are looking for something they might get a little more value from.''
``We report on Bernhard Goetz, a fascinating personality,'' Regal points out, ``and we didn't say to viewers, `If you are a subway gunman, give us a call.'
``On our program, you're meeting real people. You're not meeting stereotypes.''
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB