ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
More and more, TV programmers are laying down the law.
And not just with prime-time dramas, such as two new lawyerly entries, ABC's ``The Practice'' and CBS' ``Feds,'' which will come to prime time in March, joining a January newcomer, CBS' ``Orleans,'' wherein Larry Hagman plays a wily Louisiana judge.
These days, TV's syndicators, too, are banging the gavel every way they can think of.
Buyers from the nation's local stations found that out anew recently when they gathered in New Orleans for the annual National Association of Television Program Executives convention. Mission: to land new hits for their schedules next season.
As they shopped the wares of the association's program bazaar, never far from the station bosses' minds was one of the few successful syndication launches of the 1996-97 season: ``Judge Judy,'' a weekday half-hour that stars real-life judge Judy Sheindlin presiding over a made-for-TV family court.
Here, if it please the court, are more such reality lawyer shows submitted for next fall. (But will they please viewers?)
* ``The People's Court,'' which in a daily half-hour format kept Judge Joseph Wapner on its bench for a dozen years, is a firm ``go'' for 1997-98. But, this time, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch turns from Hizzoner to His Honor, dispensing justice for a full hour Mondays through Fridays.
* ``LadyLaw'' is described as a ``cinema verite reality series'' about the professional and personal lives of female lawyers, as well as women in various branches of law enforcement.
But that's not all. The host for this daily half-hour is perhaps the best-known ``LadyLawyer'' of them all, former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark.
* And then there's a court jester called ``Comedy Court.''
What will happen here, say the producers, is real-life legal disputes argued not by lawyers but by stand-up comics. Steve Landesberg, making the leap from a detective on a cop sitcom (the long-ago ``Barney Miller'') here dons judge's robes.
There are plenty of reasons why television is courting viewers.
Courtroom shows offer conflict and resolution. Wrongdoing alleged with the promise of punishment. Emotions and intellect both displayed in ample measure. A contest and, for the viewer, a guessing game.
But as the TV world anticipates a law-show boomlet in the months ahead, it's worth recalling twin flops of two years ago.
The highly awaited ``Jones & Jury'' fizzled with a format in which the studio audience served as a jury voting how to settle real-life disputes. With an almost identical concept, ``Judge for Yourself'' (originally titled ``Judge & Jury'') also went down in flames.
It's also worth remembering that the courtroom has been a successful venue for TV since its early days.
CBS' ``The Verdict Is Yours,'' for instance, began a five-year run way back in 1957. Its particular gimmick? Professional actors, improvising from an outline, portrayed all the litigants and witnesses on the live weekday program. Bona fide attorneys played the lawyers and judges. And jurors were ordinary citizens who actually rendered a verdict.
Bob Simon recently retired as senior broadcast attorney for the Interpublic advertising agency group. But in his first brush with TV four decades ago, the young lawyer found his responsibilities as ``Verdict's'' legal adviser included shadowing a New York City judge when he appeared on the show.
Simon's efforts were doomed to failure.
``He always arrived sober and he always was falling-down drunk by the time the show was off the air,'' Simon recalls. ``I stuck as close to him as a skin plaster, but I never saw him touch a drop.''
Sounds like a future bit from ``Comedy Court.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch takes a turn on ``Theby CNBPeople's Court.''