THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511290091
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
BY GOSH, THE president of NBC Entertainment was right last summer when he predicted that ``Murder One'' wouldn't catch on because the show has no heart. There is nobody to root for on that show, Warren Littlefield told TV critics in Los Angeles when asked what he thought of ABC's expensive new drama produced by Steven Bochco. You won't get emotionally involved with this show, said Littlefield.
The hero of ``Murder One'' is a cool, aloof attorney without a hair on his head played by an actor, Daniel Benzali, who isn't much different than the man he plays on TV. Kojak in a $3,000 suit? Naw. Kojak had heart.
Pity Bochco didn't land his first choice - Alan Alda.
Now that I have seen eight shows, or chapters, as Bochco prefers to call each episode, I agree with Littlefield. ``Murder One'' is a well-acted, beautifully crafted and handsomely photographed series, but there isn't anyone on the show I care beans about.
In contrast, I care about everyone on ``ER'' on NBC.
``Murder One,'' flattened by ratings' steamroller ``ER'' in the Thursday night at 10 timeslot, returns to ABC on Jan. 8 in a new home - Monday night at 10. To make room, ABC is canceling ``The Marshall.''
I doubt if the move will resuscitate ``Murder One,'' which was 70th in the ratings the last time I looked. Here are my reasons for saying that:
If you have not been part of the 7 percent of the primetime audience watching ``Murder One'' these past eight weeks, you're not likely to come aboard on Jan. 8. It will be too hard to catch up, even after ABC airs a cram course on the series.
``Murder One'' is unconventional drama in that it is driven by one story - the murder of a 15-year old girl who abused drugs and indulged in sex with men several times her age. I've watched from the beginning and I've been adrift at sea at times as the plot twists and turns. Why exactly was the private eye shot to death in that motel room?
Benzali, a wonderful actor who makes you believe he is a high-powered defense attorney, has had a heroic moment or two such as when he tossed a young lawyer out of his firm for unethical behavior.
But Benzali as Ted Hoffman isn't leading the charge to find the girl's killer. He's a defense lawyer, remember. First, he defended a philandering millionaire accused of the murder, and then hired on as attorney for the second man arrested for the crime - an actor consumed by alcohol, drugs and sex.
How are you going to identify with a man who has clients like that?
The prime story on ``Murder One'' is going nowhere. The character of a private eye played by Kevin Tighe, who was making some real progress in finding the killer, was dispatched by Bochco. Dumb.
(While surfing the Internet the other night, I saw a number of e-mail messages with complaints about the slowly-evolving story. ``The plot needs jacking up,'' beamed in Janice from Florida).
ABC has committed millions to Bochco to do 23 episodes of ``Murder One.'' So, the show will be on ABC somewhere through the Spring of 1996, no matter how dull it gets. I wasn't thrilled to hear that Bochco in January will do away with what he calls the ``B'' stories, the little courtroom dramas away from the girl's murder which introduced the young lawyers in the Hoffman firm.
I liked those little ``B'' stories, particularly the one about the neighbors at odds over a barking dog. These stories reminded me of ``L.A. Law'' at its best.
When Bochco met the TV press before ``Murder One'' signed on, he was reminded of another series which tried to hold a primetime audience with a single storyline - ``Twin Peaks.'' After a few weeks, the viewers tuned out.
``People didn't get bored with that show because there was one story. They got bored because there was no story,'' said Bochco.
He wondered out loud if today's hit-and-run TV audience has the patience to hang with ``Murder One'' for 23 weeks.
Is the story of a young dead girl on ``Murder One'' more compelling than the story of a young dead girl on ``Twin Peaks''? I don't think so.
Comparing ``L.A. Law'' to ``Murder One,'' Bochco said the viewers missed much when two or three complicated cases were distilled into an hour of TV drama. ``There was no time for showing courtroom strategy, for developing surprises,'' he said.
To tell you the truth, I expected far more courtroom maneuvering than I've seen so far on ``Murder One.'' I expected it to be ``Perry Mason'' for the 1990s. Instead I'm seeing a lot of talk with not much else happening.
Put ``Murder One'' in the same column with another show from Bochco, TV's great innovator. ``Cop Rock'' didn't catch on in 1990, and ``Murder One'' won't stick today. by CNB