Taking on a challenging case, this drama series, follows Theodore Hoffman, a smart lawyer, who takes on a murder case, as he struggles against defending a young actor of alcoholism addicted and involved in a murder.
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.
The plot is novelistically complex, with numerous subplots and a roster of characters, each with his or her own slew of quirks and secrets, that you might need a cheat sheet to keep up with.
[Murder One] was all just procedure really, but it was compelling. So compelling, in fact, that what was worst about Murder One -- its solemn, unashamed addiction to melodrama -- hardly mattered.
Murder One would have played much better as a four-hour or eight-hour miniseries than as a regular series. Many of its middle episodes barely inched the plot along.
Murder One is quintessential [Steven] Bochco, a well-acted, smartly written, meticulously presented hour that turns the law inside out while telling a good story that makes you feel like you're spying on these people through a peephole.
Adult, hard-hitting and tough-talking, Murder One represents the apex of TV series production. Everything is first-rate, from the writing and acting to the photography and music.
