Fairly Legal
Michael Sardo
"The Yellow Brick Road Song" by Iyeoka (season 1)
"The Yellow Brick Road Song" (season 1)
United States
English
2
23
Peter Ocko
Michael Sardo
Steve Stark
Russ Buchholz
Anton Cropper
Drew Matich
Clara George
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
San Francisco
44 minutes
Universal Cable Productions
Garfield St. Productions (season 1)
Steve Stark Productions (season 1)
Ocko & Company (season 2)
January 20, 2011 –
June 15, 2012
Overview[edit]
Fairly Legal stars Sarah Shahi as Kate Reed, a young woman who changes her profession from lawyer to mediator and works at the San Francisco law firm her father started. As the series opens, Kate's father has just died, leaving his young widow Lauren in charge as Kate and the firm adjust to the loss.
Kate and Lauren, who are approximately the same age, generally engage in comical banter while attempting to work together, and the development of their relationship is a central focus of the series.[5] According to Shahi, the characters "take a couple steps forward and then take gigantic leaps back". She has also stated that their history divides them at certain times, and bonds them at others. "At the end of the day, they would give the shirt off of their backs to help the other person, because they are family".[6]
Broadcast[edit]
In Australia, the series premiered on Seven Network on July 10, 2012,[48] and returned for season two on May 26, 2013.[49]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich noted the similarity in formula of Fairly Legal to other successful USA Network series and described the show as "a perfectly prefabricated USA treat". He lauded Shahi's performance as Kate, saying she "makes you believe that the woman is simultaneously an anxious wreck and a brilliant mediator", and applauded some of the "interesting chances" the creators took. However, he took the show to task for not utilizing its San Francisco setting as well as other USA series use their locales and chided Fairly Legal for not knowing "whether it wants to be a somber drama or a zippy legal quirkfest".[53] Robert Bianco for USA Today concurred in the assessment of Shahi's performance, calling it "instantly likable", and described the series as "a well-constructed piece of popular entertainment from a dependable provider of the same, with an easy-to-like star and an easy-to-grasp premise".[54] In a review of Season 2, Bruce Fretts of TV Guide commended Williams and applauded the relationship between Lauren and Kate, noting its effect on character development.[5]
Ratings[edit]
Fairly Legal attracted 3.9 million viewers upon first airing, with approximately one-third of viewers being in the key 18–49 ratings demographic. The episode lost about 500,000 viewers from its lead-in, the mid-season debut of the medical drama Royal Pains.[55]