I've been looking forward to ...
Julianna Margulies, Canterbury's Law
Question: I've been looking forward to
Canterbury's Law since I first heard about it, and your positive
review, along with the drought of new quality television, has gotten me even more excited for its premiere. However, I agree that it is not in a very ratings-friendly time slot, scheduled at 8 pm/ET on Mondays (starting tonight). Why wouldn't Fox premiere
Canterbury's Law after
American Idol, at least for a few weeks, in order to build the show a fan base by capitalizing on
Idol's huge ratings? It makes no sense whatsoever to me that they have
Moment of Truth behind
American Idol and they leave
Canterbury's Law out to fend for itself. Then again, it makes no sense that
Moment of Truth is on television at all.
Answer: No argument here about the relative merits of
Moment of Truth, which is like watching a cesspool in action. This is really all about timing and priorities, and for whatever reason, perhaps because it's seen as a tougher sell, Fox pumped up the premiere of
New Amsterdam last week with two previews on
Idol nights.
Canterbury's Law could be seen as easier to promote, boasting a name star (Julianna Margulies) and a familiar premise: maverick, self-destructive lawyer tackling sensational cases. She's a little bit
House in court, with traces of
Rescue Me's Denis Leary as well (he's a producer), and it could be that Fox sees it as a self-starter. More likely, though, Fox lacks confidence in either of these series (or so it would seem), which is why they're being lumped together on Mondays for the next few weeks — where they're about to face the juggernaut of a new season of
Dancing with the Stars without benefit of an established show on the night. (Even pairing
Law with
House repeats would make more sense.) When you see how poorly the execrable
Moment of Truth does on nights where it doesn't get that
Idol halo, it does make you question Fox's value system in keeping any promising new midseason drama away from its biggest midseason hit. Look what
Idol did for
House in its first year. Still,
Law and
Amsterdam almost have it easy compared with
The Return of Jezebel James, which is being asked to find an audience on Friday nights. That's gotta hurt.
