Petrocelli (1974–1976)

Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in the American Southwest.... See full summary »

Creators:

Harold Buchman, Sidney J. Furie

Stars:

Barry Newman, Susan Howard, Albert Salmi

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Barry Newman	...	Anthony J. Petrocelli (44 episodes, 1974-1976)
Susan Howard	...	Maggie Petrocelli (44 episodes, 1974-1976)
Albert Salmi	...	Pete Ritter (44 episodes, 1974-1976)

Storyline

Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in the American Southwest. He and wife Maggie live in a trailer in the country while waiting for their new house to be built, and travel around in a beat-up old pickup truck. For a quiet rural area, Petrocelli seems to have no trouble running into his share of murderers to defend.

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Plot Keywords:

law | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama | Crime

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1974 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miller-Milkis Productions, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (44 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows Night Games (1974)

User Reviews

Absorbing legal drama, years before L.A Law came along...

Spun-off from the movie "The Lawyer" (qv), "Petrocelli" is a great, one hour courtroom drama starring Barry Newman as the displaced New York Lawyer in the desert, Tony Petrocelli. In the late 1990s there was something of a revival in its popularity in the UK, when the BBC began screening it daily in their early afternoon (2pm) slot. It was certainly more entertaining than the show it replaced, "Quincy MD", although perhaps it did not scale the heights reached by the champion of that particular timeslot, "Columbo". "Petrocelli" became the all time favourite tv show of my University friend and housemate Neil, who would often miss lectures to catch the daily afternoon dose of legal drama. I wouldn't go that far, but I'd still say it's great entertainment. When compared to some of the lame legal dramas out there today ("The Practice", anyone?) the writing here is positively superb.