Family Law 

An upscale law firm specializing in family law undertakes clients with domestic conflicts.

Creator:

Anne Kenney

Stars:

Kathleen Quinlan, Christopher McDonald, Merrilee McCommas

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Lynn Holt 68 episodes, 1999-2002
Christopher McDonald	...	Rex Weller 68 episodes, 1999-2002
Merrilee McCommas	...	Patricia Dumar 68 episodes, 1999-2002
Salli Richardson-Whitfield	...	Viveca Foster 68 episodes, 1999-2002
Dixie Carter	...	Randi King 68 episodes, 1999-2002
Michelle Horn	...	Cassie Holt 67 episodes, 1999-2002
David Dorfman	...	Rupie Holt 57 episodes, 2000-2002
Julie Warner	...	Danni Lipton 49 episodes, 1999-2001
Tony Danza	...	Joe Celano 44 episodes, 2000-2002
Orla Brady	...	Naoise O'Neill 43 episodes, 2000-2002
Cristián de la Fuente	...	Andres Diaz 42 episodes, 1999-2001

Storyline

An upscale law firm specializing in family law undertakes clients with domestic conflicts.

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Plot Keywords:

woman | lawyer | 

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Taglines:

Any lawyer can take cases to court. These four take them to heart.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 September 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Associées pour la loi

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Productions, Columbia TriStar Television, Paul Haggis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (69 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was Tony Danza's first role in a drama series, all roles before that were comedies.

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Quotes

Randi: It's an annoying fact of life, but husbands can often see their wives' flaws much more easily than we can see our own. My former husband could certainly see right through me and he'd help me see it to. Usually by striking me with a baseball bat. Then one day, he swung and missed and I stabbed him to death. So, looking at it now, I suppose he didn't know me quite as well as he thought. For example, he didn't know I had that sharp knife. But, here I am talking about myself when we should be ...

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Soundtracks

War
Performed by Edwin Starr
Written by Edwin Starr, Norman Whitfield and Eddie Holland (as Edward Holland Jr.) / Lamont Dozier
Courtesy of Motown Records

User Reviews

Terrific legal drama before Tony Danza's arrival.

Before CBS became quite successful with the legal drama of Judging Amy, there was a short-lived series called 'Family Law,' starring some of television's better stars (Kathleen Quinlin, Christopher MacDonald, and my favorite, Dixie Carter) as attorneys in a California law firm.

Likewise, the show followed a 1998 show called 'L.A. Doctors,' which seemed to be quite a similar, fast-paced drama, except involving doctors (and that's pretty much what any drama is these days if it isn't about cops: lawyers and doctors), which itself was not a bad show, starring Ken Olin and Matt Craven, but it, too being short-lived.

'Family Law' was both a funny drama and also addressed some pretty good policy issues, including unique legal issues. For example, there was one episode where Dixie Carter's character, Randi King, takes a case that she is sure is going to get thrown out of court--I think it had to do with social responsibility of bartenders or something--but the judge actually agrees to take the case, and it becomes this hilarious legal issue (not that the issue of drunks and the responsibility of bartenders is any laughing matter). Christopher MacDonald (as Rex Weller), too, was the witty cynic who seemed to enjoy screening cases based on the pay-off, was another element of comedy relief, whereas Kathleen Quinlin's character, Lynn Holt, and her usual partner often took the policy issues that dealt with all sorts of family law issues such as child abuse, divorce, etc. and in a way that often hit home for Lynn Holt, as (like Judging Amy's lead character, Amy Gray), her cases often paralelled with situations in her life as the single mother of two young children.

The show was pretty funny (mostly because of Christopher MacDonald and Dixie Carter-->who came in the show less and less over the years), and you got a pretty good mix of about three cases going on in each episode.

Then, everything changed and Tony Danza, an terribly eager idealist (and not too much realist) "fighting for the little guy" type of attorney, Joe Selano, was added to the cast for the remaining two years. The format of the show changed as well, and I suppose it was all because of the network scrambling to do what they could to boost ratings (instead of working with writers or other things, they went the easy route--a new look). Suddenly, the law firm changed. One of the main female characters left the show and much of her screentime then shifted to Tony Danza, who's character was sometimes very irritating. Dixie Carter all but disappeared entirely, and even Christopher MacDonald made rare appearances. By then, each episode seemed to only manifest importance on one case, one particular set of events that would amass the whole show.

They did this too, with an old CBS show, Early Edition in which the episode used to hinge on three or more stories and no real main plot (usually just a collage of subplots, but interesting ones nonetheless), until it became entirely focused on one plot in each episode. If the plot wasn't interesting, or was weak, then so was the episode. That show didn't last long either.

This is unfortunate considering the potential of the cast as well as the issues at hand that were offered in the first half of the seasons on air (the show ran till 2002). It was actually a pretty funny show, but once they reformated everything, it was all downhill from there. It may be lost to obscurity forever, but if you do every catch the reruns, I highly recommend the pre-Danza shows. They were funny and thought-provoking.