Law and Order: Trial by Jury - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia

Law & Order: Trial by Jury is an American television drama about criminal trials set in New York City. It was the fourth series in Wolf's successful Law & Order franchise. The show's almost exclusive focus was on the criminal trial of the accused, showing both the prosecution's and defense's preparation for trial, as well as the trial itself. The series premiered on Thursday, March 3, 2005, and ended on January 21, 2006. Its regular time slot was Fridays 10/9 p.m. ET on NBC. The last episode aired on Court TV months after the series' cancellation.

Overview

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Trial by Jury focuses on criminal legal procedures and preparation that are rarely depicted on other Law & Order series, such as jury selection, deliberations in the jury room, as well as jury research and mock trials prepared by the defense to use psychological studies and socioeconomic status profiling to their advantage. The episodes usually start with a witness or victim's personal account of a crime. This is a departure from the other Law & Order series, which usually begin by depicting either the actual crime or its discovery/reporting by civilians. The show progresses on from that point, showing how both sides develop their strategies for winning the case. In addition, a few episodes show jury deliberations. The show develops the judges as characters, showing scenes of them conferring with each other and reusing the same judges in multiple episodes.

Plot

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The series follows Bureau Chief Tracey Kibre (Bebe Neuwirth), an Executive A.D.A. assigned to Manhattan's homicide division. Kibre's team, including Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and A.D.A. Kelly Gaffney (Amy Carlson), follows up on leads and interview witnesses, as well as participating in trials, during which both sides examine witnesses and give arguments. Similarly, the defense's preparation varies from episode to episode, running the gamut from testing arguments in front of jury focus groups to deal-making between co-defendants. Several pretrial meetings are held where some procedural issue is argued and ruled on.

Main cast

Bebe Neuwirth as Tracey Kibre, the Homicide Bureau Chief and a Manhattan Executive ADA. Tracey has a black-and-white view of the law. She is tough, tenacious, focused, and professional. Kibre has a strong working relationship with her staff.

Amy Carlson as Kelly Gaffney, an ADA. Gaffney is Kibre's Deputy, who often challenges her senior colleague. She sees the law in shades of gray, and as a result is often more by-the-book.

Kirk Acevedo as Hector Salazar, a DA investigator. Salazar retired from the police force following an on-the-job injury which would have forced him behind a desk.

Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch, New York's District Attorney. Branch is a tough Republican, who practices both legal and political conservatism.

Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe, a DA investigator. Briscoe was the longest-serving police detective of the original Law & Order. Orbach appeared in the first two episodes of the series, before his death from cancer.

Scott Cohen as Chris Ravell, an NYPD Detective assigned to the ADA Kibre's team. Cohen was credited as a guest appearance for episode 3 before being added to the main credits in episode 5. He did not appear in episode 4.

Recurring cast

Candice Bergen as Amanda Anderlee, a New York District Judge.

Carey Lowell as Jamie Ross, a New York District Judge.

Seth Gilliam as Terence Wright, an ADA.

Jessica Chastain as Sigrun Borg, an ADA.

Cancellation

NBC announced on May 16, 2005, that Trial by Jury would not be returning for the 2005–2006 fall television season. The rival CBS procedural Numbers debuted in the midseason in late January 2005 and consistently beat NBC's Medical Investigation in the ratings, sending the latter show into hiatus and eventual cancellation, freeing up the time slot for Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Despite Trial by Jury's pedigree, Numb3rs ratings remained strong, often beating Trial by Jury in both overall and key demographic ratings.

Trial by Jury was the first series of the Law & Order franchise to be cancelled, although TV Guide reported at one point that NBC had reconsidered its decision and would pick up the series once again, or hand it off to Turner Network Television (TNT), which also airs reruns of the original series. The sets were reused by a series Wolf produced for NBC entitled Conviction which premiered Friday, March 3, 2006, lasting only one season before cancellation. In an October 2005 interview with the Associated Press, Wolf stated that NBC had assured him Trial by Jury would return for the fall of 2005, but had "blindsided" him by cancelling it, instead.

Court TV (now TruTV) reaired the entire series, including the episode "Eros In The Upper Eighties", which never aired on NBC before the show's cancellation. TNT has aired the episode "Skeleton" on occasion, as the conclusion to the original series episode "Tombstone".

Home release

On April 25, 2006, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released Law & Order: Trial by Jury – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.

References

Law & Order: Trial by Jury Wikipedia

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