Reasonable Doubts

Synopsis

Reasonable Doubts is primarily about the working relationship between Assistant District Attorney Tess Kaufman (Marlee Matlin), a prosecutor very sensitive to the rights of the accused, and hard-charging, gruff Detective Dicky Cobb (Mark Harmon), an old-fashioned cop with a "bust-the-perps" attitude. The reason that these two had been assigned to work together was that Cobb was one of the few available police officers who knew sign language, and Tess, like the actress who portrayed her, was deaf. Dicky was usually more frustrated by Tess' attitudes than by her deafness; he also repeated what Tess said back to her to make sure that he understood it (Tess also read lips) and this allowed the audience to understand her part of the dialogue. Dicky also spoke as he signed to Tess.

Both characters were involved with other people when the series started; Tess was estranged from, but still in contact with, her husband Bruce (Tim Grimm); Dicky had a manipulative girlfriend named Kay Lockman (Nancy Everhard). Kay was, unsurprisingly, quite jealous of Tess, and not without reason, as a considerable mutual attraction, despite their differences, developed between Tess and Dicky. The situation became more complicated with the death of Kay early in the second season, freeing the characters to pursue the relationship at least somewhat more, although its resolution was still up in the air when the program was not renewed for a third season. Executive producer Bob Singer gained some interest from the network in spinning off the show into a straight cop drama starring Harmon and Jim Beaver, who had played Dicky's friend and partner Detective Earl Gaddis from the beginning of the show, but ultimately NBC demurred.

In the Seinfeld episode "The Pitch" (Season 4, Episode 3), Jerry and George sit in an NBC waiting room under a poster of Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin, an advertisement for the show Reasonable Doubts.

Cast