Suits (TV series)

Season 1 (2011)

Former law student Mike Ross makes a living illegally taking the LSAT for others. To pay for his grandmother's care, he agrees to deliver a case of marijuana for his best friend Trevor, a drug dealer. Mike astutely avoids being arrested in a sting, only to stumble into a job interview with Harvey Specter, called the best closer in the city. Mike's knowledge of the law impresses Harvey enough to win him the associate position, even though Mike doesn't have a license to practice law. Together they try cases for the firm while maintaining the secret that Mike is a fraud.

Season 2 (2012–13)

Jessica Pearson, managing partner, learns Mike's secret, but other issues take precedence when co-founding partner Daniel Hardman returns to the firm, pressuring Jessica and Harvey. Mike begins to foster a relationship with paralegal Rachel Zane, but finds himself pursuing other romantic entanglements after his grandmother's sudden death. Harvey and his secretary Donna face accusations of burying evidence and must discover the truth while keeping incriminating evidence from Hardman, who would use it to leverage a managing partner position. The intensifying threat from Hardman forces Jessica into a merger with a British firm headed by Edward Darby.

Season 3 (2013–14)

Darby's presence in the firm gives Harvey leverage to seek a position as name partner. Meanwhile, the merger causes Louis Litt to clash with his British counterpart. Darby International client Ava Hessington draws Harvey into a lengthy trial against his former mentor, and when the lawsuit turns into a murder charge, the arrest of Darby's "fixer" Stephen Huntley becomes grounds for a messy dissolution of the merger. Rachel gets accepted into law school at Columbia, and she and Mike move in together. Realizing that his fraud can't continue forever, Mike leaves newly renamed Pearson Specter to take a position as an investment banker.

Season 4 (2014–15)

Mike's new job puts him and Harvey on opposite sides of a takeover battle, causing the SEC to accuse them of collusion. When Mike is fired, Louis goes to extreme lengths to persuade Mike to come back to Pearson Specter, which put him in debt to shady billionaire investor Charles Forstman. Louis demands a name partner position, competing with Harvey, but his wrongdoings get him fired instead. When he realizes Mike never went to Harvard, he blackmails Jessica into rehiring him with the promotion he desired. Mike proposes to Rachel; Donna leaves Harvey to work for Louis.

Season 5 (2015–16)

Harvey struggles with losing Donna, and begins to open up to a therapist about his broken relationship with his mother. However, Louis's insecurity and desire to undermine Harvey create an opening for Jack Soloff, an ambitious partner who is being manipulated by Hardman. Rachel's wedding plans and her relationship with her parents are both overshadowed by Mike's secret. Mike and Harvey both resign to protect their future, but Mike is abruptly arrested for fraud. More and more people involved realize the allegations are true, and facing a tenacious Anita Gibbs, Mike turns himself in so that no one else will go to jail.

Season 6 (2016–17)

A two-year prison sentence puts Mike dangerously at the mercy of inmate Frank Gallo's grudge against Harvey. At Pearson Specter Litt, few employees remain to help. Rachel works an Innocence Project case for her law professor; Jessica assists pro bono but is distracted from matters at the firm, and chooses to leave her position to pursue her own life. Mike's roommate in prison proves key in a deal for Mike's freedom. He struggles with his fraud being public knowledge, but obtains a job at a legal clinic. Harvey helps both Rachel and Mike pass the bar, and persuades Mike to come back to the firm.

Main

Recurring

Development

Suits first appeared on USA network's development slate under the title A Legal Mind in April 2010. On April 5, 2010, USA announced that it was developing seven new pilots for its 2010-2011 television season, including A Legal Mind, which would later become Suits. The premiere was written by Aaron Korsh, and David Bartis and Gene Klein served as executive producers. It was later announced on May 17, 2010 that USA ordered a ninety-minute cast-contingent pilot for the series. The network later picked up A Legal Mind on January 19, 2011 and ordered eleven one-hour episodes in addition to the 90-minute pilot.

Creator Aaron Korsh, whose Notes from the Underbelly sitcom was canceled during the 2007-2008 Writers' Strike, wrote a spec script intended to be a "half-hour Entourage-type based on my experiences working on Wall Street." He later realized that the project should have hour-long episodes. Korsh and his agent took the script to several production companies and wanted to give the script to Universal Media Studios. However, Korsh found it odd that the studio did not want to sell the script to NBC, the network the studio typically worked with. Korsh's agent convinced USA Network executive Alex Sepiol that although the series was neither a procedural nor what the network typically did, he would like the characters. Sepiol approved of the script, and by then, Hypnotic Films & Television signed on to the project. The team pitched the script to USA, which bought the script after the pitch. Korsh did not pitch it to anyone else. When rewriting the script, Korsh made only small changes to the first half-hour, up to when Mike is hired. Originally, Mike did not take LSATs for others and only pretends to have attended Harvard, as opposed to pretending he attended Harvard and has a law degree. Korsh noted that there is no degree or test needed, to work on Wall Street and be a mathematical genius, unlike the bar examination in law. He decided to "embrace" this difference and change the premise.

The pilot episode was filmed in New York City, where the series is set. The rest of the series is filmed in Toronto (at Downsview Park Studios), where the sets are built to be identical to the New York law offices seen in the pilot. To promote the series debut, USA had an advance screening of the pilot on June 2, 2011, at the Hudson River Park and distributed free Häagen-Dazs Sundaes cones at the viewing. The network also had a branded ice cream carts, bikes, and scooters give away at the Sundaes and USA/Entertainment Weekly 2011 promotion summer guides on June 22 and 23. They also held the promotion in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston to endorse the pilot.

Casting and marketing

The season was created by Aaron Korsh and was aired on the USA Network in the United States. The season was produced by Hypnotic Films & Television and Universal Cable Productions. The executive producers were Korsh, Doug Liman, and David Bartis. The staff writers were: Korsh with three writing credits; Sean Jablonski, Jon Cowan, Ethan Drogin, and Rick Muirragui with two each; and Erica Lipez with one. The directors throughout the season were Kevin Bray, John Scott, Dennie Gordon, Kate Woods, Terry McDonough, Tim Matheson, Norberto Barba, Felix Alcala, Jennifer Getzinger, and Mike Smith. The first role in which a casting spot was filled was for Patrick J. Adams, who was cast in the lead role of Mike Ross in July 2010. In late July, Gabriel Macht joined the main cast as Harvey Specter. Rick Hoffman came on board in mid-August to portray Harvey's competition, Louis, at the law firm. Meghan Markle and Gina Torres soon joined the cast in late August, who were set to play Rachel Zane and Jessica Pearson respectively. Sarah Rafferty completed the main cast as Donna, and the pilot was filmed in New York City in the fall of 2010.

The series was soon commissioned with a 12-episode order on January 19, 2011. The series began filming in Toronto on April 25, 2011, and completed on August 12, 2011 in New York City. Post production for the series was done at Cherry Beach Sound. "Greenback Boogie" by Ima Robot serves as the theme song of the show and was released as a single on September 18, 2010, and is included on the band's third album, Another Man's Treasure.

A deleted scene leaked onto YouTube shows Victor Garber as Phillip Hardman, originally part of the pilot, but was ultimately cut during script rewrites. It shows that Hardman had retired from the firm on his own accord. Despite being cut for US audiences, the scene was left in for British viewers when it was first aired, and the scene continues to be included in re-runs.

Broadcast and home media

The first season premiered on June 23, 2011 and concluded on September 8, 2011. It ran for 12 episodes, including a 90-minute pilot. The complete first season was available on Region 1 DVD on May 1, 2012 and Region A Blu-ray on March 11, 2013.

Suits was renewed for a second season consisting of 16 episodes on August 11, 2011, which premiered on June 14, 2012. The mid-season finale aired on August 23, 2012, with the remaining six episodes returning on January 17, 2013. The complete second season was available on Region 1 DVD on December 2, 2013, and Region A Blu-ray on January 11, 2014.

On October 12, 2012, the show was renewed for a third season of 16 episodes. Season 3 premiered on July 16, 2013, with the final six episodes airing after March 6, 2014. The complete third season was available on December 22, 2014, on Region 1 DVD and was released on Region A Blu-ray on January 3, 2015.

A fourth season of 16 episodes was announced on October 24, 2013. Season 4 premiered on June 11, 2014, with the mid-season finale on August 6, 2014. The complete fourth season was available on June 8, 2015, on Region 1 DVD and was released on Region A Blu-ray on July 11, 2015.

On August 11, 2014, USA Network announced a fifth season of 16 episodes, which premiered on June 24, 2015.

On July 1, 2015, Suits was renewed for a sixth season consisting of 16 episodes and premiered on July 13, 2016.

The series is available through streaming services on Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, and Xfinity.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Suits is broadcast on Dave.

Critical reception

Suits has received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an 88% approval rating with the Season 3 consensus reading, "Though it's occasionally overly wordy, Suits stimulates with drama derived from the strength of its well-developed characters' relationships." Carrie Raisler of The A.V. Club said, "Suits has more internal forward momentum than most anything else on television right now, and when it's on, like it mostly is here, it just cooks." Julie Hinds of The Detroit Free Press said, "The combination of Gabriel Macht as slick attorney Harvey Specter and Patrick J. Adams as unlicensed legal genius Mike Ross has been a winning one."

Spin-off

USA is in early talks for a potential Jessica Pearson spin-off. Torres will star in and produce the spin-off.