RIP Court TV

Court TV is no more.  While this was announced a while back, that Court TV would become TruTV (because “court” lacked the “true” connotation), it still represents the end of an era.

truTV.com

There was once a time when regular lawyers, the guys like me who toiled in the trenches, had little chance of seeing our made-for-radio mugs on television.  Lawyers were Perry Mason and Judd.  Then came OJ and the world shifted.  There weren’t enough lawyers to provide 24/7 trial coverage and commentary.  Lawyers were doing Monday Night Football, except for a trial.  There were the play by play guys, and the commentary gals, and somebody trying to be inane like Dennis Miller.  If you were a lawyer and willing to go on TV without any hope of compensation, there was a place for you.

It made stars of a few, most memorably the Starr herself.  With Hynes shoving her fat butt out the door as hard as he could (just to make sure it fit through), Starr Jones violated the Peter Principle by landing herself a gig on TV, where she was admired more than she had been as a assistant district attorney (What? you mean they got all them laws in that little black book? NO WAY!).

For most of us, it was an interesting experience.  We had an opportunity to try to overcome the vapid commentary by our hosts and inject some small dose of information and accuracy into the fog of really important questions, like
“how do you think the parents felt abut the ruling?” 


“Well Nancy, if your child was just discovered murdered, hacked into a thousand pieces and put through a meat grinder, only to find out that the defendant would be freed because the police officer dropped his jelly donut into the DNA sample, you would probably feel pretty disappointed.”

“Thank you for that insight, and now, the weather . . . “

Those were heady days.  But the fact remained that few of us actually watched Court TV.  No one I know did, unless they were involved in a particular case or were doing some show themselves.  Other than that, it varied from terribly boring to mind-numbingly stupid.  Seriously, watching Rikki banter with Eddy is at least a step or two below root canal.  They’re all nice enough on their own at a party, but actually spend time listening to them fill dead air?  That’s just crazy.

For new lawyers coming out, the heyday of lawyer commentary has passed you by.  There will be no new Court TV for you to cut your teeth on, to tell that cute looking guy in the bar what you were doing today (Yeah, it’s just left-over make-up from my TV commentary this afternoon).  There will still be the occasional high profile trials that require a 10 video quote to prove the reporter’s not totally ignorant, but then there’s no free limo pickup or donuts in the green room.  Yeah, those were heady days.

So long, Court TV.