Steven Bochco is still intent on raising the bar
And, as fate would have it, that's the name of his new series on TNT. The story of a public defender is a story about America and its class warfare.
After four decades, 10 Emmys, and more than a few flops, Steven Bochco still hasn't figured out what makes a hit television show.
"Every show by definition is a shotgun marriage," the producer of "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law" said recently. "You're putting a gun to people's heads and you say, 'OK, you're marrying this material, now learn to love it.' "
His latest wedding, “Raising the Bar," will debut Monday on TNT. A legal drama set in the Bronx, the 10-episode series is based on "Indefensible," a book by public defender David Feige. The ensemble show features Mark-Paul Gosselaar ("Commander in Chief," "NYPD Blue") as a young, idealistic public defender doing daily battle with a corrupt judicial system, Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle") as an arrogant judge and Melissa Sagemiller ("Sleeper Cell") as an equally idealistic assistant district attorney. Bochco's son Jesse directed the pilot.
By the time shooting was almost finished, Bochco said the series had "evolved stylistically to the point where we all love it. We're devoted to it."
At 65, the trim and silvery Bochco appeared mild-mannered and matter-of-factly confident about his own talent for multilevel storytelling and character development. (He taught Feige, co-creator and writer, the screenwriting craft from scratch over the course of a year. "It was tough, but he's a wonderful student," Bochco said. "I can't imagine having done this show without him.")
And he's done enough cop, hospital and law shows to know the lay of the land.
"I've always been attracted to shows in which people get corrupted by one thing or another, or fight against being corrupted morally or ethically" as those are the things that shape character, he said.
Still, considering social, cultural and business shifts since his heyday, he's curious to see whether "there's still a significant enough audience out there for this show to survive."
Over the last 20 years, Bochco and his signature style have steadily aged beyond the average core audience and the average network president. He has publicly lamented broadcast television's drift from the socially and culturally significant dramas that he fought to make in the late 1960s and '70s. A mockingly self-described "dinosaur," Bochco believes "Raising the Bar" might test his own relevance in a changed world. He recalls that before the rise of cable studios, in conjunction with networks, controlled every aspect of the work process. "In order to wrest some creative independence from these people you had to fight like hell. We did and we won that battle," he said. "I probably got more belligerent than I should have been," he added.
