The legal-procedural genre is among the most popular forms of TV drama out there today. Whether it’s The Lincoln Lawyer topping Netflix’s most-watched list at the backend of 2024, or the Law & Order franchise dominating network television for 35 years and counting, the most successful small-screen legal dramas are seemingly ubiquitous.
Yet, among the myriad series in the genre, it’s rare to find a lawyer show that’s virtually without flaws. Even the very best legal dramas tend to have their dud episodes and storylines, in part because of the traditional “case of the week” format that most of them stick to.
Since the legal procedural was invented, it’s been standard practice to churn out self-contained episodes of varying quality, consisting of a different legal case each time. Although modern television has evolved beyond this format, it still pervades the overall tone of most legal dramas, which err on the side of fairly one-paced, routine storytelling.
On the other hand, there are certain lawyer shows which break the mold, either by adopting an innovative approach to narrative structure, or by making every one of their storylines fresh and incisive in its own right. An exceptional few among this clutch of legal dramas manage to be essentially perfect in every episode.
Matlock
2024–Present
The 2024 revival of classic 1980s legal drama Matlock sees Kathy Bates deliver one of her strongest career performances, which is quite a feat. Like the classic TV lawyer she’s modeled, Bates’ character Madeline “Matty” Matlock is a powerful orator with a supreme intellect. However, she also forms a powerful emotional connection to each one of her cases.
Matty’s love-hate relationship with her law firm boss Olympia Lawrence, who’s played by Skye P. Marshall, is an ingenious inversion of the boss-junior dynamic in previous legal series. Matty ends up serving as something of a mentor to Olympia, despite being her subordinate at Jacobson Moore.
Given Matty’s seniority in terms of age, Olympia naturally feels threatened by her self-assured demeanor and worldly wisdom. Yet, the younger, more dynamic lawyer has plenty of professional advice of her own to pass on. The sparkling onscreen chemistry between Bates and Marshall is what really brings Matlock to life.
As faultless as the show itself has been so far, unfortunately, Matlock made negative headlines prior to the release of season 2, when actor David Del Rio was fired from the show for alleged sexual assault. This situation could have derailed the series, but thanks to the swift action of producers, it may already have been consigned to the past.
Reasonable Doubt
2022–Present
One of the best Hulu original TV shows of 2024, Reasonable Doubt is a whipsmart legal drama about high-powered criminal defense lawyer Jax Stewart, who balances challenging legal cases with an equally turbulent personal life. As slick and polished as procedural series get, the show does all the right things in all the right places.
Emayatzy Corinealdi delivers a barnstorming portrayal of Stewart, opposite compelling romantic interests played by the likes of Michael Ealy and Morris Chestnut. The show never pretends to be as cerebral as the likes of Matlock, and is all the better for embracing its fun and thrilling side.
At the same time, Reasonable Doubt tackles hard-hitting topics such as black oppression in the United States better than almost any legal-procedural series before it. The show somehow perfects an extraordinarily difficult balancing act between light, frothy dialogue, fast-paced plots chock-full of twists, and the sensitive handling of weighty subject matters.
With season 3 just around the corner, it’s to be hoped that this pulsating legal drama can keep up its perfect score across 10 new episodes. On the basis of how well season 2 built on what came before it, we have nothing whatsoever to be concerned about.
Boston Legal
2004–2008
Decades before the present generation of thrilling lawyer-centric streaming series, masterpiece comedy-drama Boston Legal completely changed the trajectory of James Spader’s acting career. In this legal show, Spader plays the brilliant but highly neurotic defense attorney Alan Shore, a maverick whose unorthodox methods invariably win out in the end.
Shore is often a little too pompous for his own good, and his eccentricities frequently have a way of biting him in the behind. In one particularly exceptional case, the lawyer’s chronic fear of clowns is used against him in the courtroom. This example demonstrates just how funny Boston Legal can be at its best.
This legal comedy-drama is effectively the kindred spirit of the detective series Monk, which is probably the only show on TV that boasts a protagonist with more neuroses than Alan Shore. Invariably, though, no one gets the better of Shore or Adrian Monk when they’re focused on the job at hand.
Another highlight of Boston Legal’s five flawless seasons is the unconventional friendship between Shore and Denny Crane, his mentor in the legal profession, a heavy-drinking loudmouth played by William Shatner. Surely no combination of characters in the history of TV legal dramas has been as funny or entertaining as this one.
The Good Fight
2017–2022
In 60 episodes across almost six years, The Good Fight showed other legal drama spinoffs exactly how it’s done, as it went far beyond the brief it took from parent show The Good Wife. Christine Baranski leads from the front with an irresistible performance as Diane Lockhart, a veteran legal professional who starts this sequel series down but not out.
With a little help from her mentee Maia Rindell, played by Rose Leslie, Lockhart rehabilitates her reputation in the field. In the process, and her fellow lawyers tackle social issues from the MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter to fake news and social media abuse in the process.
The Good Fight skilfully changes up its cast as it goes, to better reflect the issue at hand in any given storyline. What’s more, Cush Jumbo, Delroy Lindo, and Nyambi Nyambi all excel in supporting roles which rightly grow more substantial with each passing season.
Despite The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King also being behind this legal procedural series, they purposely chose to take it in a very different direction, with the help of Field of Dreams writer-director Phil Alden Robinson. The Good Fight probably casts its net wider over society than any other contemporary show about lawyers.
Better Call Saul
2015–2022
- Release Date
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2015 – 2022-00-00
- Showrunner
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Peter Gould
- Directors
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Vince Gilligan, Thomas Schnauz, Peter Gould, Michael Morris, Adam Bernstein, Colin Bucksey, John Shiban, Michelle MacLaren, Melissa Bernstein, Larysa Kondracki, Terry McDonough, Gordon Smith, Minkie Spiro, Jim McKay, Daniel Sackheim, Andrew Stanton, Norberto Barba, Rhea Seehorn, Scott Winant, Michael Slovis, Keith Gordon, Deborah Chow, Giancarlo Esposito, Bronwen Hughes
- Writers
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Ann Cherkis, Marion Dayre, Ariel Levine, Jonathan Glatzer
In truth, while each of the aforementioned shows are fine pieces of television with little to fault in them, Better Call Saul is on another level entirely. It’s a peerless legal drama, which just happens to fall within the genre, but is actually so much more than any single TV category could continue.
The best scenes in Better Call Saul are masterpieces in every respect. Performances in the show from the likes of Giancarlo Esposito, Rhea Seehorn, Michael McKean, and, of course, Bob Odenkirk, are worthy of great works of New Hollywood cinema, which is ultimately the level on which the show is operating.
The attention to every single visual and narrative detail in this series – and in the wider Breaking Bad universe – is simply breathtaking. Nowhere is this quality of Better Call Saul more evident than in its procedural scenes, set at police stations, jails and courthouses in the American southwest.
Legal dramas come and go, many of them leaving their mark on a specific generation of television. But only a few of them can be considered consistently 10/10 series, and even fewer still rank among the all-time greats of other genres. Better Call Saul is the only one in this category that’s entirely beyond reproach.
