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4 articles from 2009

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TV Review: TNT’s ‘Raising the Bar’ Presents Opening Arguments For Season Two

8 June 2009 11:49 AM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – I’m a huge Stephen Bochco fan and like most of the cast of TNT’s “Raising the Bar,” returning tonight to start season two and recently released on DVD in a first season set. But I can’t handle the tone changes, two-dimensional characters, and complete lack of judicial realism on this show, one that has promise on paper but has never worked in episode form.

Television Rating: 2.0/5.0 I’ve always had a problem with shows that feel like they intentionally set out to “make a difference”. Good television starts with characters first and difference-making messages come from them. You can’t write theme. Write plot and let theme come organically from the plot. “Raising the Bar” is All theme and all message.

Melissa Sagemiller and Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Photo credit: Danny Feld

Proof of this is right there on the back of the season one DVD, “From Emmy-winning »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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Raising the Bar: The Complete First Season - Clips Added

4 June 2009 5:46 AM, PDT | Monsters and Critics | See recent Monsters and Critics news »

Raising the Bar is a somewhat predictable law show, but it manages to stay entertaining thanks to its cast. The series is from Emmy-winning producer Steven Bocho, but it seems to lack the bite of some of his past television success . most notably NYPD Blue. The series stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Gloria Reuben (ER), Currie Graham (Desperate Housewives, NYPD Blue), Melissa Sagemiller (Sleeper Cell), Teddy Sears (Ugly Betty), Natalia Cigliuti (All My Children), and J. August Richards (Conviction). All 10 episodes from Season One get collected on a three-disc set that also comes with several features to take fans behind the scenes. The series follows a group of »

- Patrick Luce

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[DVD Review] Raising the Bar: The Complete First Season

2 June 2009 10:09 AM, PDT | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »

The best thing you could say about the first season of ABC Studios and producer Stephen Bochco’s (NYPD Blue) production Raising the Bar is that it does exactly what it sets out do. Make no mistake about it, this is a by-the-numbers courtroom drama; another addition to an already overcrowded market of day and nighttime television that unfolds primarily in justice’s hallowed halls. Raising the Bar does manage to briefly distinguish itself on the strength of dialogue and production values, but it can’t avoid the sinking feeling that you’ve seen this all before. Nevertheless, there is a certain comfort to the atypical unpredictability the show brings to many of verdicts and the way the lives of the cast intersect.

Raising the Bar primarily revolves around Jerry Kellerman (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), a plainly idealistic public defender whose ruffled shirt and constantly undone tie should help identify him immediately. »

- Mark Zhuravsky

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HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 25 Admit-Two Passes to VIP Screening Party For TNT’s ‘Raising the Bar’

27 May 2009 4:30 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: TV, we have 25 admit-two VIP screening passes up for grabs to the exclusive Chicago screening party for season two of the new TNT drama “Raising the Bar”. The series comes from 10-time Emmy-winning producer Steven Bochco of “L.A. Law” and “NYPD Blue”.

Winners will enjoy complimentary appetizers and an advance screening of the first episode of season two before it airs! Winners will also have the chance to win a season-one DVD of the series!

To win your free pass to the VIP “Raising the Bar” screening party in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is be one of the first 25 people to submit a comment in this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup. That’s it!

The party will be held on June 4, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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4 articles from 2009

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