"Petrocelli" (1974) TV series 1974-1976

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Creators:

Harold Buchman
Sidney J. Furie

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

11 September 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who gave up the big money and frenetic...

Plot Keywords:

Law | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Barry Newman	...	Anthony J. Petrocelli (45 episodes, 1974-1976)
Susan Howard	...	Maggie Petrocelli (45 episodes, 1974-1976)

Runtime:

60 min (48 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company:

Miller-Milkis Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fekete fehér (2006) (TV)

Good show, but unethical

This series was excellent in all the primary attributes one looks for in a legal drama: the setting was fresh and new, the characters were interesting, the cast was always on the mark, and the writing was both believable and absorbing. I had a major complaint, however, with the most famous aspect of the show. What "Petrocelli" did different from other courtroom dramas was its dramatization of each witness's account of the crime. Unfortunately, this meant it visually presented false accounts--things that *never happened.* I know how rhetoricians, relativists, and post-modernists of every stripe love to debate the non-existence of objective truth, but prime-time television isn't the forum for such questions. It bothered me every time I watched the show, and every time it came up in discussion with others, they (almost to a one) agreed with me.