Weak �Justice� debuts on Fox
By Diane Holloway | Wednesday, August 30, 2006, 10:12 AM
�Justice,� the new legal drama starring former �Alias� honcho Victor Garber, is slick, cynical and horribly disappointing.

There probably is a series to be made about the media spin of high-profile criminal cases, but �Justice�, which debuts tonight at 8 on Fox, isn�t it.

Yes, we are privy to all the shenanigans that filthy-rich defense firms employ � unmarried attorneys wear wedding rings so that jurors will like them, focus groups guide the show, shadow juries predict verdicts, publicity manipulation is king.

�This is trial by TV,� Garber�s well-dressed legal eagle Ron Trott proclaims proudly.

But what should be fascinating � essentially, an exploration of the trickle-down effect of the O.J. Simpson murder trial � is little more than an annoyingly quick-edit scamper around all the cosmetic details. The drama needs to slow down, get serious and lighten up on the superficial elements.

Tonight�s opener involves a generic murder in which a man is accused of killing his cheating wife. Trott takes on the media circus and assigns a younger, handsomer and more sympathetic lawyer from his firm to handle the courtroom duties. It�s over, in terms of any kind of suspense, before the first commercial.

Garber is too good an actor for such fluff, and creator-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has too good a track record to allow this to continue. Either �Justice� will get better or it�ll be gone before Halloween.