You know, it really distresses me that society has always wanted to get rid of hope. Back in the day before the media craze people who strove to do the right things were generally killed for what they believed in: A better world, a better life, something other than the violence we wallowed in. JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X—after he wanted peace, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, and so on and so forth. But the minuet someone talks about Genocide or War a large group of people want to get behind that person; Hitler, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Osama Bin Laden, Joseph Kony…I’m not saying that we all agree with these lunatics, but it’s sad that when people talk about a better world we either ridicule them or don’t want to listen and then once people do want to start listening another group fights back until they eventually kill the man or woman trying to lead people into something better. But when someone comes around and wants to get rid of a country or a race of people everyone is all for it and those of us who don’t agree try to stay out of their way because, “it’s not our problem.” We wait until it is our problem and suddenly we’re up and arms and sadly America is a big part of that “let’s wait until we have some casualties.” We trade violence for hope and it sickens me that we do so.
And now we're in the media scene where we have show after show that exploit the problems in our society and make them out worse than they are. Then theses shows get chosen over ones that are creative, thought provoking, and in my opinion full of hope as the characters continue to strive to do better and make a change. Shows that are still around that really are pointless and have no value are shows like 16 and Pregnant, Jersey Shore, Regular Show, Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Revenge, Pretty Little Liars, Degrassi: The Next Generation—all shows that are filled with exaggerations of how life is and filled with a lot of sex and drugs and pure unadulterated stupidity or just plain bad uncreative writing like Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai.
So imagine my surprise as I'm watching the last three episodes of Harry's Law and my mother tells me that it's been cancelled. I am beyond upset. Harry's Law from the beginning has been a show honestly filled with hope and for any of you that watch the show you know that too. While the show does have outrageous situations and comedy, this is a show that installs hope in Lawyers and the American judicial system. Many times cop drama shows show us that lawyers are heartless bastards that only want to win the cases. The only show that even comes close to showing their humane side is Law and Order: SVU, and only SVU because they deal with sex crimes. But Harry's Law from the beginning has been witty and smart as Harriet Korn, played by Kathy Bates, opens up a law firm/shoe store in the middle of the ghetto. Harriet's Law as the firm is originally called represents clients who generally don't have a chance at being able to win but much like Daredevil did in the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck—and FYI Marvel if you were going to reboot something it should have been that and not Spider-Man; she defends people who have questionable innocent cases (Wikipedia.com). She chooses to defend if they're telling the truth or if their motive for what they did was right or somewhat right giving the feel that there is hope for our legal systems. Korn fights for clients that have an unfair chance to win and each episode takes you through the motions so much that even if you don't agree with what the verdict is you get the feeling that they did the best they could, and in some cases if they do lose they choose not to give up. Each and every case Harry and her partners take they fight head on and give a fair chance to their defendant. There is fire and brimstone since obviously lawyers are from hell, but those horns are sure holding up a halo that glows every once in a while. The emotional turmoil comes with each and every closing argument where Harry or one of the other lawyers appeal to the human side of the case and let you know what's right and what's wrong. They use clever words and play on other situations that could happen and make the jury seriously think about what they’re voting on. Honestly it’s a matter of just watching one episode, preferably the first two of the first season or three part season three opener which was just bad in the good way, and you may be enlighten to the show.
It's also smartly written. Each episode has a different case that is thought provoking and well executed but each episode also plays off of one another as you watch the characters grow together and within themselves as they take on one of the most toughest legal positions out there: being a defense attorney. Sometimes you don't always get to choose your clients, like if you're a court appointed attorney, but when you do it's good to know someone out there believes that lawyers out there can and will choose those worth defending. That person is David E. Kelly (Boston Legal) the creator and executive producer of the show.
But nope, we rather have the crap I've listed earlier instead of something smart, funny, and worth the time to watch. I joke with my wife that my kids are going to see me as the fan of TV shows that never really got to go anywhere because Flash Forward, V, No Ordinary Family—all those that got axed before they really got started. Other shows that have been cancelled this season are shows that are also smart and thought provoking like NBC's Awake and CBS's CSI: Miami when NY really could go and the original has needed to go since Sarah originally left the show, but whatever. I don't make the calls the stations presidents do, and they only want to make money and not lose it. And I know I use this as an example a lot but the president that decided to cancelled Angel got fired to too long after that. So while speaking of hope that clearly showed America does want smart TV that's not going to show a bunch of idiots doing idiotic things. In the case of Jersey Shore people only watch it "when they're bored." So stop boring the masses and leave the good stuff on TV, okay. Ugh! Well until the next tirade, According to Michael III, this world could use a little more hope and yet time after time we continue to show we'd rather kill the hope and exalt the genocide. And I do mean that literally for TV because crappy shows are the genocide of the future’s brain cells and we continually ask what's wrong with the next generation...well there is the answer.
—Michael III
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