ffff-68191 Just finished watching all 22 episodes of Philly. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. Engaging plots. Sympatico characters. Convincing solid acting across the board. I suspect that some features of this series survive in the concept of The Good Wife; having watched 5 seasons of The Good Wife, while watching Philly I found myself frequently seeing similarities. I don't know the history of this series, or why it got canceled after just 1 season. But TV bean counters/ execs often display very strange logic in their choices of shows to keep vs shows to kill. Sometimes good stuff gets the ax, while plenty of junk goes on to survive. Philly is definitely one show which easily deserved to go on...

Bob Shields In one way, I'm glad I didn't find Philly until ten years after it was canceled. I knew it wouldn't last from the outset, so was saved from being disappointed when it was taken away.I think every one of the 22 episodes was a gem; the cast was wonderful and the stories intelligently and realistically presented.Kim Delaney was perfect as the idealistic but determined and smart defense attorney, making a difference in a seedy system.Tom Everett Scott played her less idealistic, but equally determined partner beautifully. Rick Hoffman played prosecutor Terry Loomis very well, but one wonders how he could remain on of the top lawyers in the DAs office when he lost so often to Delaney and Scott.Kyle Secor as the Asst. DA and ex to Delaney was a great foil.And Dena Detrich as the judge with a dog she brought into court supplied comic relief, but also realistic counsel to the attorneys. Much more successfully than did Robert Harper as the buffoonish Judge Haws.I imagine after 911, audiences weren't sympathetic to legal defense. I think this show was a victim of the time it came to air.I wanted more, that's high praise.

Victor Field Since "NYPD Blue" premiered, a lot of new shows from Steven Bochco Productions have come and gone (from "Public Morals," Bochco's ill-advised foray into the world of sitcoms, to the medical drama "City of Angels" - one of the few Steven Bochco series not as yet shown in Britain). "Philly" wasn't the one to break his losing streak, but this legal drama still deserves a bit better than it's been getting ;at the time of writing it's airing on Channel 4 in the UK late at night in single or double-bills over the Christmas period. Can you say "filler"? Come on - it's no classic, but it's not "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" either.A vehicle for Kim Delaney, the late Bobby Simone's equally late girlfriend is reincarnated as Kathleen Maguire, a Philadelphia lawyer and divorced mother of one (her ex happens to be a DA, with all that implies). She has trouble with the circuit judges she argues her cases in front of and is given to wearing suspiciously short skirts (Bochco always did have a weakness for strikingly attractive legal reps on his shows), but fortunately the resemblance to Ally McBeal ends there; her legal life is loaded with difficulty from the first episode onwards, in which her load is doubled when her partner [Joanna Cassidy, last seen as Brenda's mother on "Six Feet Under"] has a breakdown in court and winds up in psychiatric care... like I said, this ain't no Ally.Kathleen's characterised as dedicated and idealistic, but her rival lawyers aren't set up as the enemy - they're all people trying to do a job. Her new partner (Tom Everett Scott) is set up as looser than she is, but just as set on doing a good job. Plus the series is set in one of America's less exposed cities... so far so competent. And that's the show's problem - there's nothing really WRONG with it; the writing doesn't stink, the acting's decent (especially Rick Hoffman as one of the Commonwealth's lawyers), the stories hold the attention, the different setting is a change, the kid isn't too annoying, and Mike Post rises to the occasion yet again in terms of themes. But like "Brooklyn South," "Philly" lacks that extra something that could put it over the top - although at least the characters here are slightly less anonymous.If it didn't carry the legend "Executive Producer: Steven Bochco," this show might have gotten a chance to show its legs were as good as Kim Delaney's. But in any event, it's a decent time-passer; more "Equal Justice" than "Murder One," but none the worse for that.

Goon-2 I saw about the first five minutes of the first episode of "Philly" because I was checking to see if any actors I liked were guest starring. They weren't. Instead, I saw, much to my disgust, Joanna Cassidy flashing her breasts...on network TV. Ugh. What a turn-off.I forgot all about "Philly" until I discovered Nina Siemaszko was going to be a guest star, so I decided to watch that episode, hideously titled "Fork You Very Much." To give it credit, it was...better than I thought, but still offered nothing new and fresh to watch in the great slew of law-related shows. Basically, I guess Kim Delaney is supposed to be "Kathleen," a busy lawyer who works in a firm with Tom Everett Scott and some other folks. "Fork You Very Much" had Delaney and Scott in court just about the whole time. Delaney was so darned busy she had TWO cases--an evil rapist that she did not really want to defend and a kind, "troubled" alcoholic who neglected her kids, while Scott had to deal with some couple where the women did SOMETHING(to this second, I really don't know what) with a fork to her husband(hence the title, though why, since it was beyond the "B" plot.) He was also against some female prosecutor with a deep voice, whom I think he was supposed to be attracted to, and I guess he must love every women in the world, because he also had some chat with a judge(guest star Veronica Hamel) whom he had (trashily) slept with...Kathleen, on the other hand, basically spent all of her time being busy, but was vaguely set up with some detective. I did not care about Tom Everett Scott's character or anything involving his plot. Scott was okay in a role that really could have been played by any 30-something(and I would have prefered it to have been played by somebody MUCH more interesting). Delaney was also alright, but her role was also very, very generic and could have been played by any actress. I did not care about Kathleen's social life, and actually "forgot" about her involvment with the stupid detective until he suddenly came back toward the end. Kathleen at work was a LITTLE bit more interesting, but her two cases did not go together in the least. Did they not have some other character that could have represented kind, troubled Teresa the Alcoholic? I could see why a female attorney character would be faced against the evil demon rapist character(the rapist was annoying and had creepy tattoos, but actually had a couple of funny lines), but they really didn't *need* the other case...not that I am complaining, since the guest star who played Teresa(and did a good job) was the reason I watched. At least the conclusions of Delaney's cases turned out sort of interestingly, with the rapist getting a verdict(I will not say of what, because I think it was supposed to be "shocking"). I um, predicted what would become of Teresa(except I didn't know "why" she would do what she did), but at least the final between Delaney and Scott and her was probably the best scene in the show. Basically my viewing of an episode of "Philly" left me with the impression that it is a rather generic and run-of-the-mill show, that when featuring a good guest star makes a for PASSABLE viewing. I doubt I would watch it without any guest stars I like, however...