Law & Order: Trial by Jury

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Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Genre	Legal Drama
Creator(s)	Dick Wolf
Starring	Bebe Neuwirth Amy Carlson Kirk Acevedo Scott Cohen Fred Dalton Thompson and Jerry Orbach
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	13 (one unaired)
Production
Running time	approx. 1 hour (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	March 3, 2005 – May 6, 2005
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Law & Order: Trial by Jury was an American television drama about criminal trials set in New York City. It was the third spin-off from the long-running Law & Order. The show's almost exclusive focus is on the criminal trial of the accused, showing both the prosecution's and defense's preparation for trial, as well as the trial itself. The series premiered on Thursday, March 3, 2005, and aired its series finale on Friday, May 6, 2005. Its regular time slot was Fridays 10/9 p.m. ET on NBC. An additional episode aired on Court TV after the series' cancellation.

1 Description
2 Cast of characters
3 Characters
4 List of Episodes
5 Cancellation
6 DVD
- 6.1 DVD Releases
7 Trivia
8 Related series
9 International
10 Notes
11 External links

[edit] Description

The following statement, narrated by Steven Zirnkilton, is spoken at the beginning of nearly every episode:

In the criminal justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, either by confession, plea bargain, or trial by jury, and this is one of those trials.

Unlike the other Law & Order series, Trial By Jury shows what it is like to prepare for and try a criminal case. The episodes usually start with a witness or victim telling a story about a crime that has already occurred. This story is used to bring the audience in on what happened prior to the beginning of the episode. This is a departure from the other three Law & Order shows, which usually start off showing the audience the actual crime. The show progresses on from that point, showing how both sides develop their strategies for winning the case.

The prosecution's preparation usually includes scenes where their investigators go out and follow up on leads and interview witnesses. The defense's preparation varies from episode to episode, running the gamut from testing arguments in front of jury focus groups to unethical dealmaking between co-defendants. Each episode has several trial scenes, with both sides examining witnesses and giving arguments. There are also several pre-trial meetings where some procedural issue is argued and ruled on. In addition, there are a few episodes showing jury deliberation. The show develops the judges as characters, showing scenes of them conferring with each other and reusing the same judges in multiple episodes.

[edit] Cast of characters

Main Article: Law & Order Characters (All Series)

[edit] Characters

Bebe Neuwirth as Tracey Kibre

Tracey Kibre A tough, focused prosecutor, she is a contrast to the lead ADAs in the other three series with a black-and-white view of the law.

Kelly Gaffney The younger assistant to Kibre, she is often more by-the-book. She often challenges Kibre, and sees the law in more shades of gray than her partner.

Hector Salazar A former police detective who was apparently injured on duty; an injury would have likely put him in a desk job, which he did not find too thrilling.

[edit] List of Episodes

1. 1- 1 E5701 3 Mar 05 The Abominable Showman
2. 1- 2 E5707 4 Mar 05 Forty-One Shots
3. 1- 3 E5712 11 Mar 05 Vigilante
4. 1- 4 E5703 18 Mar 05 Truth or Consequences
5. 1- 5 E5704 25 Mar 05 Baby Boom
6. 1- 6 E5710 1 Apr 05 Pattern of Conduct
7. 1- 7 E5711 8 Apr 05 Bang & Blame
8. 1- 8 E5716 15 Apr 05 Skeleton (2)
9. 1- 9 E5714 22 Apr 05 The Line
10. 1-10 E5713 29 Apr 05 Blue Wall
11. 1-11 E5715 3 May 05 Day (2)
12. 1-12 E5706 6 May 05 Boys Will Be Boys
13. 1-13 E5705 UNAIRED Eros in the Upper Eighties

[edit] Cancellation

NBC announced on May 16, 2005 that Trial by Jury would not be returning for the 2005-2006 fall television season. The rival CBS procedural NUMB3RS debuted in the midseason in late January 2005 and consistently beat NBC's Medical Investigation in the ratings^[1], sending the latter show into hiatus and eventual cancellation and freeing up the time slot for Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Despite Trial by Jury 's pedigree NUMB3RS's ratings remained strong, often beating Trial by Jury in both overall and key demographic ratings.^[2] Most insiders agree that Orbach's death may have been a contributing cause to the series' inability to attract viewers, similar to that of Phil Hartman's death and the subsequent end to NewsRadio.

Trial by Jury is the first series of the Law & Order franchise to be cancelled, although TV Guide reported at one point that NBC had reconsidered its decision and would pick up the series once again (or hand it off to Turner Network Television, which also airs reruns of the original series). The sets were reused by a series Wolf produced for NBC entitled Conviction which premiered Friday, March 3, 2006, lasting only one season before cancellation. In an October 2005 interview with the Associated Press, Wolf stated that NBC had assured him Trial by Jury would return for the fall of 2005 but had "blindsided" him by cancelling it instead.^[3] Because of how quickly the show was cancelled, some fans of the Law & Order franchise do not consider Trial by Jury to be a part of the franchise itself.

Court TV recently reaired the entire series, including the episode "Eros In The Upper Eighties," which never aired on NBC before the show's cancellation. Although the show is still listed on the Court TV Web site, there are no indications the series will be airing in the near future.

[edit] DVD

[edit] DVD Releases

DVD Name	Cover Art	Release dates
DVD Name	Cover Art	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete Series		April 25, 2006	N/A	N/A

[edit] Trivia

This is one of eight series in which the character Detective John Munch, played by Richard Belzer, has appeared. The other seven are Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, The X-Files, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Beat, Arrested Development and Sesame Street.
Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe), Jesse L. Martin (Detective Ed Green), Fred Dalton Thompson (Arthur Branch), Leslie Hendrix (Elizabeth Rodgers), Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Lieutenant Anita Van Buren) are the only actors to play the same character on all four "Law & Order" series (Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Trial by Jury).
The fifth episode of the series, "Baby Boom," was dedicated to the memory of Jerry Orbach. At the end, the message "For Jerry" appeared.
The one remaining unaired episode after cancellation, "Eros in the Upper Eighties," was aired as the series finale on Australia's Network 10, and aired in the US on Court TV on January 21, 2006. (It was also a part of the DVD release of the entire series on April 25, 2006). A then-current rumor stated that the episode would mention Lennie Briscoe's death, as it was the last one filmed before Jerry's passing. This rumor turned out to be false.
The opening narration:

In the criminal justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, either by confession, plea bargain, or trial by jury. This is one of those trials.