Suits, the USA Network show (Thursday at 10:00), deputed it’s second season this week. It’s promises to be as good as last year and then some.
I think it’s fair to say that this show has better scripts and acting than Mad Men. It certainly does more interesting things with the law than Mad Men does with advertising.
The thing that strikes me most about this show is the casting. None of the actors here come from big projects or grand careers. It took someone with a particular gift to see the greatness (ok, goodness) of which they were capable. (Greatness will leave for season 3.)
Hats off to Rachel Rose Oginsky and the following producers and executive producers:
David Bartis
Gavin Barclay
Nathan Perkins
Jon Cowan
Chevy Chen
Igor Srubshchik
Aaron Korsh
Doug Liman
Gene Klein
Post script.
This scene will show you how Mike got this job. He is chased into an interview room by men looking for the pot in his briefcase. And so a new life, and show, begins. CLICK HERE.
> better scripts and acting than Mad Men.
That’s powerful stuff. Man Men has a lot of clever and subtle insights.
J.D. I agree but the players look like they are creating paper dolls when we know that advertising is a more intellectually demanding undertaking. So good TV, but representation of the profession. Thanks, Grant
Grant: Ask any lawyer to watch an episode and he’ll choke on his single malt. There’s a lot of interesting drama but it in no way resembles real lawyering. Mad Men may fetish authenticity, but at least it conveys the business accurately and with nuance.
Lamar, I am prepared to accept this judgment. It does seem to me that Mad Men buys our understanding of the 50s, the Stuart Ewen, captains of consciousness, view whereas Suits gives this group of lawyers credit for a higher intelligence. I would argue that advertising deserves better representation. Marketer, heal thyself. I mean, drinking at noon. Looking for silly setups and rhymes. The ad world deserves better. that was the point I was trying to make. But I dont doubt that lawyering doesn’t look anything quite like this. I’m just guessing the players are this smart. Thanks! Grant
Is it possible that the producers are really smart for filming a scene in a bookstore that just happens to have “Plentitude 2.0” visible in the background?
the show is no where near what real lawyers have to deal with. lot of drama in the sitcom but not even close to reality.
I’m sure this is true. Suits is as improbable and hyperbolic rendering of the law as Mad Men is of the ad world. But then would we watch several seasons of a documentary?
Suits (like The Good Wife) is a legal-procedural, showing us how the law
works, albeit with many tedious and slow parts left out. Mad Men, for
all its pleasures, is not an advertising-procedural. I don’t think
someone coming new to advertising would really grasp the full picture
of the process, from initial pitch to final campaign, from viewing MM.
We only ever see parts of the process, and have to assemble them into a
coherent picture ourselves.
If i am honest not a lot of sitcoms from the US take my fancy, however this intelligently written show is a must. I am so looking forward to the third series next year. Ciao from the UK.