Storefront Lawyers
Storefront Lawyers (also known as Men at Law)[1][2] is an American legal drama that ran from September 1970 to January 1971 and February 1971 to March 1971 on CBS. The series starred Robert Foxworth, Sheila Larken, David Arkin, and A Martinez.[2][3]
| Storefront Lawyers | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Men at Law |
| Genre | Legal drama |
| Created by | David Karp |
| Directed by | |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Morton Stevens |
| Composer(s) |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 23 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Leonard Freeman |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Cinematography | Jack Courtland |
| Editor(s) | Ira Heymann |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 48 mins. |
| Production company(s) |
|
| Distributor | Americana Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | Storefront Lawyers: September 16, 1970 – January 13, 1971 Men at Work: February 3, 1971–April 14, 1971 |
Plot
David Hansen (Foxworth) is a big-shot lawyer who grew tired of his important and expensive Los Angeles law firm Horton, Troy, McNeil, & Caroll. Hansen left his job to start a non-profit firm called Neighborhood Legal Services based in Century City, California. His associates were Deborah Sullivan (Larken) and Gabriel Kay (Arkin). Roberto (Martinez) is a law student who worked for them as a clerk.
After 13 weeks, CBS decided to take the series in a different direction so that the lawyers could take on rich clients as well. The network retitled the series as Men at Law as the three protagonists went back to work for their former law firm.[3]
Cast
Main
- Robert Foxworth as David Hansen
- Sheila Larken as Deborah Sullivan
- David Arkin as Gabriel Kaye
- A Martinez as Roberto Alvarez
Recurring
- Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Devlin McNeil
Episodes
| No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Man's Castle" | Lee H. Katzin | Unknown | September 16, 1970 | 101 |
|
A man invades an exclusive party then singles out one guest The man shoots him dead. Guest stars: Edward Andrews, Dean Jagger, Carmen Mathews, Barry Morse, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and Bill Zuckert. | |||||
| 2 | "The Law Can't Touch Him" | Marvin J. Chomsky | Meyer Dolinsky | September 23, 1970 | 102 |
|
An abused wife asks the Lawyers' help in divorcing her violent husband. Guest stars: Melinda Dillon, Robert Dowdell, Frederic Downs, James McMullan, and Bill Quinn. | |||||
| 3 | "Murph Collins vs. Tomorrow" | Marvin J. Chomsky | Alvin Sapinsley | September 30, 1970 | 103 |
|
Murph Collins loses his job to affirmative action. An explosion happens, and he is the prime suspect. Guest stars: Ramon Bieri, Lonny Chapman, Mariclare Costello, Harrison Page, Joan Shawlee, and James Stacy. | |||||
| 4 | "The Electric Kid" | Marvin J. Chomsky | Ronald Austin & James D. Buchanan | October 7, 1970 | 104 |
|
A con artist pulls a big con against his landlord. The landlord's position is shaky at best. Guest stars: Leon Ames, Diana Eden, Dana Elcar, J. Pat O'Malley, William Sargent, and Joyce Van Patten. | |||||
| 5 | "The Emancipation of Bessie Gray" | Marvin J. Chomsky | Robert Van Scoyk | October 14, 1970 | 105 |
|
A woman, who cannot hold a job as a nurse's aide, sues the head of the school where she got her training. Guest stars: Rupert Crosse, Claudia McNeil and Paul Stewart. | |||||
| 6 | "Survivors Will Be Prosecuted" | Marvin J. Chomsky | Arthur Heinemann | October 21, 1970 | 106 |
|
Unknown Guest stars: William Conrad, Roberto Contreras, Robert Cornthwaite, Emilio Delgado, Edith Diaz, Lloyd Gough, Murray Hamilton, and Frank Ramirez. | |||||
| 7 | "Easy to Be Hard" | Unknown | Unknown | January 10, 2000 | 107 |
|
A welfare case agent is accused of raping a woman. Guest stars: Lou Antonio, Isabelle Cooley, Sharon Farrell, Ned Glass, and Maidie Norman. | |||||
| 8 | "Where Are You At?" | Unknown | George Bellak | November 4, 1970 | 108 |
|
Deborah, in defending a man accused of a string of arson fires, falls in love with the ADA prosecuting the case. Guest stars: Richard Anders, Robert Brubaker, Dennis King Jr, Joaquín Martínez, Bob Padilla, David Renard, Tony Roberts, Kenneth Tobey, and Bill Zuckert. | |||||
| 9 | "Shadows of Doubt" | Unknown | Alvin Sapinsley | November 11, 1970 | 109 |
|
Unknown Guest stars: Anne Archer, Jonathan Lippe, Lloyd Gough, Charles H. Gray, and Bill Quinn. | |||||
| 10 | "This Is Jerry, See Jerry Run" | Unknown | Bill Stratton | November 18, 1970 | 110 |
|
A young man's dyslexia lands him in financial trouble and makes him unemployable. Guest stars: Lloyd Bochner, David Doyle, John Kidd, Kurt Russell, and Patricia Smith. | |||||
| 11 | "The Pastures of Hell" | Unknown | Harold Gast | November 25, 1970 | 111 |
|
The pastor of a downtown mission clashes with an activist who frequently bombs the mission. Guest stars: Beverly Atkinson, Harry Hickox, Steve Ihnat, Tony Martinez, James McEachin, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin. | |||||
| 12 | "Where Were We, Waldo?" | Unknown | E. Arthur Keane | December 9, 1970 | 112 |
|
An illiterate man's arrest record makes him unemployable. Guest stars: Fran Ryan, Jacqueline Scott, Paula Victor, and Anthony Zerbe. | |||||
| 13 | "First... We Get Rid of the Principal" | Unknown | George Kirgo | January 13, 1971 | 113 |
|
A student protest results in a dead administrator while a student on trial for murder. Guest stars: Nancy Burnett, Sheldon Collins, Val de Vargas. Carmen Zapata, and Stanley Bennett Clay (Uncredited). | |||||
| 14 | "The Climate of Doubt" | Unknown | Bill Stratton | February 3, 1971 | 114 |
|
A college student suspected of bludgeoning a police officer to death during a campus riot. Guest stars: David Jolliffe, Rick Kelman, John Lasell, Logan Ramsey, Dennis Redfield, and Dan Travanty. | |||||
| 15 | "Marathon" | Unknown | Unknown | February 10, 1971 | 115 |
|
A student dives his car off a pier and drowns. The widow hires the lawyers to sue the psychiatrist involved. Guest stars: Jack Cassidy, Nina Foch, Sue Lyon, Greg Mullavey, and Glynn Turman. | |||||
| 16 | "The Dark World of Harry Anders" | Unknown | Unknown | February 17, 1971 | 116 |
|
A heavy-handed financier takes over a movie studio and uses various means, lawful and unlawful, to compel the studio to turn a motion-picture project into a porn project. Guest stars: Lane Bradbury, Jeanne Cooper, Harry Guardino, and John McLiam. | |||||
| 17 | "Hostage" | Unknown | Unknown | February 27, 1971 | 117 |
|
While a woman on trial for planting a fatal bomb, the boyfriend takes Deborah hostage in the firm's law offices. Guest stars: Meg Foster, Arthur Franz, Felice Orlandi, John S. Ragin, Ford Rainey, and John Rubinstein. | |||||
| 18 | "The Truth, the Whole Truth - And Anything Else That Works" | Unknown | Unknown | March 3, 1971 | 118 |
|
A man comes home from work one day to find detectives in his house accusing him of being a serial sex murderer. Guest stars: Jean Hale, Cloris Leachman, and David Wayne. | |||||
| 19 | "Let the Dier Beware" | Unknown | Unknown | March 17, 1971 | 119 |
|
When the clinic chief physician winds up dead, a woman that took her father out of a controversial clinic is the lead suspect. Guest stars: Jean Hale, Cloris Leachman, and David Wayne. | |||||
| 20 | "The View from the Top" | Unknown | Unknown | March 24, 1971 | 120 |
|
A rich man hires the Lawyers after a security guard at a hotel finds him walking away from a dead woman. Guest stars: Ramon Bieri, Lane Bradford, Lew Brown, Jeane Byron, Steve Forrest, Noah Keen, Maggie Malooly, Marilyn Maxwell, Kay Medford, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and Wayne Rogers. | |||||
| 21 | "Yesterday Is But a Dream" | Unknown | Unknown | March 31, 1971 | 121 |
|
After a husband drugs his wife, the Lawyers defend the wife who shot her husband while in a drug-induced daze. Guest stars: Adele Bellroth, Melendy Britt, Ivor Francis, Lee Grant, John S. Ragin, Ford Rainey, John Vernon, and Garry Walberg. | |||||
| 22 | "This Money Kills Dreams" | Unknown | Unknown | April 7, 1971 | 122 |
|
Unknown Guest stars: Martin E. Brooks, Jack De Mave, Laurence Haddon, Katherine Justice, Connie Mason, Woodrow Parfrey, Herman Poppe, Tom Skerritt, and Fritz Weaver. | |||||
| 23 | "One American" | Unknown | Unknown | April 14, 1971 | 123 |
|
A small group of passionate young men protest war and find themselves behind bars. Guest stars: Brenda Dickson-Weinberg, Ron Hayes, William Shatner, and Jan-Michael Vincent. | |||||
Reception
Critical response
In the book, The Cultural Lives of Cause Lawyers edited by Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold, "The Storefront Lawyers featured two men and one woman, all WASPS, but the presence of a woman was a departure at the time when women still constituted less than five percent of the profession."[4] "The Storefront Lawyers emphasizes that passivity, suggesting lawyers do nothing unless called upon. Given anxiety over lawyers trolling for clients, this portrayal suggests there is nothing to worry about. From the viewer's perspective such things simply do not happen."[5]
In his Time magazine interview, critic Richard Burgheim lumped the new CBS legal series together with another of the network's bids at "revelvance," noting "The Storefront Lawyers (CBS) and The Interns (CBS) both exploit Mod Squad's multihero angle, but neither one is genuinely mod or engrossing."[3]
References
Citations
- "Men at Law". Paley Center for Media Archives. Los Angeles and New York City: Paley Center for Media. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- Hyatt 2003, p. 196.
- Erickson 2009, p. 253.
- Sarat & Scheingold 2008, p. 216.
- Sarat & Scheingold 2008, p. 218.
Sources
- Hyatt, Wesley (2003). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948–1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops (1st ed.). New York City: McFarland & Company. p. 196. ISBN 978-0786414208.
- Erickson, Hal (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows: Factual and Fictional Series About Judges, Lawyers and the Courtroom, 1948-2008. New York City: McFarland & Company. p. 253. ISBN 978-0786438280.
- Austin Sarat; Stuart Scheingold, eds. (2008). The Cultural Lives of Cause Lawyers' (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0521884488.
- Austin Sarat; Stuart Scheingold, eds. (2008). The Cultural Lives of Cause Lawyers' (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0521884488.