Murder One-Case Two, Part 1 (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	522:32
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Marc Buckland Jim Charleston Donna Deitch Joe Ann Fogle
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Clayton Rohner Anthony LaPaglia Mary McCormack Michael Hayden Jack Kehler J.C. MacKenzie D.B. Woodside John Fleck Barbara Bosson
Case	?
RPI	$44.95	Music	Mike Post

    I recently reviewed the first (and best) season of this impressive mid-1990s legal show. You can find the review here. Of course, in the great tradition of US television, when you make a great show which rates really well, the first thing you should do is change it. For this second season, three major changes occurred which probably go some way to explaining why only two seasons were made. The changes were:

• The leading man was changed. One of the strengths of this show in the first season was the intensity and presence of Daniel Benzali as lead character Ted Hoffmann, boss of Hoffmann & Associates. It was decided that they wanted a sexier, younger leading man and Benzali was unceremoniously dropped. He was replaced by Anthony La Paglia, who did a very good job as Jimmy Wyler. I think this was a major contributor to the show not surviving for a third season, as the change was too much.
• The format was changed from one major complex case being the focus of the entire season. In the second series three major cases are followed. The first runs for 8 episodes. The second starts during the first 8 episodes and continues until episode 12. The third case runs from episode 13 to 18, when the show was cancelled. The last case was actually held over until later in the season in the US, not being shown straight after the others. Unfortunately, none of the three cases were as interesting as the case from Season One, although the first one made a valiant effort.
• The excellent and complex villain from the first season, Richard Cross (Stanley Tucci), was replaced by less interesting and complex villains in this series.

    These three major changes probably make it sound like I thought Murder One - Case 2 was very ordinary and not worth watching. On the contrary - it is interesting and well made television. If it had not been preceded by the truly excellent Series One it would have looked much better and probably had a better run. I think its relative failure was due to the disappointment which people felt rather than it not being worthwhile television.

    For some reason, this series has been split into two box sets, one containing the first three discs and the other the final two discs. Accordingly, this set (Part 1) contains discs 1 to 3. Strangely, the review discs which I received are numbered 1 to 5 and all say Murder One - Case 2. I do not know if the discs were renumbered in the retail release. Accordingly, this set covers the first two cases.

    It is really impossible for me to give you episode synopses for each episode without spoiling the stories, so I won't. Instead I will give you a rundown of the crime, the lawyers and their significant allies and the protagonists in the cases themselves. Annoyingly, each and every episode is preceded by a 10 second warning about copyright which you cannot skip, even though there is a warning as the disc loads. Seems a bit over the top to me. Episodes 11 & 12 are packaged as a double episode. I assume they were originally shown that way.

The Crimes

    Case 1 - The Governor of California, Tom Van Allen, is found shot to death in bed with a young woman, Marlee Donovan, in a beachside house owned by an actor friend of his.

    Case 2 - A basketball coach, Sandy Fortis, is found dead after a meeting over a salary dispute with his star player, Ricky Latrell.

The Lawyers, Police and other investigators

    The important characters who at least start the show on the right side of the law are:

• Jimmy Wyler (Anthony La Paglia) - An Assistant District Attorney who gets passed over for promotion by Roger Garfield and decides to become a defence attorney. He takes on the case of the young woman accused of murdering the Governor. The associates from Hoffman & Associates offer to work for him after Ted Hoffmann goes overseas.
• Miriam Grasso (Barbara Bosson) - Chief Prosecutor from the District Attorney's office who prosecutes the first case. Tough and clever but portrays an air of being slightly scatterbrained. The actress, Barbara Bosson, is the wife of Stephen Bochco.
• Justine Appleton (Mary McCormack) - An attractive young associate from Hoffman & Associates with aspirations to much more.
• Chris Docknovich (Michael Hayden) - Another young associate from Hoffman & Associates who vies to be second chair on the case.
• Arnold Spivak (J C McKenzie) - An associate from Hoffman & Associates who specialises in case law and drafting motions to go before the court.
• Roger Garfield (Gregory Itzin) - District Attorney of LA County who is also running for Governor against Tom Van Allen.
• Aaron Moseley (DB Woodside) - A young African American public defender who agrees to join Jimmy Wyler's new firm.
• Detective Vince Biggio (Clayton Rohner) - The officer who investigates Tom Van Allen's murder.
• Frank Symanski (Jack Kehler) - An investigator hired by Jimmy Wyler.

The Protagonists in the crime itself and related characters

    These characters all play an important part in the story of the crimes:

Case 1

• Sharon Rooney (Missy Crider) - A young woman who was also having an affair with the Governor. She is arrested and charged with the murders.
• Larry White (Titus Welliver) - A campaign worker for the Governor.
• Kyle Rooney (Neil McDonough) - Sharon's husband.
• Malcolm Dietrich (Ralph Waite) - A rich businessman who supports Roger Garfield's campaign for Governor.
• Caroline Van Allen (Romy Walthall) - The Governor's wife.
• Officer Michael Biden (David Andrews) - One of the Governor's protection detail.

Case 2

• Ricky Latrell (Rick Worthy) - A basketball star accused of his coach's murder.
• Lee Michaelson (Don Mc Manus) - Ricky's agent.
• Ken Hicks - A rival agent.
• Carla Lattrell (Troy Beyer) - Ricky's wife.

    This is good quality television which would have been so much better if only the original format had been maintained. It's still good quality viewing, however. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is better than Series One but still has some issues.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably sharp and distinctly better than Series One. It was affected by some light grain. The shadow detail was fine but nothing special.

    The colour is certainly better than the first series but still has some issues. Cross colouration was common but not as obvious as in Series One. It was especially prevalent on shirt collars and striped suits. The skin tones were a little pale.

    Artefacts are also improved in this series. Aliasing is still about but again not as bad as Series One. This occurs on buildings, Venetian blinds and the other usual suspects. There was also some mild edge enhancement and some white specks here and there.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The subtitles were clear and easy to read but slightly different to the spoken word.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is fine but nothing special.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s. The original show was in surround sound.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The award winning score of this series by Mike Post is excellent and the theme tune is very effective and memorable.

    The surround speakers added some mild atmosphere only despite the encoding.

     The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None. The only extra is in the second box set.

Menu

    The menu included an intro, scenes, music and the ability to select scenes and subtitles.

    This set has been released in Region 2 as one set for the whole series rather than the two sets being released here. Otherwise it is the same. It does not seem to have yet been released in Region 1. If you want the whole series, you should probably consider the region 2 set, otherwise you can choose to buy one or both locally.

    The video quality is acceptable.

    The audio quality is decent but nothing special.

    The set has no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall