Status: Busted
Oh, Amy Smart. You belong on a sitcom. I don't understand why you continue to take roles in dramas. Your emphatic, arm-waving acting is so very Jennifer Aniston it's truly a shock that you aren't on CBS in a multi-cam. But, please... stop being in dramas. Note: I'm not saying you are a bad actress. Hell, I'll go so far as to say that you are insanely likable. But... you were acting like you were in a sitcom. So go be in one? Because I think you'd be awesome.
I had problems with this script (it's main plot is overly frivolous and predictable... while the political angle / hook is gag-inducing... and even moreso in execution). The pilot opens in 2028 as Kate Sullivan is about to greet an adoring Obama's-supporters-at-Grant-Park-esque crowd in Boston. And the TV news anchors on multiple screens are talking about how shocking it is that she's about to win the Presidential election, what with her being the least likely person to become President and having a love life the reads like a soap opera. Oh, awkward exposition. They could've at least made it sound like TV news anchor prattle. Meanwhile, Amy Smart is wearing Old Person Makeup (and hair) and gone are her long blonde locks, replaced with a dark asymmetrical bob WITH TWO PURE-WHITE HIGHLIGHT STREAKS AT THE PARTING. SERIOUSLY. Also, she has a 15 year old daughter (guess who gets pregnant in season four...?) with an equally hideous (and fairly similar) hairdo. Jack & Bobby this is not... though it wishes it were. Despite the trappings of a political show, the series promises to mainly be a standard legal show with a major law case of the week. The pilot is about putting a Bad Man Behind Bars, but because he's a Bad Man, people are scared of coming forward to testify. So after some fits and starts, Kate finally gets her witnesses to talk to a judge and the case, she is solved.
Let's talk the rest of the cast. Ben Feldman (who, um, would've been pulling some kind of double duty if this had been picked up, what with Drop Dead Diva where he plays the lead character's guardian angel?) doesn't have much to do as Kate's sad sack, sure-to-be-dumped-eventually boyfriend (as Kate has seen the light and now wants more than to get married and pop out a few by pilot's end). Marc Blucas (who has gained some weight from his Buffy days) somehow doesn't make the most of a drunk, against-the-ropes political consultant / campaign manager character who . Seriously, that's the one role that had potential to be something different. Meanwhile, Liza Lapira is strongest among the featured players as Kate's best friend / fellow attorney Ellie at the DA's office (she is supposed to get the promotion to ADA, but because Kate wins the thought-to-be-a-loser case dumped on her and with a ton of local / internet attention, Kate gets it). I bought everything she did, and I hope to see her on something... better (by which I don't necessarily mean returning to her previous gig as Ivy on Dollhouse).
The real wasted opportunity here is Ever Carridine. She is in two scenes, as Kate's older sister. And she is, far and away, the standout of the pilot. SOMEONE GIVE THAT WOMAN HER OWN SERIES!
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