The Defenders (2010 TV series)

The Defenders
Genre	Comedy-drama Legal drama
Created by	Kevin Kennedy Niels Mueller
Starring	James Belushi Jerry O'Connell Jurnee Smollett-Bell Tanya Fischer
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Harry Gantz Joe Gantz Kevin Kennedy Niels Mueller Carol Mendelsohn
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	CBS Television Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 22, 2010 (2010-09-22) – March 11, 2011 (2011-03-11)
External links
Website

The Defenders is a 2010 American legal comedy-drama that was ordered to series by CBS for the 2010–11 television season.^[1][2] The series originally ran from September 22, 2010 to March 11, 2011. Set in Las Vegas, Nevada, this version involves a pair of defense attorneys who go all out to help their clients while keeping their personal lives in order. The show is loosely based on real-life Vegas lawyers Michael Cristalli and Marc Saggese.^[3][4]

In October 2010, CBS announced that the show had been picked up for a 19-episode season with the option to produce a full 22-episode season.^[5] In January 2011, CBS announced that The Defenders was moving from its Wednesday timeslot to the Friday timeslot vacated by Medium, with Blue Bloods temporarily moving to the timeslot The Defenders vacated. Blue Bloods returned to its Friday timeslot in February 2011 owing to the series premiere of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior. The Defenders aired the last six episodes of its season on Fridays at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central.^[6] Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell star as the defense attorneys of the show's title.

On May 15, 2011, The Defenders was canceled by CBS.^[7] On August 22, 2011, the show was picked up by the Netflix "Watch Instantly" streaming service in the U.S.

Cast

Main characters

• Jerry O'Connell as Pete Kaczmarek, a freewheeling playboy lawyer
• James Belushi as Nick Morelli, Pete's partner, who is very passionate about his work and the clients he helps
• Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Lisa Tyler, a young lawyer who worked her way through law school as a stripper
• Tanya Fischer as Zoey Waters, Pete and Nick's assistant

Supporting cast

• Gillian Vigman as Jessica, Nick's estranged wife
• Teddy Sears as Thomas Cole, a prosecuting attorney
• Glynn Turman as Judge Bob Owens
• Dan Aykroyd as Judge Maximus Hunter^[8]

Episodes

Main article: List of The Defenders episodes

International broadcasters

In the United Kingdom, FX has acquired the rights to the series and began showing episodes on April 8, 2011.^[9] The series premiered in Australia on June 1, 2011 on the free to air station Channel Ten.^[10] In Poland, the show starts on November 15 on AXN and AXN HD Polska.^{[citation needed]} Fox Portugal have also confirmed the broadcasting rights of the series. In Germany kabel eins has acquired the rights but later Sat 1 air the series since March 27, 2011.^[11] 27 January has launched in Russia on channel SET.^[12] In Austria the series is shown on ORF. It began airing on Malaysia's national broadcast station RTM's channel tv2 premiering on May 18, 2011 at the midnight time slot. On September 12, 2011 network Rai3 started broadcasting the show in Italy. In South Africa the series started airing on DSTV on November 3, 2011.

References

1. ^ "CBS Welcomes Four to Freshman Class". The Futon Critic. May 17, 2010. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/05/17/cbs-welcomes-four-to-freshman-class/8685/. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
2. ^ "CBS Announces 2010-2011 Primetime Schedule". The Futon Critic. May 19, 2010. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/05/19/cbs-announces-2010-2011-primetime-schedule/20100519cbs01/. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
3. ^ Starr, Michael (June 26, 2010). "Vegas attorneys inspire 'The Defenders' on CBS". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/double_play_v8zKUpz6pufmPIrvGCzoOJ. Retrieved September 25, 2010. 
4. ^ Katsilometes, John (October 2, 2010). "‘The Defenders’ calls on Cristalli & Saggese to make Vegas its home court". Las Vegas Sun. Greenspun Media Group. http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2010/oct/02/defenders-calls-cristalli/. Retrieved November 14, 2010. 
5. ^ CBS Gives Full-Season Orders To All 5 Freshman Series: 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Blue Bloods', 'Defenders', 'Mike & Molly' & '$#*!', Deadline Hollywood, October 21, 2010
6. ^ "CBS Announces 2010-2011 Premiere Dates". The Futon Critic. July 22, 2010. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/07/22/cbs-announces-2010-2011-premiere-dates/20100722cbs02/. Retrieved July 31, 2010. 
7. ^ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/05/15/the-defenders-s-my-dad-says-and-mad-love-canceled-by-cbs/92704/
8. ^ "Dan Aykroyd to Reunite with Jim Belushi on The Defenders". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dan-Aykroyd-Defenders-1026196.aspx. Retrieved November 30, 2010. 
9. ^ "FX UK hires The Defenders" (Press release). C21 Media. 2010-07-28. http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=56683. Retrieved 2010-07-28. 
10. ^ "The Defenders - Channel Ten". http://ten.com.au/thedefenders.htm. Retrieved 30 May 2011. 
11. ^ ""The Defenders": Kabel eins sichert sich Anwaltsserie mit James Belushi". FILMSTARTS.de. 2011-01-04. http://www.filmstarts.de/nachrichten/18470311.html. Retrieved 2011-01-04. 
12. ^ [1]

External links

• Official website
• The Defenders at the Internet Movie Database
• Law Offices of Morelli & Kaczmarek