Street Legal (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Street Legal


caption =
format = Drama
runtime = 60 minutes
creator =
starring = Sonja Smits
C. David Johnson
Eric Peterson
Cynthia Dale
country = flagicon|Canada Canada
network = CBC Television
first_aired = 1987
last_aired = 1994
num_episodes = 124
imdb_id = 0090530

"Street Legal" was a Canadian television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994.

ynopsis

A spinoff from the 1985 television movie "Shellgame", "Street Legal" focused on the professional and private lives of the partners in a small Toronto, Ontario law firm, Barr, Robinovitch and Tchobanian. The primary stars were Sonja Smits as Carrington "Carrie" Barr, Eric Peterson as Leon Robinovitch, and C. David Johnson as Charles "Chuck" Tchobanian.

The cast also included [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451364/ Julie Khaner] , Albert Schultz, Cynthia Dale, Maria del Mar, and Ron Lea.

Produced at the same time as "L.A. Law", this series was distinctively Canadian, in the use of Canadian court customs and procedures.

how history

When "Street Legal" completed its eighth and final season, one TV journalistwho|date=September 2008 called it "unblushingly sentimental, unblinkingly campy, unabashedly Canadian and completely addictive." The one-hour CBC drama series about a group of Toronto lawyers stands as a landmark event in Canadian broadcasting history. After taking two years to find its niche, it became extremely popular. In its last six seasons, it regularly drew about a million viewers, the benchmark of a Canadian hit.

The series debuted in the 1986-87 season with Maryke McEwen as executive producer. It experienced a rocky start, with good story ideas but weak execution, lack of style in directing, and consequently low ratings. The theme music, however, beginning in season four, was immediately identifiable--a distinctive, raunchy and rollicking saxophone piece by Mickey Erbe and Maribeth Solomon. At that time the show revolved around just three lawyers--Carrie Barr (played by Sonja Smits), Leon Robinovitch (Eric Peterson) and Chuck Tchobanian (C. David Johnson). Carrie and Leon were the committed, left-wing social activists and Chuck the motorcycle-riding, reckless, aggressive, 1980s lawyer.

From the third through the seventh seasons Brenda Greenberg was first senior producer, then executive producer, with Nada Harcourt taking over for the final season. As CBC's director of programming in 1987, Ivan Fecan hired a Canadian script doctor at CBS, Carla Singer, to work with the producer on improving the show. It was after this time that the show began to find its niche, introducing aggressive, sultry, high-heeled, risk-taking Olivia Novak (played by Cynthia Dale) to contrast the niceness of the Carrie Barr character. Olivia became the most memorable and best-known, but other characters were also added. Alana ( [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451364/ Julie Khaner] ) plays a confident and compassionate judge, married to Leon, who confidently battles sexism in the workplace. Rob Diamond (Albert Schultz) handles the business affairs of the firm. In the fourth season, the first African-Canadian continuing character was introduced--crown prosecutor Dillon ( [http://www.tv.com/anthony-sherwood/person/66096/summary.html Anthony Sherwood] ). He had a love affair with Carrie and then, with Mercedes (Alison Sealy-Smith), the no-nonsense Caribbean Canadian secretary, and later joined the firm. New lawyer Laura (Maria del Mar) clashes with Olivia and romances Olivia's ex-husband/partner, Chuck. Ron Lea played a nasty crown prosecutor called Brian Maloney, an in-joke to Canadians who immediately connected him to the Conservative Prime Minister, lawyer Brian Mulroney. The enlarged ensemble cast allowed for more storylines and increased conflict.

The issues dealt with are also definably Canadian as well as international. Leon fought an employment equity case for a Royal Canadian Mounted Police candidate, as well as representing an African-Canadian nurse in front of the Human Rights Commission. Olivia became a producer of a Canadian movie. Chuck defended a wealthy Native cigarette smuggler on conspiracy to commit murder. Leon represented the survivors of a mine disaster and then ran for mayor of Toronto. Leon and Alana became involved with a Mexican refugee, eight months pregnant, who gets in trouble with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Human interest stories intertwined with the political issues and the characters' personal lives.

"Street Legal" represented a very important step in the Canadian television industry. Along with the CTV series "E.N.G.", set in a Toronto television newsroom, "Street Legal" established Canadian dramatic television stars. Cynthia Dale, who played vixen Olivia, has become nationally famous and has gone on to star in another series, as a Niagara Falls private eye in "Taking the Falls". She has said that she gets letters from young girls who want to grow up to be just like Olivia. In one episode, when ogled and harassed by a construction worker as she passed his job site, Olivia knocked him off his sawhorse with her hefty briefcase. The scene was then inscribed into the new credit sequence.

The other cast members have also gone on to other work, but the problem of a Canadian star system remains. There are few series produced, even among all the networks, and often their stars will return to theatre or radio or, it has been noted, to auditioning again for TV parts. One reason "Street Legal" ended was that CBC could not afford to have two dramatic series on air at the same time and the older program was supplanted by "Side Effects", a medical drama. The show wrapped up with a two-hour movie in the spring of 1994 which drew 1.6 million viewers.

Main cast

*Sonja Smits -Carrington 'Carrie' Barr
*C. David Johnson -Charles 'Chuck' Tchobanian
*Eric Peterson -Leon Robinovitch
*Cynthia Dale -Olivia Novak
*David James Elliott -Nick Del Gado
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451364/ Julie Khaner] -Alana Newman Robinovitch
* [http://www.tv.com/anthony-sherwood/person/66096/summary.html Anthony Sherwood] -Dillon Beck
*Albert Schultz -Rob Diamond
*Maria del Mar -Laura Crosby
*Ron Lea -Brian Malony

Guest appearances

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of "Street Legal" was the fact that on almost every episode there were guest appearances by various Canadian actors. In fact, an estimated 500 different actors, including Jayne Eastwood, Margot Kidder, Eric McCormack, Vlasta Vrana, Linda Kash, Gordon Clapp, and Wendy Crewson, had guest roles during the show's six-year run.

References in popular culture

In the episode of Corner Gas entitled "Cable Excess," Wanda, during a discussion of Canadian television, comments "I always kinda liked "Street Legal", to which Oscar (played by Peterson) replies "Street Legal" sucked!"

Time slots

Street Legal held four timeslots during its tenure on TV; both appearing on either Friday or Tuesday evenings.

*January 1987 - March 1988: Tuesday 8:00-9:00pm
*November 1988 - March 1991: Friday 8:00-9:00pm
*November 1991 - March 1993: Friday 9:00-10:00pm
*November 1993 - March 1994: Tuesday 9:00-10:00pm

The show is currently in syndication on Bravo!, a specialty channel in Canada, and airs Monday through Friday at 6:00am with repeats at 12:00pm and 6:00pm.

External links

* [http://www.bravo.ca/television/tvshows/show.aspx?showID=Street%20Legal Street Legal] at Bravo!
*imdb title|title=Street Legal|id=0090530