The "Anti-Lawyer"
Sarah Shahi Plays A Mediator In USA's Unconventional New Legal Series
By Jeff Pfeiffer
"Fairly Legal" airs Thursdays on USA Network starting Jan. 20.
USA Network's motto in recent years has been "Characters Welcome," and this mission statement has helped launch a string of high-quality and popular series, such as Burn Notice, Psych and White Collar, all filled with memorable characters. But the network's new drama Fairly Legal may be the most character-driven of all. Although it can technically be called a legal drama, star Sarah Shahi (The L Word) tells us that it is an "unconventional" one -- also describing it as "cheeky" and "flirty" -- and the pilot episode bears her out that this is a refreshing take on the tried-and-true law series.
"I'm not sitting there spewing out legal jargon and [constantly in] courtroom scenes," Shahi says. "This character purely functions on how she feels. A lot of the time she just leads with her heart, and her mind sometimes follows, sometimes doesn't. So for me it was more important to get her heart and to understand her."
Shahi's character is Kate Reed, a former lawyer who became so frustrated with the bureaucracy and injustices she saw in the system that she decided to become an "anti-lawyer" -- a mediator, a profession not often seen on television. If you're not quite sure what a mediator is or does, you're not alone.
"I didn't know much about mediators," says Shahi. "I actually don't think I had heard about mediation..."
No comments:
Post a Comment