While the name “Outlaw” suggests an exciting new series starring a rebellious main character, NBC has instead churned up an “outlaw” in Justice Garza (Jimmy Smits, “The West Wing”) who's just devoted to being nonsensical.

"Outlaws"

Fridays at 10 p.m.
NBC

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NBC’s latest courtroom drama puts a spin on the traditional “Law & Order” plot, focusing on a former judge who returns to practicing law as a defense attorney ― an internal conflict thats magnitude is forced by the improbable fact that he had abruptly stepped down from the highest position in the land: Supreme Court.

While the plot twist is intriguing, it just doesn’t make sense. Garza cites many reasons for stepping down, one being that he wanted to help people directly. But if he really wanted to help people, being on the nation’s most powerful judicial body would be a prime position from which to do so. It's not likely one would ever give up all they had worked for to get on the Supreme Court, just to go back to being an unadorned lawyer — especially without any media fallout. And if he’d been thinking about it, he would have at least given his two weeks notice ... if he weren’t such an “outlaw” that is.

Other ridiculous plot points include Garza’s sex-crazed personality and addictive gambling habits. A good 15 minutes of the show is consumed by the idea of Justice Garza having only three months to live. This mistaken belief among the characters is followed by one of Garza's assistants confessing her love for him — only to find out that he is not in fact dying. A quarter of the pilot is spent on this irrelevant tangent. And finally there’s the unexplained flashback of Garza’s father dying in a tragic car accident with Garza in the passenger’s seat.

Just as the plot proves to be nothing special, the dialogue is just as awful. Based on his work in "The West Wing," it's clear Jimmy Smits is a more than capable actor, but the dialogue in “Outlaws” is overdone at best. When referring to a new client who is on death row, Garza cornily exclaims “We’ve got to change the rules, no matter what.” Justice Garza loves to give inspirational speeches, interjecting at least four poignant assertions throughout the program like “I cannot be neutral anymore and I want to be a fighter for rights.” To top off the tacky dialogue, the writers decided that making Garza hear voices in his head was an innovative idea, but really it just makes him look insane (and not in a quirky, fun Michael Scott kind of way). There’s an obvious reason this has never been done before on a law show — posing someone that crazy as a successful individual leading our country just isn’t believable.

And the supporting cast is no help, as it’s just as formulaic as the dialogue. There’s the Elle Woods-esque law clerk (Ellen Woglom, “Californication”), the young and pissy male law clerk (Jesse Bradford, “Bring it On”) and the sex-crazed assistant (Cassie Pope, “Orange County”). About the only other thing missing from this uber-stereotypical law show is the nerdy tech guy — but based on the rest of the show’s originality, he will probably make an appearance very soon.

With "Outlaw," NBC has wasted its time trying to make a unique law show and has crossed the line separating inventive and over the top. The network should have dedicated time to writing more episodes for the recently canceled “Law & Order” rather than pursuing a shoddier series in the same genre.