The series was a slight reworking of Rose's 1957 two-part drama, The Defender, from the anthology series Studio One. In the original program, Ralph Bellamy played the father and William Shatner played his son. Shatner guest-starred in various roles in the later series, and the original drama later was incorporated into an episode of his series, Boston Legal.
According to creator Reginald Rose, "the law is the subject of our programs: not crime, not mystery, not the courtroom for its own sake. We were never interested in producing a 'who-done-it' which simply happened to be resolved each week in a flashy courtroom battle of wits."[1] And unlike Perry Mason, which also ran on CBS, victory was "far from certain on The Defenders—as were morality and justice."[1]
Writers for the show included Rose in many early episodes, with later episodes by Albert "Al" Ruben and Ernest Kinoy – both Jewish Americans holding socially liberal views.[3] It was thought the move to “ratings graveyard” Thursday nights after a successful prime time reign on Saturday evenings, was a conservative corporate device to force the socially conscious program into cancellation, which it ultimately did.
Controversial episodes
A 1962 episode entitled "The Benefactor"—in which the father–son legal team defended an abortion care provider—was the most controversial; all of the series' three regular advertisers (Brown & Williamson, Lever Brothers, and Kimberly-Clark) refused to sponsor the episode, so it was only transmitted after a last-minute sponsor was found, Speidel, for a discounted advertising rate.[4][5] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation banned this episode when it was first shown on April 28.[6] In 2008, this incident was used as the basis for a second season episode of the drama Mad Men, set in the 1960s.[7]
The December 7, 1963 episode, "Climate of Evil," was originally titled "The Gentle Assassin" but was changed two weeks earlier in the aftermath of the John F. Kennedy assassination. In addition, the January 4, 1964 episode, "Clare Cheval Died in Boston," was originally scheduled for the weekend of the assassination, and subsequently had reference to "President Kennedy" deleted from the episode.
Broadcast history
Note: The most frequent time slot for the series is in bold text.
Saturday at 8:30–9:30 p.m. on CBS: September 16, 1961 – May 25, 1963; November 30, 1963 – June 27, 1964
Saturday at 9:00–10:00 p.m. on CBS: September 28 – November 16, 1963
Thursday at 10:00–11:00 p.m. on CBS: September 24, 1964 – May 13, 1965
As a top 30 series, The Defenders has an average rating of 23.2.
Home media
On July 12, 2016, Shout! Factory released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1.
Sequel and spin-offs
The 1997 version
A re-envisioned version of the series aired on the Showtime network in 1997 as a trilogy of television films. Still called The Defenders, it featured E. G. Marshall in his original role as Lawrence Preston. However, the three Showtime films focused on Beau Bridges as Don Preston, a previously unmentioned second son of Lawrence, and Martha Plimpton as M.J., the daughter of Ken Preston, who is said to have died (as had Reed in 1992). Don and M.J. worked as lawyers and carried on the family legacy. However, Marshall died after the completion of the second episode ("Choice of Evils"). Production was halted, and the remaining episode, "Taking the First," aired as a movie special in 1998.
Episodes
Date of Release
The Defenders: Payback
October 12, 1997
The father of a child rape victim (John Larroquette) kills the rapist, who was freed from prison after only a few years. The victim was admitted to a mental health facility after several suicide attempts, the older daughter ran away, and the father became fixated on revenge. The Prestons need to devise a defense strategy that takes into account his and his family's mental health.
The Defenders: Choice of Evils
January 8, 1998
Don Preston defends a journalist charged in a wrongful death.Although he is found guilty, a bureaucratic error causes him to be inadvertently released from prison, sending him on the run and leading to an event where a police officer is killed trying to apprehend him again.
The Defenders: Taking the First
October 28, 1998
After attending a protest given by a visiting professor and organized by a racist organization, a group of college boys beat a young Latino to death. The Prestons are hired to defend one of the boys, the grandson of Lawrence's old friend. The victim's brother, a law student, convinced Don to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the bigot and his group after persuading their client to accept a plea and testify against the others, despite accusations that they may be violating the First Amendment.
References in other media
The second season of Mad Men contains an episode named "The Benefactor" that featured a brief clip from The Defenders' episode of the same name.[11] In the Mad Men episode, the Sterling Cooper advertising agency is trying to secure sponsors for The Defenders' episode, which contains a plot involving abortion (originally telecast on April 28, 1962), after the regular sponsors pulled out because they claimed the episode (and subject matter) was too controversial. The episode also offers a fictional backstory for the episode; that it was written for the third season of the series but rejected by the network for the usage of abortion as a plotline. The following season, the writers produced a script that revolved around the theme of cannibalism but the episode was rejected by the director who was assigned to film the episode due to the content. The director's refusal led to the network being forced to film the abortion-centric script, which an executive assigned to find advertisers for the show proclaims was the plan all along.
In his memoir, Randy Barnett, a law professor at Georgetown, credits watching The Defenders as a child as the inspiration for him to enter the legal profession.[12]
^VanArendonk, Matt Zoller Seitz, Jen Chaney, Kathryn (2019-12-18). "What Did We Just Watch?". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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