Production's been halted on Outlaw, Smits' NBC hour-long legaldray-ma about a renegade jurist who quits the Supreme Court to go fight the good fight for, like, you know, the people. His inborn charm wasn't enough to make the, ah, "complicated" character of his bad-boy-good-guy crusading attorney appealing to the masses.
It's not like NBC didn't care. Quite the contrary, they pushed Outlaw pretty hard at the up-fronts, and gave it a sweet spot for its first jump out of the gate -- the hour after the season finale of America's Got Talent. And plenty of people -- almost ten-and-a-half million -- gave it a try that night. Unfortuantely, when it moved to Friday nights a week later -- still heavily promoted -- the viewership fell by more than half ... and then fell a bit more in its third shot. NBC had to face it: those kinds of numbers suck, even for a Friday night.
What went wrong? Some folks say it was the conception of Smits' character itself. It's one thing to be the fiery, charismatic rebel or the lovable rogue, and Smits has pulled off both in the past (hell, his turn as a gradually homicidal D.A. on Dexter a couple of years ago was wonderful.) But this particular guy's 'depth' came of more as instability; his gambling problem wasn't 'cute' like it was with Jim Rockford; it was more like he was out of control. And his whole reason for leaving the most powerful legal position in America for storefront law just never held up. As a viewing populace, we were not amused. Or entertained. Or interested.
Whatever the reason, NBC is now faced with what to do with Smits and the episodes already in the can. Outlaw will probably appear for a couple more weeks -- unlike the already-absent My Generation or Lone Star -- but start looking for something else to fill your Friday nights real soon.
Hmm. Maybe the guys from Law and Order are still available ..
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