I’m going to be honest here – I’m not the biggest fan of most television shows. When I want to sit in front of a glowing box and numb my brain, I prefer to watch HGTV and cry at the fact that House Hunters is actually scripted television (how dare they?!). So, when I sat down to watch the series premiere of How To Get Away With Murder last night, I had high expectations.
As someone who’s been through the meat grinder that is your first year of law school, I was curious to see how the notorious 1L was depicted on the small screen. I was terribly, terribly disappointed, and I had to be restrained from getting up and shutting the TV off halfway through the episode. Here’s what made me nearly throw the cable box out the window.
1. They missed the huge blood spot on the floor when they were cleaning.
HOW DID THEY NOT SEE THE MASSIVE PUDDLE OF BLOOD?!
2. Only gunners wear suits to class.
Do less, people.
3. Those classes are WAY too large. What kind of school is this?!
Most first-year law classes don’t have more than 60-70 kids in them. This class had at least 100.
4. There were about a million ethics violations in and out of the courtroom.
I can’t even begin to list them. The entire courtroom scene would have every lawyer and judge in front of the ethics bureau for a suspension hearing.
5. No sorority girl would let a maintenance guy just walk into your house.
Nobody called for him? DON’T LET HIM IN!
6. The first day of class is NOT like The Paper Chase.
The teachers try to scare you, but it’s not as intense as that.
7. Law students do not have time to commit a murder.
We barely have time to bathe. Disposing of a body is a LOT to ask.
More than that, though, I was annoyed at the image of the legal profession that this show, amongst others, provides for the general public. Law isn’t as conniving, vicious, and heated as television makes it seem – on the contrary, most of the time law is pretty calm and based on paperwork and research. A very minuscule percentage of cases actually do make it to trial, and even then, cases are typically settled outside of the courtroom. There are times that law can be sexy and entertaining, but this show amplifies it to an extreme and creates a negative image of the criminal defense field.
Although the show was entertaining, I don’t think that I have enough patience to refrain from yelling at the TV every Thursday. What did you guys think of the show?
law+media 