TNT has several new shows in the pipeline, but if you’re looking for your old favorites, remember that “The Closer” and “Saving Grace” both begin new seasons on Monday.
But on to what’s new.
Superficially at least, the most interesting thing about “Raising the Bar,” the new drama about “the flawed legal justice system” from Steven Bochco (”NYPD Blue”), is Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s hair. (See evidence above.) It’s long. And wavy. In the show, due in September on TNT, and on a panel introducing it, he’s almost unrecognizable as Sipowicz’s last partner on “NYPD Blue.”
In the new show, about prosecutors and public defenders who’re on opposite sides of the law (but cross over to sleep with each other), Gosselaar plays a young lawyer who helps the downtrodden. The cast also includes Jane Kaczmarek (”Malcolm in the Middle”) as a judge, Gloria Reuben (”ER”) as the boss of the public defenders, “NYPD Blue” veteran Currie Graham as the DA and Melissa Sagemiller (”Sleeper Cell”) and J. August Richards (”Angel”) as assistant DAs.
Also interesting: David Feige, a lawyer who wrote the book on which the series is based and co-created the show, looks very much like Patrick Warburton, Puddy from “Seinfeld.”
And Gosselaar’s hair? “I wasn’t a big fan,” Bochco admits, saying he likes it better now (a bit shorter) than in the pilot. Why did the look fly? Women apparently found it sexy. And Bochco appreciated the fact that it makes Gosselaar look so different from the cop on “Blue.”
