Raising the Bar (TV series)

Raising the Bar
Genre	Legal drama
Created by	Steven Bochco David Feige
Written by	Steven Bochco David Feige
Directed by	Carol Banker Jesse Bochco Rick Bota Eric Laneuville Chris Long Jeannot Szwarc Rick Wallace
Starring	Mark-Paul Gosselaar Natalia Cigliuti Gloria Reuben Teddy Sears J. August Richards Melissa Sagemiller Jane Kaczmarek Currie Graham
Composer(s)	Alec Puro
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	25 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Steven Bochco
Producer(s)	Jonathan Abrahams Dayna Kalin Bochco David Feige Caroline James
Running time	45–48 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	TNT
Original run	September 1, 2008 (2008-09-01) – December 24, 2009 (2009-12-24)

Raising the Bar is an American legal drama, which ran on TNT network from September 1, 2008 to December 24, 2009.^[1] The series revolves around a group of lawyer friends who find themselves on opposite sides of the criminal law.^[2]

Production

Raising the Bar was originally announced to be joining TNT as a new series in January 2008.^[3] It came to TNT through ABC Studios and Steven Bochco served as executive producer, with Jesse Bochco as co-executive producer and David Feige as supervising producer. After completing its first season of 10 hour-long episodes in November 2008, the series was renewed for a 15-episode second season, which premiered on Monday June 8, 2009 at 10p.m ET/ 9 p.m. CT.^[4]. The show was canceled after season 2.

Plot summary

Idealistic public defender Jerry Kellerman does whatever it takes to assist the helpless and disenfranchised, which often leads to clashes in the courtroom presided over by Judge Trudy Kessler, a hard-liner hoping to become the city's next district attorney. Jerry has many clashes with both law enforcement and the assistant district attorneys (ADAs) such as Michelle Ernhardt, the beautiful and occasionally devious attorney with whom he has had a turbulent secret fling.^[5]

Cast and characters

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Jerry Kellerman
• Gloria Reuben as Rosalind Whitman
• Jane Kaczmarek as Trudy Kessler
• Melissa Sagemiller as Michelle Earnhardt
• Jonathan Scarfe as Charlie Sagansky
• J. August Richards as Marcus McGrath
• Currie Graham as Nick Balco
• Teddy Sears as Richard Patrick Woolsley
• Natalia Cigliuti as Roberta "Bobbi" Gilardi

Episodes

Main article: List of Raising the Bar episodes

Reception

The series debut garnered 7.7 million viewers. It was the biggest audience ever for a new-series launch on basic cable. It beat the record set in 2004 by USA Network's launch of The 4400 which opened with an average of 7.4 million viewers; runner-up was TNT's The Closer, which recorded 7 million viewers when it was unveiled in 2005.^[6] Following the premiere, ratings evened out to around 5.5 million viewers per episode.^[4] For calendar-year 2008 on a first-run basis, the series delivered 1.37 million viewers in the 18–49 demographic,^[7] garnering mixed reviews.^[8]

Cancellation

TNT confirmed to E! Online on November 30, 2009 that the series would not be renewed for a third season.^[9] The final three episodes were burned off marathon style on Christmas Eve night. ^[10]

International distribution

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly schedule (local time)
United States	TNT	September 11, 2008	Monday 22:00
Pan-Arab States	Fox Series	2010
Turkey	DiziMax	October 17, 2008	Friday 22:00
South Africa	M-Net	December 2008	Tuesday 21:00
Bulgaria	TV7	December, 2009	20:00
Canada	CTV	January 9, 2009	Friday 22:00
Spain	TNT	March 2, 2009	Thursday 22:15
Italy	Fox Crime & La5	March 18, 2009	Wednesday 22:50
Portugal	AXN & Sony Entertainment Television	April 8, 2009[11]	Wednesday 21:30
Norway	TV2	June 23, 2009	Tuesday 21:45
Singapore	Sony Entertainment Television	August 26, 2009	Wednesday 21:00
Hong Kong	Sony Entertainment Television	August 26, 2009	Wednesday 21:00
Greece	Fox Life	December 5, 2009	Fridays 21:00
New Zealand	TV2	July 27, 2009	Tuesday 00:30
Uruguay Argentina	AXN	September 8, 2009	Monday 21:00
Brazil	AXN	October 5, 2009	Monday 21:00
France	Jimmy	October 1, 2009	Thursday 20:40
Mexico	AXN	October 5, 2009	Monday 22:00
Israel	yes stars Base / HOT family	November 14, 2009	Saturday 17:15

DVD release

DVD name	Release date	Ep #
The Complete First Season	June 2, 2009	10
The Complete Second Season	May, 2010	15

References

1. ^ Raising the Bar at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ {{subst:User:Plastikspork/test|id=75090|title=Raising the Bar}}
3. ^ TNT Press Release (2008-01-26). "TNT Heads to the Courtroom With New Steven Bochco Legal Drama Series Raising the Bar". Webwire. http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=57574. Retrieved 2008-11-13. 
4. ^ ^{a b} TNT Press Release (2008-09-16). "TNT Renews Two Hit Series: Saving Grace and Raising the Bar". The Futon Clinic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080916tnt01. Retrieved 2008-11-13. 
5. ^ "Raising the Bar". Zap2It. http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCProgram.do?method=getDetail&pgmId=EP010725340002&sch=1220925600000&stn=11164&chn=11. Retrieved 2008-09-03. 
6. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (2008-09-03). "'Raising the Bar' and Clearing It in the Ratings". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090203001.html. Retrieved 2008-11-13. 
7. ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?date=12/18/08&id=20081218fx01
8. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/raisingthebar?q=Raising%20the%20Bar
9. ^ Jennifer Godwin (2009-11-30). "TNT Cancels Mark-Paul Gosselaar's Raising the Bar". E! Online. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b155758_tnt_cancels_mark-paul_gosselaars.html. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
10. ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8418
11. ^ http://hotvnews.com.pt/2009/03/04/raising-the-bar/

External links

• Raising the Bar at the Internet Movie Database
• Raising the Bar at TV.com