Courthouse

Courthouse was a CBS network drama series created & executively produced by Deborah Joy LeVine which aired from September 13 to November 15, 1995, lasting for 11 episodes (leaving two of them unaired).

Plot
The series followed the lives of the judges, lawyers & staff at a big-city courthouse located in fictional Clark County.

Cast

 * Patricia Wettig as Judge Justine Parkes
 * Bob Gunton as Judge Homer Conklin
 * Brad Johnson as Judge Wyatt E. Jackson
 * Michael Lerner as Judge Myron Winkleman
 * Jenifer Lewis as Judge Rosetta Reide
 * Dan Gauthier as Jonathan Mitchell
 * Nia Peeples as Veronica Gilbert
 * Jeffrey D. Sams as Edison Moore
 * Robin Givens as Suzanne Graham
 * Annabeth Gish as Lenore Laderman
 * Cree Summer as Danny Gates

Production
"Courthouse" was partially inspired by ABC's "NYPD Blue" and the television coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder case.

Patricia Wettig led the cast (which also included Bob Gunton and Robin Givens), but she intended to leave the show due to "creative differences" with sources saying that she wanted the show to be more of a star vehicle for her, rather than an ensemble cast. However, the show was cancelled before her character could be written out.

The show included Jenifer Lewis and Cree Summer as the first recurring African American lesbian characters on TV, but the role was ordered to be toned down for broadcast. Lewis played Juvenile Court judge Rosetta Reide, who was having a relationship with her housekeeper Danny Gates (played by Summer).

Reception
"Courthouse" failed to catch on with audiences. The pilot episode ranked 47 out of 108 shows, according to the Nielsen ratings for that week with 9.2 million viewers (16% share), and the series was cancelled two months after its premiere.

One critic described the show as "a hopeless amalgam that strains the senses."

In New York magazine's description of the show:

"Ready to believe in Robin Givens as a tireless defender of public justice? Courthouse's idea of gritty moral realism is to divide the world into the good and the bad: Bad judges go to the opera while their charges die in jail; good judges have interracial affairs with members of their own gender; and the best judge of all rolls in from Montana looking like he just shot a 501 commercial."