Reasonable Doubts is an American police drama television series created by Robert Singer, which broadcast in the United States by NBC that ran from September 26, 1991, to April 27, 1993.
Synopsis
Reasonable Doubts is primarily about the working relationship between Assistant District Attorney Tess Kaufman (Marlee Matlin), a prosecutor very sensitive to the rights of the accused, and hard-charging, gruff Detective Dicky Cobb (Mark Harmon), an old-fashioned cop with a "bust-the-perps" attitude. The reason that these two are assigned to work together was that Cobb is one of the few available police officers who knows sign language, and Tess, like the actress who portrayed her, is deaf. Dicky is usually more frustrated by Tess' sympathy for the suspects than by her deafness; he also repeats what Tess says back to her to make sure that he understood it (Tess can also read lips) and this allowed the audience to understand her part of the dialogue. Dicky also spoke as he signed to Tess.
Both characters are romantically involved with other people when the series opens: Tess is estranged from, but still in contact with, her husband Bruce (Tim Grimm); Dicky had a manipulative girlfriend named Kay Lockman (Nancy Everhard), who is, unsurprisingly, quite jealous of Tess, and not without reason, as a considerable mutual attraction, despite their differences, has developed between Tess and Dicky. The situation becomes more complicated with the death of Kay early in the second season, freeing the characters to pursue the relationship at least somewhat, although its resolution is still up in the air when the program was not renewed for a third season. Cobb was also involved with flinty lawyer Maggie Zombro (Kay Lenz), an early continuing character who became a regular in later seasons.1
Executive producer Bob Singer gained some interest from the network in spinning off the show into a straight cop drama starring Harmon and Jim Beaver, who had played Dicky's friend and partner Detective Earl Gaddis from the beginning of the show, but ultimately NBC demurred.
Cast
- Mark Harmon as Detective Dickie Cobb
- Marlee Matlin as Assistant District Attorney Tess Kaufman
- William Converse-Roberts as District Attorney Arthur Gold
- Nancy Everhard as Kay Lockman
- Tim Grimm as Bruce Kaufman
- Kay Lenz as Maggie Zombro (recurring, season 1; main, season 2)
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 21 | September 26, 1991 (1991-9-26) | September 15, 1992 (1992-9-15) | |
| 2 | 23 | September 29, 1992 (1992-09-29) | April 27, 1993 (1993-04-27) | |
Season 1 (1991–92)
| No.overall | No. inseason | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Robert Singer | Robert Singer | September 26, 1991 (1991-9-26) |
| 2 | 2 | "Hard Bargains" | James Quinn | Steven Phillip Smith | September 27, 1991 (1991-9-27) |
| 3 | 3 | "Making Dirt Stick" | Joe Napolitano | Kathy McCormick | October 4, 1991 (1991-10-4) |
| 4 | 4 | "Daddy's Little Girl" | Armand Mastroianni | Story by : Michael Marks & John SchulianTeleplay by : Steven Phillip Smith & Kathy McCormick | October 18, 1991 (1991-10-18) |
| 5 | 5 | "...and Sleep Won't Come" | Bill D'Elia | John Schulian | October 25, 1991 (1991-10-25) |
| 6 | 6 | "The Silent Treatment" | Charles Robert Carner | Story by : Robert Singer & Steven Phillip SmithTeleplay by : John Schulian & Kathy McCormick | November 1, 1991 (1991-11-1) |
| 7 | 7 | "Tangled Up in Blue" | Randy Zisk | Robert Singer & John Schulian | November 8, 1991 (1991-11-8) |
| 8 | 8 | "Aftermath" | James A. Conter | Steven Phillip Smith | November 15, 1991 (1991-11-15) |
| 9 | 9 | "One Woman's World" | Eric Laneuville | Kathy McCormick | November 29, 1991 (1991-11-29) |
| 10 | 10 | "Graduation Day" | Robert Singer | Michael Marks | December 5, 1991 (1991-12-5) |
| 11 | 11 | "Pure Gold" | Peter Levin | John Schulian | December 13, 1991 (1991-12-13) |
| 12 | 12 | "Dicky's Got the Blues" | James Quinn | Steven Phillip Smith | December 20, 1991 (1991-12-20) |
| 13 | 13 | "The Shadow of Death" | Unknown | Unknown | January 17, 1992 (1992-1-17) |
| 14 | 14 | "The Discomfort Zone" | Unknown | Unknown | February 4, 1992 (1992-2-4) |
| 15 | 15 | "Fish Out of Water" | Unknown | Unknown | February 11, 1992 (1992-2-11) |
| 16 | 16 | "Burning Desire" | Unknown | Unknown | March 3, 1992 (1992-3-3) |
| 17 | 17 | "Love is Strange" | Unknown | Unknown | March 17, 1992 (1992-3-17) |
| 18 | 18 | "Home is Where the Heart is" | Unknown | Unknown | March 17, 1992 (1992-3-17) |
| 19 | 19 | "Maggie Finds Her Soul" | Unknown | Unknown | March 24, 1992 (1992-3-24) |
| 20 | 20 | "Home to Roost" | Unknown | Unknown | September 8, 1992 (1992-9-8) |
| 21 | 21 | "Change of Plans" | Unknown | Unknown | September 15, 1992 (1992-9-15) |
Season 2 (1992–93)
| No.overall | No. inseason | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 1 | "Lifelines" | Randy Zisk | Steven Phillip Smith & Kathy McCormick | September 29, 1992 (1992-9-29) |
| 23 | 2 | ||||
| 24 | 3 | "FAP" | Unknown | Unknown | October 6, 1992 (1992-10-6) |
| 25 | 4 | "Moment of Doubt" | Unknown | Unknown | October 27, 1992 (1992-10-27) |
| 26 | 5 | "Mercury in Retrograde" | Unknown | Unknown | November 10, 1992 (1992-11-10) |
| 27 | 6 | "Try to Be Nice, What Does It Get You?" | Unknown | Unknown | November 17, 1992 (1992-11-17) |
| 28 | 7 | "Brother's Keeper" | Unknown | Unknown | December 1, 1992 (1992-12-1) |
| 29 | 8 | "Self Defense" | Unknown | Unknown | December 8, 1992 (1992-12-8) |
| 30 | 9 | "A Rose is a Rose" | Unknown | Unknown | December 15, 1992 (1992-12-15) |
| 31 | 10 | "Silence" | Unknown | Unknown | December 22, 1992 (1992-12-22) |
| 32 | 11 | "Legacy" | Robert Singer | Melinda M. Snodgrass | January 5, 1993 (1993-1-5) |
| 33 | 12 | "Two Women" | Unknown | Unknown | January 12, 1993 (1993-1-12) |
| 34 | 13 | "The Iceman" | Unknown | Unknown | January 19, 1993 (1993-1-19) |
| 35 | 14 | "Run Through the Jungle" | Unknown | Unknown | January 26, 1993 (1993-1-26) |
| 36 | 15 | "Thank God, It's Friday" | Unknown | Unknown | January 26, 1993 (1993-1-26) |
| 37 | 16 | "Sister, Can You Spare a Dime?" | Unknown | Unknown | March 13, 1993 (1993-3-13) |
| 38 | 17 | "Crumbling Systems" | Unknown | Unknown | March 20, 1993 (1993-3-20) |
| 39 | 18 | "Diminished Capacity" | Unknown | Unknown | March 27, 1993 (1993-3-27) |
| 40 | 19 | "Wish You Were Here" | Unknown | Ed Zuckerman | April 3, 1993 (1993-4-3) |
| 41 | 20 | "The Ties That Bind" | Unknown | Unknown | April 13, 1993 (1993-4-13) |
| 42 | 21 | ||||
| 43 | 22 | "Trust Me on This" | Unknown | Kathy McCormick & Ed Zuckerman | April 27, 1993 (1993-4-27) |
| 44 | 23 | ||||
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Pilots | Robert Primes | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Mark Harmon | Nominated | |
| Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Marlee Matlin | Nominated | ||
| 1993 | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Mark Harmon | Nominated | |
| Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Marlee Matlin | Nominated | ||
| 1992 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Kay Lenz | Nominated |
| 1993 | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Cinematography for a Series | Richard M. Rawlings Jr. (For episode "Lifelines") | Nominated | ||
| 1992 | Viewers for Quality Television Award | Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series | Mark Harmon | Nominated |
| Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Marlee Matlin | Nominated | ||
| 1993 | Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series | Mark Harmon | Nominated | |
| Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Marlee Matlin | Nominated | ||
| Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Kay Lenz | Won | ||
| Best Specialty Player | Leslie Jordan | Nominated | ||
| 1994 | Writers Guild of America Award | Episodic Drama | Ed Zuckerman (For episode "Thank God, It's Friday") | Nominated |
- Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows
External links
References
Everett, Todd (November 16, 1992). "Reasonable Doubts Try to Be Nice– What Does It Get You?". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2017. https://variety.com/1992/tv/reviews/reasonable-doubts-try-to-be-nice-what-does-it-get-you-1200430943/ ↩