Legal drama limbo
Will ‘Bluff City Law’ return for second season?
Is no news always good news? Maybe not in the case of “Bluff City Law,” the Memphis-set-and-shot NBC legal drama that is now in limbo while the network decides its fate.
For weeks after the Nov. 25 broadcast of what so far remains the final episode of the Monday night series, the show’s creators and cast members took to social media to encourage fans to stream episodes on Hulu and other ondemand services.
The hope was to bolster the program’s overall audience numbers, to make up for the lackluster ratings the series earned during its 10-episode first season network run, and thus to encourage NBC to gamble on a second season.
In recent weeks, however, mum has been the word, and the silence has been deafening (to employ back-toback cliches).
This is no surprise, because there’s not much to say, at least in public.
As producer Dean Georgaris tweeted Jan. 26, NBC will decide in May whether to order “season 2 of any show that debuted this year. Including us.” (May is when the networks unveil their fall lineups to advertisers, in hopes that the advertisers will be excited enough by the programming to buy lots of commercial space during prime time.) So until May, his tweet implied, be patient.
Meanwhile, an NBC publicist said nobody involved with “Bluff City Law” would be made available to talk about the series.
This muteness may be logical, but it leaves “Bluff City Law” boosters with many questions.
Have Elijah Strait (Jimmy Smits), daughter Sydney (Caitlin Mcgee) and the other crusading lawyers of Mem
phis-based Strait and Associates truly sailed into the Mississippi River sunset? Or will they reemerge on televisions in the fall (and on the streets of Memphis in the summer, accompanied by cameras, microphones, “honeywagons” and extras) to continue their adventures in jurisprudential zeal?
Here are three signs that suggest we might see Strait and Associates in action again – and three signals that suggest we might not. If some of the reasons seem contradictory, well, that just shows why the show is officially not canceled but in limbo.
On the pro side:
1. The old Fred P. Gattas department store showroom on Summer Avenue that was converted in August into a “Bluff City Law” soundstage and courtroom set remains under lease through June to the production company, according to Tom Gattas, one of the building’s owners.
In fact, the space – with its faux courtroom still intact – also now functions as a warehouse for the show, with furniture and props from the other sets in storage, so they can be retrieved for future use, if necessary.
Some of dismantled sets include the stately River Oaks house that functioned as the home of Elijah Strait; the Downtown apartment of Jake Reilly (Barry Sloane); and the Strait and Associates law office at the corner of Front Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, which is being converted into a new restaurant, The Paramount. (The restaurant is named for the location’s proximity to Downtown’s historic “Film Row,” home to studio distribution and publicity offices during the first half of the 20th century.)
Contrary to some scuttlebutt, the decision by “Bluff City Law” to abandon the original law office set is not a clue to the program’s fate. The location always was problematic due to the high volume of noise from frequent nearby construction; producers already planned to recreate the set for the show’s second season.
2. Memphis officials actively are lobbying the state legislature for funding that would encourage NBC to produce a second season here, with Mayor Jim Strickland traveling to Nashville recently to push for incentives for Memphisbased film and television production in general. The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission wants the state’s production incentives fund to be boosted to the annual level of $8 million that was available for most of the years that the series “Nashville” was in production in (yes) Nashville. The politicking is a signal that Memphis is again committed to doing all it can to make “Bluff City Law” happen.
3. What else has NBC got? “Bluff City Law” was not a ratings triumph, but it wasn’t a disaster. With an established premise, scripts already written and cast members contracted to return for a second season, the network might figure that “Bluff City Law” – which was touted at the start of the season as NBC’S No. 1 priority in scripted dramatic television – deserves another chance to find an audience. (Could that second chance happen on the network’s new subscription streaming service, Peacock, which is set to launch in July?)
On the con side:
1. “Bluff City Law” buzz is not and never has been a thing. Although the series has attracted dedicated fans all over the world and has inspired hopeful Facebook groups, it has not inspired the intense cultish devotion that can elevate a ratings misfire into a pop-culture touchstone. In addition, one will search in vain for the influential tastemaker or critic who has made the renewal of “Bluff City Law” a personal crusade.
2. For the sake of authenticity, and because the city’s history and diversity dovetailed with the program’s social justice and human rights advocacy, “Bluff City Law” producers were determined to shoot the series in its title location. (Their determination doubled after they soaked up all that Memphis atmosphere while shooting the pilot episode here last March.) However, the $4.25 million that local officials were able to cobble together to creatively “incentivize” the production was at the low end of expectations for the network, which originally had sought $18 million, and then $10 million. At a cost of about $4.5 million per episode, “Bluff City Law” may not be worth the expense for the network. (The worst-case scenario for Memphis’ pride: “Bluff City Law” is renewed, but NBC cuts costs by shooting the program’s second season in Louisiana or Georgia.)
3. Websites dedicated to the dubious art of television prognostication offer no “Bluff City Law” encouragement. The site TV Series Finale (tvseriesfinale.com ) classifies “Bluff City Law” as “likely cancelled,” while The TV Ratings Guide (thetvratingsguide.com), which bills itself as the “Home of Renew/cancel Predictions,” lists “Bluff City Law” alongside “Perfect Harmony” – a Thursday night musical comedy – as one of only two currently in-limbo NBC series that are facing – yikes! – “Certain Cancellation.”