Richard T. Jones is suing the producers of his CBS show
"Judging Amy" for reneging on their promise to give his character,
court officer Bruce Van Exel, more lines this season. Who can
fault Jones for wanting to make more use of his Juilliard-trained
acting talent? In fact, he should go ahead and make it a class-action
lawsuit to include Lisa Gay Hamilton from "The Practice," and
your girl S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays the Lieutenant
on "Law & Order."
David E. Kelley actually gave Hamilton a tasty storyline
a couple of weeks ago where she went toe-to-toe with actor
Ron Silver over his treatment of certain death penalty cases,
but will the love last? Last Sunday, Rebecca went back to
arguing over her coffee-habits around the office. There are
so many great actors on the show that Hamilton, another
Julliard-grad, seems to get shuffled to the back more often
than the others. The assistant, Lucy, gets more lines than
Rebecca. Ironically, Rebecca’s storyline throughout the
years has been how the firm won’t throw her any good
cases. These people didn’t go to Julliard to play
the back seat.
And if they’re in the backseat, "Law & Order" Lieutenant
Anita Van Buren is in the trunk as far as airtime. This is why
James McDaniel left "NYPD Blue." Like Lt. Fancy, Merkerson’s
lines are limited to "Go back and question the witnesses again.
See if maybe we can jog some memories."
Can we get a B-storyline for Merkerson? Or even C. Of course
these shows aren’t called "Judging Bruce" or "Law & Lieutenants."
And maybe Merkerson’s happy with coming in, dropping a few
lines, getting a check and going home. (Nothing wrong with
that.) But if they really want to make full use of their acting
chops, why don’t they try to pitch their own series? How about
a three-series, spin-off where Rebecca becomes a legal defender,
Merkerson becomes a prosecutor who has to go head-up with
Rebecca in court, and Bruce is the court-officer secretly
dating them both.
Okay, it doesn’t have to be that ghetto, but the point is, don’t
rely on these predominantly-white shows to throw you a bone.
Develop your own series and pitch it to NBC, CBS, ABC and
FOX. If they shut you down, (and knowing their track record
regarding black shows, they probably will), there’s always
the WB and UPN. They’ll take anything.
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