Rex Is Not Your Lawyer
Encyclopedia
Rex Is Not Your Lawyer was a proposed legal drama
from actor Andrew Leeds and novelist David Lampson. A pilot was shot in December 2009, starring David Tennant
, Jerry O'Connell
, Abigail Spencer
, Jane Curtin
and Jeffrey Tambor
, but was not picked up, and the project was shelved.
as Rex Alexander, a top litigator who becomes so crippled by panic attacks that he can no longer appear in the courtroom and starts coaching his clients to represent themselves. The pilot episode, titled "Mabel Howard's Wrongful Termination," focused on a case involving private school bus driver Mabel Howard (Cleo King
).
. The program was re-considered and then rejected for the 2008 season as well. With new programming executives in charge at NBC, and Barry Schindel from Law & Order
on board as showrunner, the show was recommissioned in October 2009.
On November 3, 2009, Doctor Who
s David Tennant
was announced as the lead actor in the role of Rex Alexander. Heroes
actor Sendhil Ramamurthy
was cast as Bruce Sweet, Rex's best friend—an ambitious but good-natured lawyer who was in Rex's shadow until Rex's career switch; Bruce's friendship with Rex becomes complicated when he falls in love with his pal's ex-fiancé, Lindsey Steers (Abigail Spencer
). Other cast members in the pilot included Jane Curtin
as Rex's mother Ellen, Jeffrey Tambor
as Doctor Barry Fineman (originally "Doctor Barry Cohen" in earlier drafts of the script), Lindsey Kraft as Sophia Kraft (Rex's assistant), and Cleo King
as Mabel Howard. The pilot was directed by David Semel
.
The original setting for the comedy-drama
script was Chicago
, Illinois
, but it was changed to Los Angeles
, California
prior to filming. Production began in late November or early December 2009, and scenes for the pilot were shot in and around Los Angeles, utilizing various streets and businesses in the downtown area including the Hilton Checkers (Hilton Hotels & Resorts
) and Los Angeles Center Studios
. On December 5, actor Jerry O'Connell
was spotted on location and the next day it was announced that O'Connell had replaced Ramamurthy as Bruce. Golf scenes between Tennant and O'Connell were shot in three locations—at the Donald Trump
National Golf Course in Palos Verdes
, at a driving range in Koreatown
, and outdoors on the Los Angeles Center Studio lot—and filming for the pilot was completed a few days before December 25.
During the December 2009 filming, on-set rumors indicated that the show could begin filming its regular series episodes within a matter of weeks, pending network approval. At the January 2010 Television Critics Association
Press Tour, NBC's Angela Bromstad and Jeff Gaspin said that the pilot would be reviewed by executives and that "Rex" could become either a fast-track program airing in Spring 2010 (to help cover NBC's scheduling nightmare regarding the 2010 Tonight Show conflict
) or it could be an early Fall 2010 program. During the early months of 2010, there were at least two test screenings for the pilot in April, one at Universal Parks & Resorts
in Orlando, Florida
and another at a screening room in Las Vegas
, Nevada
.
However, it was reported on January 24, 2010, that the sets had been dismantled and stored, and the pilot was later passed over for both the Spring and Fall network schedules. In August 2010, Tennant confirmed during an interview at the 2010 Emmys that the show was "truly and sincerely dead"; later that year he spoke candidly about the pilot in several British interviews.
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
from actor Andrew Leeds and novelist David Lampson. A pilot was shot in December 2009, starring David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
, Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Andrew Clements in My Secret Identity, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan...
, Abigail Spencer
Abigail Spencer
Abigail Leigh Spencer is an American actress. Her first major acting role was playing Rebecca "Becca" Tyree on All My Children. She later starred in Lifetime Television's original series Angela's Eyes, which was cancelled on December 1, 2006...
, Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...
and Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
, but was not picked up, and the project was shelved.
Plot
Rex is Not Your Lawyer (2010) starred David TennantDavid Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
as Rex Alexander, a top litigator who becomes so crippled by panic attacks that he can no longer appear in the courtroom and starts coaching his clients to represent themselves. The pilot episode, titled "Mabel Howard's Wrongful Termination," focused on a case involving private school bus driver Mabel Howard (Cleo King
Cleo King
Cleo King is an American actress probably best known for her roles as Aunt Lou in the HBO drama series Deadwood and Helene Parks in Boston Public. She is also known for portraying police officers, most notably Officer Gardner in The Hangover, and as the abrasive yet helpful school liasion officer...
).
Production
Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, from Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun, was first sold to NBC in Spring 2007 (on a "first-look" agreement through BermanBraun) but the production was stalled because of the Writer's Strike2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. The program was re-considered and then rejected for the 2008 season as well. With new programming executives in charge at NBC, and Barry Schindel from Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
on board as showrunner, the show was recommissioned in October 2009.
On November 3, 2009, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
s David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
was announced as the lead actor in the role of Rex Alexander. Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
actor Sendhil Ramamurthy
Sendhil Ramamurthy
Sendhil Ramamurthy is an American actor. He is best known for the role as geneticist Mohinder Suresh in the NBC drama Heroes.-Personal life:...
was cast as Bruce Sweet, Rex's best friend—an ambitious but good-natured lawyer who was in Rex's shadow until Rex's career switch; Bruce's friendship with Rex becomes complicated when he falls in love with his pal's ex-fiancé, Lindsey Steers (Abigail Spencer
Abigail Spencer
Abigail Leigh Spencer is an American actress. Her first major acting role was playing Rebecca "Becca" Tyree on All My Children. She later starred in Lifetime Television's original series Angela's Eyes, which was cancelled on December 1, 2006...
). Other cast members in the pilot included Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...
as Rex's mother Ellen, Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
as Doctor Barry Fineman (originally "Doctor Barry Cohen" in earlier drafts of the script), Lindsey Kraft as Sophia Kraft (Rex's assistant), and Cleo King
Cleo King
Cleo King is an American actress probably best known for her roles as Aunt Lou in the HBO drama series Deadwood and Helene Parks in Boston Public. She is also known for portraying police officers, most notably Officer Gardner in The Hangover, and as the abrasive yet helpful school liasion officer...
as Mabel Howard. The pilot was directed by David Semel
David Semel
David Semel is an American director and television producer.- Film Director :* Lone Star State of Mind*Revelations* Campfire Tales - TV filmography Director :*Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip *Heroes...
.
The original setting for the comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
script was Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, but it was changed to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
prior to filming. Production began in late November or early December 2009, and scenes for the pilot were shot in and around Los Angeles, utilizing various streets and businesses in the downtown area including the Hilton Checkers (Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hilton Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast...
) and Los Angeles Center Studios
Los Angeles Center Studios
Los Angeles Center Studios is a multipurpose facility in the former Unocal Building next to the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles, California. Architect William Pereira designed the Union Oil headquarters in 1960....
. On December 5, actor Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Andrew Clements in My Secret Identity, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan...
was spotted on location and the next day it was announced that O'Connell had replaced Ramamurthy as Bruce. Golf scenes between Tennant and O'Connell were shot in three locations—at the Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
National Golf Course in Palos Verdes
Palos Verdes
Palos Verdes is a name often used to refer to a group of coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S...
, at a driving range in Koreatown
Koreatown
Koreatown is a term to describe a Korean ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area. Similar terms may include Little Seoul or Little Korea.-Beijing:There are more than 150,000 Koreans living in Beijing...
, and outdoors on the Los Angeles Center Studio lot—and filming for the pilot was completed a few days before December 25.
During the December 2009 filming, on-set rumors indicated that the show could begin filming its regular series episodes within a matter of weeks, pending network approval. At the January 2010 Television Critics Association
Television Critics Association
The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming...
Press Tour, NBC's Angela Bromstad and Jeff Gaspin said that the pilot would be reviewed by executives and that "Rex" could become either a fast-track program airing in Spring 2010 (to help cover NBC's scheduling nightmare regarding the 2010 Tonight Show conflict
2010 Tonight Show conflict
In early 2010, American television network NBC and two of its late-night talk show hosts, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, engaged in a media and public relations conflict over the host and airtime of The Tonight Show, the network's long-running late night program...
) or it could be an early Fall 2010 program. During the early months of 2010, there were at least two test screenings for the pilot in April, one at Universal Parks & Resorts
Universal Parks & Resorts
Universal Parks and Resorts is the theme park division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and General Electric. The division is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the various Universal Studios resort properties around the world...
in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
and another at a screening room in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
However, it was reported on January 24, 2010, that the sets had been dismantled and stored, and the pilot was later passed over for both the Spring and Fall network schedules. In August 2010, Tennant confirmed during an interview at the 2010 Emmys that the show was "truly and sincerely dead"; later that year he spoke candidly about the pilot in several British interviews.