Rob Morrow

Reuniting again with his son Rob Morrow (TV that is, from Numb3rs), Judd Hirsch will play judge to Morrow’s lawyer on ABC’s The Whole Truth.  The episode press release is unique because it has no superlatives or platitudes.  Until you get to the second paragraph with the “employs a unique alternating narrative structure,” “keeps the audience guessing,” “…until the final scene.”  Paragraph three: “up-close, behind-the-scenes, “mirrors the excitement of a great championship match.”

Actually, the fast-reading synopsis makes the episode seem worth watching.  Hirsch plays a murder-accused judge who asks a lawyer who he’s previously chastised in his court to defend him.  The plot thickens (in keeping with the spirit of paragraph two) when the prosecutor assigned to try the state’s case (Maura Tierney), has to convict the kindly judge who joyfully presided over her first courtroom appearance.  Only use nouns and verbs, everything else is pyrite, Mark Twain warned.

Even Neil Simon, who knows how to write really, really good did acknowledge that superlatives are essential in Hollywood.  And so is real tinsel.