McBride (TV series)

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McBride is a series of two-hour movies for the Hallmark Channel that premiered in 2005, starring John Larroquette as the "lawyer for the little guy." In many ways a throwback to the '70s and '80s mysteries like Matlock and The Rockford Files, McBride is a curmudgeon with a heart of gold. He takes cases based on their merit rather than on the paycheck, which often leads to terse notices from bill collectors.

A disillusioned member of the LAPD, McBride left the force after twelve years and went back to school to become a lawyer. With the aid of his ever-present sidekick, Phil Newberry, and his former girlfriend, Detective Roberta Hansen, McBride and his team solve crimes the old-fashioned way. McBride may be said to evoke Columbo or Agatha Christie, especially the former, though its tenor, pace and MO are even more redolent of Peter Falk's earlier, but far less well-known, mid-60s potboiler, The Trials of O'Brien.

The show employs a unique plot device in which a flashback is employed to show the scene depicted in an interrogation that McBride is conducting with his subject, either in private or while in a courtroom as a witness on the stand. While the flashback is not in itself an unusual device, McBride is present at the flashback scene to "continue" the interrogation started in real time with the subject as the scene is unfolding in the flashback. This plot device was notably used in the 2000 movie Under Suspicion with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman.

1 Main characters
2 Episodes
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Main characters

M. McBride (John Larroquette) - McBride, though a lawyer for only eight years, is renowned in Los Angeles for his tough persona and commitment to his clients. Quirky and unconventional, his methods often draw less than positive attention from his peers, and a certain measure of dread from every ADA he must face in the courtroom. The first initial does not stand for anything. Larroquette himself decided that McBride should not have a first name, and resisted using even an initial. (Recent promos, however, have called him Mike.) McBride inherited a house and a dog, Jesse, from a client serving a life sentence.

Phil Newberry (Matt Lutz) - Phil is former public defender who was fortunate enough to try a case in which McBride was a juror. Though Phil failed to convince the rest of the jury of his client's innocence, McBride's contrary vote was enough to hang the jury. Upon meeting face to face, Phil realized he could learn much from this seasoned litigator, and went to work for McBride. Phil Newberry is often the "gadget guy," a post-modern counterpoint to McBride's old-fashioned sleuthing. Newberry does not draw a salary from his work with McBride. In the first episode we learn that he has a trust fund, and does not require a paycheck.

Roberta Hansen (Marta DuBois) - Roberta is a sharp-tongued homicide detective with the LAPD. She and McBride share a somewhat mysterious romantic past, but have put aside their entanglement to work together as friends. Though sometimes at odds, McBride and Roberta respect and trust one another, often coming together to solve crimes everyone else has abandoned. In later episodes, Roberta's office moves from a roomier one in the corner of the police headquarters to one closer to the middle of the station. Though it was never explained in the story, the switch was actually made for shooting reasons - the corner office was more difficult to light.

[edit] Episodes

1) Murder Past Midnight, directed by Kevin Connor
2) The Chameleon Murder, directed by Kevin Connor
3) It's Murder, Madam, directed by Kevin Connor
4) The Doctor is Out ... Really Out, directed by John Larroquette
5) Tune in for Murder, directed by Stephen Bridgewater
6) Anybody Here Murder Marty?, directed by James Contner
7) Fallen Idol, directed by John Larroquette
8) Dogged, directed by John Larroquette
9) Semper Fi, directed by John Larroquette
10) Requiem, directed by Mark Griffiths

[edit] Trivia

In Dogged, Charles Robinson, who played Mac on Night Court, guest stars as a judge who has it in for McBride, jailing him for contempt during two different trials in the same episode.

In Anybody Here Murder Marty?, Liz Torres, Larroquette's co-star on The John Larroquette Show, plays Eugenie, a tough temp secretary constantly at odds with Phil.

In The Doctor is Out ... Really Out, Gigi Rice, Larroquette's co-star on The John Larroquette Show, plays Jessica, an associate of the episodes' murder victim.