Blind Justice (TV Series) - Reception

Reception

Kevin D. Thompson of Cox News Service said Blind Justice is "worth your attention mostly because of Ron Eldard's standout performance as Dubar", a character whom he described as "one of TV's most intriguing new characters." Vikki Ortiz of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel watched the premiere with members of the Badger Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Milwaukee and found that generally they considered it a realistic portrayal of what it is like to be blind, citing use of proper commands being given to his guide dog and having Detective Bettancourt lead him with her arm. Ortiz mentioned that several people did say that it was unrealistic that he would be allowed to carry a gun. In her review of the pilot Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times found that Blind Justice "is at its best when portraying how people react to the character Jim Dunbar". Stanley goes on to say in her review that "the scenes at the precinct when he first returns to work are intelligently and delicately written. His heroism, and the groundbreaking lawsuit he filed, turned him into a celebrity cop, and his colleagues on the force greet him with graceless courtesy and palpable resentment. Dunbar is blind, but in a previous generation, he could have been black or female and encountered a similar kind of churlishness."

Robert Bianco of USA Today was less receptive to Blind Justice. Bianco wrote a column solely on concepts worse than Blind Justice, of which he said, "As bad ideas go, Blind Justice's gun-toting blind guy isn't even a patch on some of the truly awful concepts that have made it to series." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe said Detective Dunbar "might as well be wearing a note pinned to his back reading 'I have courage, integrity, and kids really like me.'" Gilbert goes on to say that Blind Justice "settles for the sort of nobler than-thou portrayal that marred the final seasons of Bochco's NYPD Blue." He concludes his review by saying, "In the episodes sent to critics, the murder suspects are straight out of central casting, from the wigged-out serial killer to the abusive dad. Ultimately, they seem to be there merely to provide our knight in shining armor a few hard-to-miss targets." Samantha Force of The Michigan Daily said that the idea of a disabled cop returning to work was believable but that a blind cop can carry a loaded gun simply by signing a liability waiver is ridiculous. Force concedes that the show does point out its own flaws with the premise by having Dunbar's coworkers express concerns about his ability to use his gun if the need arose. Force concluded her review by saying, "this show is a good watch if the viewer is able to suspend their disbelief and take the premise at face value. For those viewers out there who want their dosage of realism in drama, Blind Justice is not the pill for you."