Subject Matter
According to creator Reginald Rose, "the law is the subject of our programs: not crime, not mystery, not the courtroom for its own sake. We were never interested in producing a 'who-done-it' which simply happened to be resolved each week in a flashy courtroom battle of wits." And unlike Perry Mason, which also ran on CBS, victory was "far from certain on The Defenders—as were morality and justice."
Topics featured in the series included capital punishment, "no-knock" searches, custody rights of adoptive parents, the insanity defense, the "poisoned fruit doctrine", immigration quotas, the Hollywood blacklist, jury nullification, and Cold War visa restrictions.
A 1962 episode entitled "The Benefactor"—in which the father-son legal team defended an abortionist—was the most controversial; all of the series' three regular advertisers refused to sponsor the episode, necessitating a last-minute replacement.
Read more about this topic: The Defenders (1961 TV series)
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or matter:
“Life is not at all what you might think it to be
A simple tale where each thing has its history
It’s much more than its scuffle and anything goes
Both evil and good, subject to the same laws.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I’ll not be knowing,
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
No matter where it’s going.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)