Television Review

ABC's 'The Deep End' firmly unoriginal

David Hinckley

Wednesday, January 20th 2010, 4:00 AM

Mehcad Brooks and Tina Majorino play first-year associates trying to make it in the tough setting of a high-end Los Angeles law firm.

ABC has launched the legal drama "The Deep End" on Thursday nights so we don't have to watch reruns while "FlashForward" takes a vacation.

Except much of "Deep End" has the feel of a rerun itself.

Like many legal dramas before it, "Deep End" is set at a prestigious law firm - Sterling, located in L.A. - that generates as many dramas internally as it does in courtrooms.

Unlike most such shows, "Deep End" looks at all this from the perspective of five first-year associates, fledgling lawyers fresh out of law school and essentially used as doormats, gofers and general raw meat by the established attorneys and partners.

Trouble is, it doesn't feel all that fresh. Arrogant, idiot superiors have been a bedrock of humor-infused dramas from the ancient Greeks right up through "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Ugly Betty."

In the legal field, this TV season alone has already introduced overburdened associates with Julianna Margulies' Alicia and Matt Czuchry's Cary on CBS' "The Good Wife." That show has set a relatively high bar for the funny, sharp-edged and nuanced dramas of first-years.

"The Deep End" also makes things a little harder at first by having five associates, which is a lot of minidramas to sort out.

It's the "Grey's Anatomy" model, where we will eventually embrace all the characters if we like them. But at the start it feels like the show is doing the same thing as Sterling itself, or your average cheap reality show.

It's pitting them against each other for our affection, with the sense that those who fail the challenge could be asked to turn in their key cards and go hang out a shingle doing wills and divorces.

For the record, the starting lineup is insecure Addy (Tina Majorino), earnest Dylan (Matt Long), rich girl Beth (Leah Pipes), too-cool Liam (Ben Lawson) and outsider Malcolm (Mehcad Brooks).

It's a properly diverse group, with each assigned a recognizable personality. But ensuring face time for everyone limits the possibilities for anyone to step beyond the obvious or familiar up front.

Sterling also houses some larger dramas, including a struggle between cold, ruthless Cliff (Billy Zane) and Sterling family heir Hart (Clancy Brown) for the direction and soul of the firm.

Hart, whose name was not selected for subtlety, feels the law is a calling through which practitioners can enhance society and the world. Cliff cares nothing for society and the world. He thinks the law is a way to make money.

The fact that we've seen these struggles before doesn't mean "The Deep End" can't find a way to make them fresh and interesting again. The opening arguments aren't entirely persuasive.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com