2. Murder One
Season one of Murder One was some of the most gripping television ever. The twists and turns in the hunt for the murderer of Jessica Costello left us guessing one week to the next. Was Richard Cross evil? Was Neil Avedon guilty? Who would win in the battle of wills between Miriam Grasso and Teddy Hoffman? Who would die? Who would be corrupted? All the way up to episode twenty-three and the reveal of that tape we never truly knew who the guilty party was. By the time the credits rolled on the season one finale, everything had been wrapped up nicely and we wondered what was next for Teddy Hoffman and Associates? What gripping tale would follow in season two? Well the answer was three cases, none as riveting as the first. To make matters worse, Teddy was gone, written out of the shoe as needing a long break with his family to recover from the drama from season one. Anthony LaPaglia's Jimmy Wyler was good, but he couldn't hold a candle to Daniel Benzali's Teddy and with the loss of villainous Richard Cross, played with superb Machiavellian style by Stanley Tucci, the magic just wasn't there. Not surprisingly, the show didn't last past season two, no doubt partly due to the decision to replace Benzali. Instead of being remembered as the show that didn't have as good a second season, it should have gone out as a single-season high. Which is probably why I've watched season one on DVD end-to-end and yet, despite two attempts, I've never made it past episode three of season two.