In 2005, the Hallmark channel started showing a rotation of mystery television shows. McBride was one of those mystery shows. (The other two were Mystery Woman and Jane Doe.)
John Larroquette is the star of these ninety minute television movies, and it’s almost as if the part was written for him. He is so perfect in the “”Mac” McBride role.
Each television movies starts out with a scene that takes place in a courtroom. This is where we are generally introduced to some rather slick “lawyery” action. McBride either catches the accuser in a lie, or he shows a wrongfully accused person in an innocent light. We sometimes see an exacerbated prosecuting attorney in an unprepared state. Oh, did I mention McBride is a defense lawyer?
Mac does a lot of pro bono work. He tries to make sure that innocent people get competent representation in the courts.
The two supporting roles are very capably portrayed by Marta DuBois and Matt Lutz. Marta plays the homicide detective (Roberta) who prefers to lose a collar than jail an innocent man/woman. She and Mac worked together (and were romantically involved) when he was a police detective working his way through law school. They’re an on-again, off-again couple >>> more off than on. Roberta knows Mac enough to not take him too seriously, unless it’s when he insists his client is innocent.
Matt Lutz plays Mac’s young assistant, Phil. He’s sort of the opposite of Mac. If it were up to Mac, their office would have a stove-top on which to make coffee rather than a coffee machine and they would be using legal pads instead of a computer. Phil is also responsible for tracking down witnesses, uncovering helpful information, and working his magic with the pretty young women.
Oh, I don’t know how I forgot the fourth of the main characters >>> Jesse, an irresistible dog that Mac inherited. My one disappointment in the show is that Jesse stopped joining Mac on his trips out of the office in the later episodes.
McBride was created by Dean Hargrove, who, incidentally also created the much-loved Columbo series. One of the producers of McBride is Larry Levinson, who also produced Columbo, the Ellery Queen Mysteries television shows, and Murder, She Wrote. A pretty impressive pedigree!
While both my husband and I enjoy McBride a lot, my husband has told me (many times) that the continuous background music always reminds him of our many visits to the Baltimore Aquarium… sort of a “floating in water” type of music. As for me, it doesn’t.
PS >>> This series is not available on Amazon or Netflix. I put it on my DVR queue of titles I wanted to get, and that’s how we were able to get all of the shows. Hallmark shows them every once in a while. (But, you’ll have to check, since we got a lot of Martina McBride appearances, also.)
For more Cozy viewing ideas, click on my Cozy Mystery TV & Movies page.
