Billable Hours
Channel: ABC2
Day and time*: Thursday, 10.30 p.m.
(*as at September 2009)
It's comedy hour
The law gets a pretty
easy ride in TV land. From The Paper Chase, through LA Law,
Ally McBeal, Boston Legal and even Damages,
it all looks very glamorous, exciting and rewarding. The reality, as with
many things, is very different. It's that sometimes harsh - and often
funny - reality that drives the Canadian series Billable Hours.
In case you
don't know, a "billable hour" is the block of time on which
law firms assess the success of the lawyers they employ. More hours generally
equals success; while fewer hours results in questions being asked. It's
probably a bit of a misleading title actually, because we rarely see any
of the lawyers doing any work... but that's a secondary consideration.
Billable Hours makes for great entertainment because it channels
the drudgery of the workaday life into some very witty and occasionally
hilarious television.
The setting is a big city (Toronto) law firm called Fagen & Harrison,
where Sam Caponelli (Fab Filippo), Clark Caxton III (Brandon Firla) and
Robin Howland (Jennifer Baxter) are wage slaves in the corporate law section.
Their days are filled with the kind of interminable minutia that can only
destroy the soul. They've come to realise that there's more to life, but
in the straitjacket world of Fagen & Harrison there's not a lot of
outlets; so they channel it into all manner of office pranks and petty
politics. As you might imagine, that makes for some funny moments.
The episode titles give an insight into the kind of show it's going to
be: 'The Parking Space'; 'The Jedi Mind-Trick'; 'The Foosball'. It's a
kind of Seinfeld for professionals. The writing is witty, intelligent
and seems to carry at least a grain of truth about life in a big legal
firm.
The no-name cast (at least outside Canada) seem perfectly
at ease with the material. The whole thing flows extremely well and the
intersection between the individual episodes and the broader backstory
is handled well.
Although it's taken a while to get here (the show began in 2006), but
this has enough quality to make it a great late-night alternative. I expressed
some (pleasant) surprise when the ABC decided to screen United States
of Tara, so I guess shouldn't be any great shock that Billable
Hours has turned up on its sister channel ABC2.
This is exactly the kind of thing that digital channels should be used for, and more strength to the ABC for taking a chance on this show. So if you're one of those night-owls who like a bit of late-night comedy - or you know how to program your recorder - give this a try.
Phil James
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