I remember this series for a bit of a quirky reason. I was a law student (SMU in Dallas) and entered in the Fall of 1983, the same year Showtime picked this up and ran it. Because of that timing, "Hart" and gang were progressing through law school at the same time as me and my classmates, so we would get together after episodes and critique! I liked the show and it was fairly reflective of law school reality and life. (Not to pick nits, but one area was pretty far off - the law review "office." I wasn't on law review, but certainly friends were and the show portrayed it as like a major metropolitan daily newspaper! It was the opposite end of that spectrum, in reality! The law reviews come out about 3 times a year and students spend their time in the library "cite checking" not running into the law review offices to "beat the presses"! But I digress . . .) I do think the movie was certainly more powerful, and I pull that out about once every 3 or 4 years, but the images bring back some not too pleasant memories! Anyway, I would like to get a copy of the complete series somewhere, but can only find the first two seasons online. Any suggestions??

As I'm writing this, I have seen only about 8 episodes of the first season. It seems a bit quaint to me. Some of the episodes have predictable plots in a law school setting. Hart seems to find a new girlfriend every episode - I don't want to see his energy with the ladies, I want to see it with Kingsfield. One episode, in which a female student takes a Supreme Court justice (Alan Napier, better known as Alfred on "Batman") to task for never hiring a female law clerk, seems really bizarre in that there are actually people spending more than a nanosecond defending his discriminatory practice - is this really controversial? The man is a Neanderthal! There's also this recurring theme of Hart as the Good Guy who rides his white horse to bail everybody out. One time it's a married student whose wife (Kim Cantrall, later of Sex And The City) doesn't understand the demands of law school, another time a neurotic study group member who feels picked on because his photo on Kingsfield's seating chart is unflattering.I think what troubled me is that I was looking for more continuing plot themes from episode to episode. Characters and themes pop up and are disposed of in an hour. Law school is vastly more complex than that, and The Paper Chase should be also. When you have 10 or 20 hours available, you should be able to build more intensity, conflict, and drama than they could in the original 2-hour movie. But I "feel" Hart as more a happy-go-lucky nice guy than the scared yet driven 1L Timothy Bottoms played.I do recall though, from when I saw many of the episodes when they were on Showtime in the 80's, that it gets better later on. If and when I get to see more recent episodes, I'll update this review or write a new one.

I am amazed today at how much I loved this show as a kid. You would think that a fourteen year old boy in the 80's wouldn't give this show a single look, but for some reason it captivated me and I never missed an episode when it aired on "Showtime" from 83 to 86. Today I am still intrigued by this delightfully series. James Stephens, Tom Fitzsimmons, James Keane and the rest of the cast are first rate in their depictions of Law Students at a fictional School. But its John Houseman, as the crusty old stone faced and methodically monotone Professor Kingsfield, that steals the show. He delivered his lines and movements with surgical precision. Almost to the point where you forgot he was acting. I mean it felt so genuine! It took a truly talented actor of Houseman's caliber to pull off this character. Here was a man that proved that not only that "less is more", but when done right, "less" is more powerful. Kudos to this show and especially to the late great John Houseman.

Please put this out on DVD or some odd cable channel in repeats. This is one of the few shows that outdoes the movie version and where even a with second broadcast chance on Showtime, there was no loss in quality either. I'm tired of HBO always getting the raves as having the best original series. This qualifies, as it received new castings each year and yet maintained quality throughout. I loved it so much I tried following the cast members who moved on to other TV shows, movies, etc.. The show even intermixed some humor and parody into basically a serious drama, for example; the episode "My Dinner with Kingsfield" or the "Moot Court" episode to name a few. I've had to keep my beta VCR working since I kept them on tape all this time. Easily the best thing ever put out on Showtime and probably in the top 10 on broadcast TV too.