Before he was a rumpled LAPD detective, Peter Falk played a rumpled New York City defense attorney experiencing how the other half of the criminal justice system worked. For one season only Peter Falk starred in The Trials Of O'Brien.He may have been a bit rumpled around the edges and wore suits he might have slept in to court, but Daniel J. O'Brien was pretty quick witted and thought fast on his feet. It wasn't gradual insinuation the way Lt.Columbo moves in on a suspect.O'Brien had his problems with an ex-wife and was always late with the alimony check. But somehow Joanna Barnes was patient. It kind of reminded me of that classic William Powell/Jean Arthur film The Ex- Mrs. Bradford. Great friends, but can't live together.Sad that The Trials Of O'Brien could not find an audience. Hopefully someone will package and market that one season of shows with some great guest stars in their salad days.

After CBS killed that wonderful show, Slattery's People, they replaced it with a very different high quality show, The Trials of O'Brien. Peter Falk played O'Brien, an flamboyant Shakespeare quoting defense attorney with a fondness for playing the pony's and a knack for solving crimes. Elaine Strich played his secretary, and the shows featured a cornucopia of great guest stars. Like Slattery's People , it was a rating flop that was well-liked by the critics and a handful of intelligent fans. Like Slattery's People, it molders in the CBS vaults, remembered only by a handful of aficionados. Amazingly, Peter Falk thinks it was better than Columbo. Unfortunately, we will probably never know. Wh, oh why, doesn't CBS turn copies of all its old shows over to UCLA or the Paley center, let alone release them on DVD?

This series was way ahead of its time, with a main character who was a divorced, cynical, slightly seedy lawyer, and was very rumpled -- a Columbo prototype. Peter Falk's charm was evident, and David Burns added a vaudeville touch. The plots were clever, although not memorable after forty years. But I thought it was terribly sophisticated at the time, and, yes, I can still hum the theme music. Even the cast was ahead of its time. In its one year, the guest cast featured the up-and-coming Frank Langella, Cloris Leachman, Faye Dunaway, Estelle Parsons, Britt Ekland, David Carradine, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, Alan Alda, Charles Grodin, Tony Roberts, and Brock Peters; and it was a veritable who's who of familiar faces like Vincent Gardenia, Murray Hamilton, Will Geer, Tammy Grimes, Norman Fell, Jack Albertson, Philip Bosco, Barnard Hughes, Angela Lansbury, Tony Musante, and Al Freeman Jr., among many others. Even the playwright Marc Connelly! I've never caught any reruns, but I would love to see some episodes again to see if it was as good as I thought it was. Doesn't anyone else remember The Trials of O'Brien?

I recall nothing else about this wonderful show except that the writing was SO good even as a teenager I could tell it was special. The only actor who registered with me was the superb Peter Falk. Now that I see that Joanna Barnes and Elaine Stritch were regulars it gives me even more desire to see those old shows again. I remember I was a fan of the show from the very first episode and was sorry no one else was noticing it.