In real life, Amy Brenneman's mother is a family court judge who lives and works in Hartford, Conn.
In her new show "Judging Amy," which premieres Sunday at 7 p.m. on Ch. 2, Brenneman plays a family court judge who lives and works in Hartford, Conn.It's not a coincidence.
"About three years ago, my mom had a big birthday," said Brenneman, who is also an executive producer of the series. "I won't tell you what it was, but I went around and made a videotape for her. And part of that was, I spent three days in Hartford court and kind of reacquainted myself with a lot of people that I had known growing up -- social workers and judges and probation officers. I hadn't done any TV for awhile, but I kept thinking, 'There's a TV show here.' "
She didn't actually do anything with the idea until about a year ago when she was eating dinner with her friend Connie Tavel, a television producer.
"I kind of mumbled under my breath, 'This might be a television show,' " Brenneman said. "(I) really did not have the vision or fortitude to have done it by myself. But Connie kept thinking, 'I think this is a good thing.' "
Tavel and Brenneman developed the idea for several months, and CBS programmers expressed an interest.
"We went to CBS, and they were very supportive, pretty much from right off, and really loved the idea of combining a really interesting work venue that people had seen before with the personal, so it's not one or the other," Brenneman said.
The network has made much of the fact that "Judging Amy" is "based on the real-life story of Brenneman's mother." But Brenneman herself seems to want to shy away from that at least a bit.
"My mother is a superior court judge who is in juvenile matters, like the character that I play," she said. "So in that way I am playing her job, although I probably have a very different style on the bench. But in the relationship of me to Maxine (the character's mother), I am very much me. So I'm not playing her. It's sort of a combo."
And her character, Amy Gray, has been distilled through a number of different filters.
"It was based on (my mother) and then, frankly, when (executive producer) Barbara (Hall) wrote the script it became something else," Brenneman said. "And then certainly when Tyne Daly came in it became something else. It has become its own thing." Daly (a multiple Emmy-winner for "Cagney & Lacey" and "Christie") plays Amy Gray's mother, Maxine, as a strong woman. She's tough, abrupt and outspoken.
The premise of "Judging Amy" has the title character leaving an unhappy marriage as well as a law practice in New York City to return to her hometown of Hartford with her young daughter. Amy moves in with her widowed mother, and she's appointed to the bench as a family court judge -- a position she discovers she's at least somewhat unprepared for.
"I think it operates on the principle that you never really finish growing up," Hall said. "And so, Amy at 35 has to go home to sort of finish growing up -- to learn some lessons she might have missed, which led her down what was clearly the wrong path for her. It's starting over for her. And just the notion that you continue to change throughout your life."
As for Maxine, she not only has an opinion about everything in Amy's personal life (as well as the lives of her two sons and daughter-in-law), but as a longtime social worker has an opinion about Amy's performance on the bench. It's a great role that fits the rather formidable Daly quite well. And the actress, who has won a best-actress Tony (for "Gypsy") to put alongside all those Emmys, doesn't feel like she's been relegated to a lesser stature by being cast as the main character's mother in the series.
"It feels absolutely age-appropriate to me to be playing this role," she said. "There's an element of relief to not be carrying the show or producing the show or having those kinds of headaches, which I leave to younger and smarter people."
Just don't tell her she's in a supporting role. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not a supporting actor -- and never will be," she said.
"Judging Amy" is worth watching just for Brenneman and Daly alone. But it also has real possibilities -- it is indeed a twist on the TV legal drama to see a judge forced to deal with the issues that come up in family court. The first episode finds Amy in conflict with a respected social worker over the future of a child, while at the same time dealing with her own 6-year-old, who just wants Mommy and Daddy to get back together again.
And the second episode, which airs in the series' regular time slot on Tuesday at 9 p.m., finds Amy dealing with a wide range of family court issues, from custodial interference to whether to allow a comatose baby who was abused by his parents to die. And she's dealing with her daughter's conflict with her first-grade teacher.
Maxine, meanwhile, discovers that she isn't all that happy in retirement.
The fact that the second episode of "Judging Amy" is better than the first is a very good sign indeed. (Far too many shows shoot their best shot in the pilot and it's all downhill from there.)
Is "Amy" great TV? Not yet, but it might headed in that direction.
As it stands now, this is a good show with lots of potential. It's worth keeping an eye on.