Legal drama All Rise Takes a stand by keeping it real
Fans of the legal drama All Rise who are desperate for its two lead characters to get together romantically might be in for a very long wait. From the get-go, when it first aired in 2019, the show proved to be something of a rarity in having two lead characters — Simone Missick’s Judge Lola Carmichael and Wilson Bethel’s lawyer Mark Callan — who had a platonic friendship, with not a hint of sexual tension. But that didn’t stop the so-called “shippers” (super-fans who advocate for their favourite characters to hook up, a la Mulder and Scully in The X-Files) from making their wishes known. “I think that would be the very definition of jumping the shark,” says Bethel with a laugh, via Zoom call from LA. “We’ll wait until season 17 for that.”
Missick points out such a step would change the nature of the show, given Carmichael’s character was happily married in the first season, and is now a new mother in the second season. “There are so many things that would have to transpire,” she says. “Lola’s husband would have to die in a tragic accident, people (would be) getting offed every other episode just so they could get together.”
Missick says both she and Bethel (who were already friends) were adamant that though both characters sometimes clash in court, they could represent the millions of men and woman around the world who have platonic friendships and professional relationships.
“We didn’t want to play that game we always see with network television — that ‘will they, won’t they, did they, didn’t they?’,” she says. “It was very important to our show creator who has lots of friendships with women who he is not romantically and has never been romantically involved with.”
Like countless other productions, All Rise was affected by the pandemic and the associated shutdowns. The first season’s final episode was delayed when COVID first hit and became an all-virtual affair filmed via Zoom, WebEx and Facetime. Production and airing of the second season also had to overcome various challenges, including a clash between show-runner Greg Spottiswood and some of the writers.
But in keeping with the spirit of the drama, which aims to be as contemporary as possible, the pandemic itself was written into the stories, with masks in courtrooms and other COVIDsafe measures and issues shown. “This is our life – and this also the life of the lawyers and the judges working in LA right now and again our show is trying to reflect some version of that reality,” Bethel says.
Missick, who became TV’s first black, female superhero in Netflix’s Luke Cage and the first African-American to lead a series on US network CBS with All Rise, says she hopes the show will continue to expand the conversation on some of the issues in the US criminal justice system, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think with all of the things this time is bringing — the stress and anxiety, the racial and social tension, the tension that comes from work — all of those things are explored in a way that shows our audiences these people are human beings going through the same experiences some of you are going through.”
All Rise, Fox One, Tuesday, 9pm and On Demand
HOME appliances group Breville has surprised its investors by holding back some of the cash flooding into its coffers from a surge in consumer spending during the pandemic.
It has decided to slash its dividend to 13c a share, down from 20.5c, as it directs earnings to new growth opportunities.
Breville shares rose 2.75 per cent to $31.35 after trading as low as $28.65 earlier in the day.
Breville recorded a 29.2 per cent rise in half-year net profit to $64.2m, as consumers filled up kitchens and new home offices with cooking equipment, juicers and coffee machines.
Revenue for the period increased 28.8 per cent to $711m.
Chief executive Jim Clayton said it was a good half. Breville expects earnings before interest and tax for the full year to be approximately $136m, an increase from the guidance provided in November of $128m to $132m.
In the Americas, revenue rose 29.1 per cent to $314.9m, in Europe, Middle East and Africa revenue rose 56.1 per cent to $145.3m and in the Asia Pacific revenue lifted 49.7 per cent to $132.8m.