MUMBAI: A female protagonist starts from scratch after her husband ditches her. This is the theme around which Hallmark's new series Family Law revolves. The show airs every Friday starting today at 8:30 pm.
 
 
Oscar nominee Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13 )plays Lynn Holt. She runs a law firm with her husband who one fine day decides to leave her. To make matters worse, he takes most of their clients with him. The icing on the cake is that she is left with an expensive lease, which her husband cleverly did not co-sign.

Quinlan is able to pull herself together after a struggle and, with her ambitious and level headed junior associate played by Julie Warner, starts to rebuild the practice. She also hires Christopher Macdonald despite his murky past as he is an excellent criminal attorney.

One wonders though whether the show will appeal to the male audience which constitutes a sizeable segment of the family that Hallmark targets.

The pilot aired at another of Hallmark's screenings yesterday seemed a touch cloying, a feeling one never experienced with other Hallmark shows like the Guardian. All the characters seem almost desperate to do the right thing in the face of unfortunate circumstances. Of course since we are talking about Hallmark, which pushes itself as a channel with emotions this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The acting is superb with Quinlan giving a performance that any single working mother with kids can easily identify with. Another positive for the show is that other programmes on Indian television with a lawyer's theme have done quite nicely for themselves. Hallmark will shortly commence the second season of The Guardian. The Practice and Law and Order have generated and sustained a reasonable level on interest on Star World.