Doubt (2017) User Reviews

Got better after hiatus...

[Bobonthecouch · 7/10 · 16 July 2017]

The first 2 episodes were so long ago I forgot what it was about but, I remember thinking it was an absurd show trying to infuse too many elements from other popular shows and, of course, historical events. I didn't think I'd keep following it. I watched the return and was pleasantly surprised. It's watchable now. Still, at a 7, just barely but if it continues to improve it could become something. Maybe too late. I think I saw it may have already been canceled. Much better now though, in it's second incarnation, than the original 4 I might have given it. The cast is mostly alright, but I've never really cared for Elliot Gould's acting. He seems like a really nice guy but, a one-trick pony... doddering, clueless, yet always with that omniscient grin... you're right E, there must be something you know that I don't.

Addendum: The way I rate shows... I don't usually review anything less than a 7 because 6 would be a failing grade and I won't waste my time watching it. I'm old; I don't know how much time I've got left. Since I probably turned it off before getting even halfway through, it wouldn't be fair to rate or review it. 7 is watchable but I may go a while between episodes since, though somewhat entertaining, there are other shows more interesting or compelling. 8 would be a regular in my lineup. 9 is a must see and probably bingeable. 10 is just the epitome of superbity and headed for my all-time favorites list. I'm adding this to my reviews because it seems there are a lot of binary reactions to pretty much everything these days. I am not a like/unlike kind of guy. I see a lot of grays so if I give something a 10 it doesn't mean the only alternative is a 1.

Don't understand the negativity.

[aussiebunny · 7/10 · 13 August 2017]

Honestly I found this show an easy watch the characters were easy to relate to and sometimes I think that's what you need after a long day at work. I don't understand the negativity I found it enjoyable not to much violence and gore could watch with my teens :). And love the fact they brought a transgender person into the show if any thing that gave us a bit of diversity.

The show has potential

[cathie454 · 7/10 · 15 February 2017]

While I like the cast, the writing needs some work. The first half of the show, the dialogue was forced; they were trying too hard to make it seem witty, partly funny, partly dramatic. The second half, the dialogue slowed down some, and improved. Also, I know they're trying to develop characters, but they are only giving snippets and need to put a little more information out, if for no other reason than to keep the audience interested. The characters played by Dule Hill and Eliot Gould need to be expanded, while Katherine Heigl's role could use either less dialogue, or better acting; it's hard to decide which. The minor roles of the assistants are annoying, and confusing. The story line was interesting, though the case with the mentally ill defendant seemed a little forced. I'm going to give it another week, to see what I think after another episode. Judith Light as the lawyer's mother was a nice surprise, and her acting was on-point, believable and compelling.

Good, but it could be better

[Todd1952-SF · 6/10 · 23 February 2017]

There's a lot about "Doubt" that I like, but some of it is just not done as well as it ought to be, as though who produce and write the show are either lazy and not committed to something that feels authentic, or they simply don't know any better. For one thing, I saw on the front of the courthouse where the state court cases are tried with district attorneys conducting the prosecution "United States Court House". Really? The last time I looked, only federal cases -- involving matters of federal law, with criminal trials being prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys -- were conducted in United States Court Houses. Each borough of New York City is regarded as a county for some purposes by the State of New York, and each borough has at least one state courthouse -- and New York calls that local court system "the Supreme Court of New York" (which, I admit, is a little confusing) -- the highest state court in New York state is the High Court of Appeals in Albany (which most states would call the Supreme Court of each state). But whatever you call the state court operating in and for any given county, they don't have their trials in a federal court house. So, right there, you know "Doubt" is fairly sloppy. I do like some of the actors -- I am a Katherine Heigl fan, and I think very highly of Dulé Hill. I'm impressed that Elliott Gould is in it. I also highly approve of the character "Cameron Wirth" an attorney who is openly presented as a woman who used to be man, and who is convincingly played by Laverne Cox, who is herself a transgendered actress. Where things get a bit silly for me is, for example, is that the liberal firm Roth & Associates supposedly has a policy that they will never allow their clients to present state's evidence to convict a criminal in exchange for immunity and enrollment in the witness protection program. A big deal was made out of the firm's policy and when Cameron Wirth recommended her client do just that, she was in fear of being fired. The head of the firm, Isaiah Roth, supposedly has that policy in place to prevent the firm from acquiring a reputation that it helps out the prosecution or some such bunk. So a client is expected to go to prison instead of turning state's evidence to convict someone who actually did commit a murder? I'm not buying that. I suppose my problem is I've been watching various iterations of "Law & Order" for too many years and I expect something closer to the way things are in real life, such as conducting criminal trials prosecuted by the D.A. in the state courthouse. Still, I plan on watch "Doubt" every week unless something better comes along in that same timeslot -- with the help of my DVR, I also watch "Chicago P.D." which is on at the same time. But, honestly, they could come closer to something believable and, I think, the scripts could be more convincing, too. I should mention that there are two characters I'd like to slap because they're so annoying. One is an associate attorney in the firm who is from Iowa -- she is totally neurotic and always pitching a fit about being from Iowa and all the problems that engenders. There is also a completely annoying secretary or "assistant" to Sadie Ellis (Katherine Heigl), and the assistant is so completely annoying so much of the time, no one could stand it. Sadie Ellis supposedly keeps her on because she's useful and good and comes up with great ideas that contribute to the defense strategies, but, honestly, no one that annoying could possibly justify her presence in that job.

Could not finish the pilot

[jsaus63304 · 3/10 · 17 February 2017]

I really like legal dramas and there have been a lot of good ones that I have watched over the years. This will not be one of them. The dialog did not seem at all natural and was very quick and choppy. It seemed that the characters were supposed to be acting cute, but came off as more childish. The soundtrack was poor and distracting. This is no Goodwife, Boston Legal, Suits etc. There are just too many better series on Netflix or Prime to wast your time on a show that this seems to be. If you can not grab me in the first half of a pilot, you lost your chance.

Great Show please bring it back

[cjgolding · 27 August 2017]

I just finished the first season of Doubt. I went online to see when it will start back up and am so disappointed that it won't be back. Unfortunately the Pilot wasn't the best representation of the show. But if you stick with it, you will become addicted. To bad for some reason summer TV shows do not always do that well. People are out more and there are not a lot of good shows I hope you will reconsider and air a 2nd season of Doubt.

canceled after two episodes

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 25 February 2017]

Sadie Ellis (Katherine Heigl) is a tough New York defense lawyer working for her mentor Isaiah Roth (Elliott Gould). He took care of her after failing to keep her mother Carolyn Rice (Judith Light) out of prison when she was two. Sadie is in love with her pediatric surgeon client Billy Brennan (Steven Pasquale) who is being prosecuted for the murder of his girlfriend 24 years ago. Albert Cobb (Dulé Hill) and Cameron Wirth (Laverne Cox) are fellow associate lawyers. Tiffany Simon (Dreama Walker) is a junior associate. Nick Brady (Kobi Libii) is the ex-con recent law graduate desperate to work for Roth. Lucy Alexander (Lauren Blumenfeld) is the bad assistant.

Wow! That was quick. I'm not saying this is a particularly good show. It has plenty of solid actors trying to get their footing. It seems to be straddling both serious and more quirky turns. It has the potential of figuring it out. The doubt about Brennan's guilt could be compelling. It's worth a look but it couldn't get a good audience. The main problem is probably Heigl.

She has had difficulties since leaving Grey's Anatomy. I don't think people like her. She is a try-hard Type-A personality woman and that rubs many the wrong way. I look back to her most successful role in Knocked Up which uses her persona to the movie's advantage. She may not like it but she needs a schlubby guy who both infuriates and be her better half. It's a terribly trope but one that works all too often. She has tried almost every other way and it hasn't worked. Maybe a villain would work.

***** addition *****

After finishing the final burn off episodes, the show improves markedly after some stumbles in the first few episodes. The clunky comedic attempts are fazed out. Billy Brennan's case could go more back and forth but it does end with a nice cliffhanger. Overall, the show finds its footing after its quick cancellation.

Not another lawyer show, please stop.

[garda-land20000 · 1/10 · 16 February 2017]

Do you remember the show "Fairly Legal"? Well because it had a good start than it went down the hill and got canceled.

Katherine Heigl is well known for her shows to tank really fast because let's face it she is not that good anymore, great performer at first in Dr. Gray until it became unbearable to watch to the point of cringe.

The first episode was a bore fest full with stereotypes, tries to be comedic but fails every time, the cast has no chemistry I understand the need of diversity, but when diversity is more important than chemistry between actors then you will not get any affection for them because it becomes a cringe fest just to watch.

Final conclusion: boring, no actors chemistry, Katherine Heigl cringe worthy performance, same lawyer oriented drama, lackluster in the creativity department.

Better than I expected

[dmerrill-537-56275 · 8/10 · 13 August 2017]

It's a shame this show was canceled. It's also a shame I did not discover this until after I finished watching the last episode. I see a lot of people didn't like the first few episodes. I think the chemistry on the show definitely improved as it went on. And let me say the cliffhangers they left us with at the end of episode 13 were stunning. I would really like to see where this goes. It did get a little over the top, though.

15 minutes into it and all is good

[michaeljtrubic · 7/10 · 17 February 2017]

It starts well. All of the characters are Likable.

All of them, even people on opposite sides of criminal cases.

Its nicely paced, easily understandable and not over dramatic.

I haven't seen many of these people in years, especially on my 4K television. They are shot in natural light in very high resolution. They have changed quite a bit.

That's OK - its honest.

Too much makeup would have been worse - they are not models or celebrities, our leading gal commutes on a bicycle so it adds realism and keeps our characters grounded.

Talented bunch of people behind the scenes. I just read their resumes, many years on long running popular series.

It shows.

I tried, but in the end I failed

[michaelrthomson · 3/10 · 11 March 2017]

Unlike many reviewers I kinda like Katherine H, sure, she isn't the worlds best actor but she's persistent and tenacious, she can act the part when the material supports her along with good direction.

This show just felt like a terrible mashup of ideas, political correctness and attempts to cover too many bases, is it a drama, a comedy, a vehicle for musicians, all of the above.

I personally am not a fan of Laverne's acting, I always find her a little bit wooden and false, sure she can deliver a line, but then so could most of us - she might tick the 'diversity' box, but come on people, if the script is meh, and the direction is meh, at least try to get people on-board who can act?

Katherine, well, we all know the story here, early success, much acclaim, then a slow but steady decline into C grade movies and TV shows that rarely get past 6 episodes, let alone a season 2. As I said, I don't mind Katherine, she's an OK actor and actually from what I've seen of her off the screen via media and social media, she seems to be a good human being also. It just feels a little bit to me as if she is sabotaged, either by herself or others (i can't decided which) in the choices she makes. As another reviewer has mentioned, perhaps she should try a different genre, maybe she would make a good villain, maybe the masses would appreciate seeing her as some sort of rampaging psycho?

Anyways, the show has been canceled after two episodes, which kind of says much about the entire thing, surely the lead actors cannot solely be to blame for that? There is perhaps little value in watching it if you didn't already, I watched the first episode but have simply deleted the second, I figured the writers won't have don't anything amazing with one more episode, and who needs another show that just stops at the point where you may be starting to like it/them?

It will be interesting to see what happens next, I'm hoping Leverne just finds something that suits her, because acting really isn't it in my opinion, and Katherine, well she needs a rethink as well.

Love This Show

[lynn_wagoner · 10/10 · 13 August 2017]

I really love this show and hate that it's been canceled! The further it got into the story lines, the more I liked it.

I watched the last episode earlier today and I'm bummed that it won't be back for a second season. So many cliffhangers!

I hope the producers, writers, directors and network executives will reconsider and give it another chance.

definitely worth watching

[bluecat-50927 · 7/10 · 8 July 2017]

"Guilt" is above average and has an outstanding cast. The writing is for above average intelligence so those that don't qualify will likely not enjoy the show and return to the mindless dribble they keep atop the ratings every week, i.e. reality TV. If you are familiar with "Law & Order" and "L A Law", its somewhere in between.

Over acting, too much music

[sherritoo · 2/10 · 15 February 2017]

A little too quirky. The music distracts and over powers the script. Is it about the script or load background music that doesn't add value? Some good actors but all the quirky chaos is unnecessary. Is this show a comedy or drama? Ditch the music please. Surely there are smarter people then the support staff portrayed.

I could not finish the first episode...

[CSchultz56 · 24 February 2017]

I really like a few of the actors in this series, specifically Dule Hill. But even my fandom does not help me with this show. The over acting, the predictability, the stereotypes, the choppiness, the damn music and lastly, most of the characters are just plain bad.

I made it thru the halfway point and shut it off for good. I then went in to my CBS All Access account and removed the show from my WatchList. I don't care what they do short of starting with a clean slate, I will not be back....

No wonder it was cancelled

[Evil_Herbivore · 3/10 · 23 July 2018]

I can't imagine there being a single person able to tell how many TV shows about lawyers have been made. It seems there is always a few of them on at any given moment. Some focus more on the courtroom, while others tell more personal stories of the lawyers. Most of them fall somewhere in the middle, combining court proceedings with private lives of the characters. Doubt is one of these series and, sadly, it is simply yet another legal drama.

My main issue with the series is that it is the same as any other mediocre show about lawyers. We see the same old boring cases and even when the show touches upon important issues such as racism, police violence or transphobia, it is done in the exact same way we've already seen on a million other shows. The main story arc might have been interesting if it wasn't totally predictible right down to the last plot twist in the show finale.

To make things worse, virtually all characters seem one-dimensional, like they have one characteristic that defines them. Sadie is brilliant, Nick is a reformed ex-con, Tiffany is full of energy, Billy is charming, Isaiah is anti-establishment, etc. It's really hard to find one fully fleshed out, complicated - and therefore believable - character. The fact that all the lawyers talk in wisecracks pretty much all the time makes them seem even more similar to one another and quickly becomes insufferable.

All in all, I'm not surprised that Doubt was cancelled so soon after its premiere. It's not the worst tv show ever, but it's just too bland and too similar to other legal dramas to be interesting. It just doesn't offer anything we haven't seen a thousand times already and at times it can be really annoying with the constant wisecracks and a good measure of overacting.

Plot less, male fantasy of women in the workplace

[cora-02731 · 1/10 · 16 February 2017]

I lasted 10 minutes then switched to re-runs of Big Bang. Soon as I realized that the plot was muddled and the producers clearly believed they could overcome that with low cut tops and high slit skits I was out of there. Is this really something they believed could compete with Netflix dramas or even re-runs of Big Bang Theory?! Pathetic.

I love Doubt!

[gwright-69314 · 10/10 · 24 July 2017]

I actually LOVE this show and am very disappointed it has been canceled!! I hope another network picks it up. I love law shows but do not like Bull at all.. and it's the #1 new drama.. are you kidding me?? I couldn't get past the first couple of episodes of Bull. Please reconsider bringing back Doubt.

Not bad, not great

[malena_farid · 5/10 · 28 July 2017]

I'm a fan of legal shows, but this one falls a little short. I definitely appreciate the diversity...it's what drew me to check it out. However, there are others that (I think) are much better written and executed (I.e. Suits). This show lacks the chemistry and not quite as witty as they try to be. But, to each his own. I dvr'd it and finally got around to watching after I, literally, had nothing else on my dvr to watch. I'll revisit if it lasts another season...

I loved this show

[lorraineewan · 10/10 · 15 June 2017]

I recently watched some of the canceled episodes and realize the reason it was canceled was because it touched on touchy subjects in the US. A strong female lawyer, another lawyer who is a trans woman and they show her struggles being accepted and opening up herself to a new relationship, corruption in the justice system that this firm exposes, the fact women get the raw end of the deal in rape cases even if they are telling the truth, and then get accused of smearing the man's name... I think that all the stuff touched in this series are great and they should really reconsider restarting this series again.

Not worth your time

[divadenton · 2/10 · 8 March 2017]

I love legal dramas but this soap opera style drama does not work. Katherine Heigl seems like a lovely person but has a tough time being taken seriously as an actress. She is not natural or easy. Dulé Hill is the best character in both episodes. I sincerely hope he finds another place to land because this show will not last. I had never heard of Laverne Cox, and now I know why - no acting ability at all and such an annoying character. I'm so disappointed because I was hoping this would be a fun new show to watch. The weird dating drama between lawyer and client is ridiculous and part of what makes the show such a flop. Concentrate on the cases and make it interesting.

Can't Believe "Doubt" was canceled!!!

[PalPam · 17 August 2017]

When I saw the first couple of episodes I thought this show would last for 10 years and be on a level with "Good Wife" and "Madam Secretary". I was shocked to see it canceled. If it's too hard to work with Katherine Heigl - if that's the reason - then bring in her 'sister' and keep the ensemble cast who is too good to lose. Some other network should pick this up.

Don't waste your time

[phineasboggs · 1/10 · 23 February 2017]

If only Heigl could act. Her timing is off, she's stiff and, for me unwatchable. She seems to only know how to try to be a sexy, wide-eyed vacuous little girl/kitten still trying to trade on "Izzy" She has no gravitas and is as unbelievable as a lawyer as she was unbelievable as a top-level CIA agent briefing the president. She always comes off as an airhead.

The rest of the cast is fine, some are excellent. But for me, Heigl kills the show

So sorry to see Doubt go.

[jcatz-12541 · 8/10 · 30 July 2017]

This funny and, yes, very quirky legal lightweight drama was a pleasure. So much better than so much we see today. A feel good series with fun and tongue in cheek humor and yet some very decent messages and moments. The characters are likable and fun and don't have to take themselves so seriously in order to be a pleasure to watch and fun to experience. Focus on the transgender community right now is so important and a light should be shown on its acceptance and should be targeted. I will miss this funny and pleasurable escape. A real shame.

Love this show

[kysama3-1 · 9/10 · 13 August 2017]

I really love this show... I feel it was judged too early. There are shows still airing that are senseless..violent.. too explicit...Yet this one got canceled before it even kicked off!! Just watched the final episode..I believe it had great potential..Bomb of an ending!! But now those of us who really got into it are literally and forever left HANGING I tried to post sad faces in my comments but this site wouldn't let me