What Might've Been: The Storefront Lawyers (1970)

While ABC had The Young Lawyers, CBS turned to producer Leonard Freeman (Hawaii Five-0) for something similar.

The Storefront Lawyers strung out 13 episodes from mid-September to early January before being taken back to the shop and rebooted as Men at Law for another 10 episodes. Robert Foxworth fronted both iterations. Gerald S. O'Loughlin, better known for his later work on The Rookies, played a DA on Storefront, then joined the firm on Men at Law. Don't ask.

So why did both shows about lawyers with little experience fail? I don't know, but I'd think that both networks were looking for something that wasn't quite along the lines of The New Lawyers, a component of NBC's Bold Ones, which had experienced attorneys embodied by the likes of Burl Ives & Joseph Campanella.

Following is a trailer, culled from CBS' 1970 Fall Preview, and contains footage from the first episode, with guests Edward Andrews and Dean Jagger. Dick Tufeld is the narrator.



I wish I could find the complete Fall Preview for CBS' 1970 slate, since Tufeld and Danny Dark alternated as narrators.

No rating.