Restaurant review: This unofficial Four Courts canteen serves up tasty toasties with a side of prime people-watching
There's a reason why legal dramas are such a popular genre, why we consume reports of court cases, whether civil or criminal, so assiduously. I blame The Paper Chase for my own decision to go to law school, and I know for a fact that there's a whole generation of lawyers — both men and women — inspired by The Good Wife, hoping to meet their very own Will Gardner in among the dusty stacks. (I'm showing my age, nobody reads law reports in print any more, do they?)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- RTÉ News
From 30 Rock to Deadwood: 6 US TV classics to binge on RTÉ player
Just when you think you've watched everything, it might be time to go back and discover (or rediscover) some classic U.S. telly via RTÉ Player - but where to begin? Here are five of our favourites, currently available to binge in their entirety... 30 Rock Liz Lemon, head writer of the sketch-comedy show TGS with Tracy Jordan, must deal with an arrogant boss and a crazy star while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind... Tina Fey's whipsmart classic is often ranked among the greatest (and most eminently quotable) US sitcoms of all times, and rightfully so; her banter with co-star Alec Baldwin is for the ages - watch all seven seasons here. Deadwood People flee to Deadwood, South Dakota, with the dream of getting rich. However, not everyone can survive the chaos and lawlessness of the town... One of the cornerstones of the modern age of Peak TV, David Milch's western epic boasts one of the greatest anti-heroes of them all, Ian McShane's despicable (and eminently quoatable) Al Swearengen - watch all three seasons here. The West Wing Martin Sheen stars as U.S. President Jed Bartlett in Aaron Sorkin's seminal political drama, documenting the triumphs and travails of White House senior staff - 25 years on, it's a snapshot of a radically different era in U.S. politics, anchored by one of the great ensemble casts - watch all seven seasons here The Good Fight First came The Good Wife, then came this spin-off starring theincomparable Christine as Good Wife scene-stealer Diane Lockhart, a high-flying lawyer scammed out of her life savings and forced to start afresh... It's a choice legal drama, one unafraid to tackle the madness of modern American politics, with a knockout lineup of guest stars (including Matthew Perry's last great performance - watch all six seasons here Frasier One of the few TV spin-offs that holds its own against the original, Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) leaves the bar at Cheers and moves back to his hometown of Seattle, where he lives with his father (the late, great John Mahoney), works as a radio psychiatrist and blunders his way through an endless number of sublimely farcial scenarios - for a masterclass in comedy, watch all 11 seasons here Mad Men In 1960s New York City, an ad agency mixes cutthroat business and social ambition with glamorous allure... Often found vying for the top spot in lists of the Greatest TV Show Of All Time, this gives us another unforgettable anti-hero, Jon Hamm's inscrutable Don Draper, and totally lands the ending, to boot - watch all seven seasons here
The Irish Sun
01-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
Nepo baby daughter of huge US TV star mom and writer dad stuns in plunging top – can you guess her famous parents?
THIS is the daughter of a very famous Emmy Award winning actress. Her father was also a very famous playwright who starred in films with the likes of Advertisement 8 Lily Cowles is known for high profile roles in a huge sci-fi series Credit: Instagram 8 The actress stars as Isobel Evans in Roswell New Mexico 8 The actress regularly gives fans a behind the scenes look at her life on social media Credit: Instagram Lily Cowles, 37, is the daughter of She is best known for her role as Isobel Evans in The CW sci-fi drama, Roswell, New Mexico . The actress also voices the character Helen Park in the smash-hit game, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. But she's also very active on social media and she regularly posts either throwback images of her childhood, snaps with her mother or promotion for upcoming projects. Advertisement READ MORE ON HOLLYWOOD One post came in the form of a selfie in a plunging and sleeveless jumpsuit. The star held the camera up to make the most of her skinny figure as she gave a gazing look into the lens. Her mother is an internationally recognised actress, having starred in huge productions. She rose to fame playing the role of Maryann Thorpe in the hit nineties sitcom, Cybill. Advertisement Most read in Celebrity Live Blog Breaking Breaking Exclusive The actress went on to star as Diane Lockhart in the legal drama series The Good Wife where she later reprised the role in the spin-off called, The Good Fight. Christine, 73, is also known for her extensive film work as she starred in Chicago alongside the likes of Huge period drama with A-list cast returning to screens - and it's just days away She is also known for her role as Donna's friend and band-mate Tanya in the Mamma Mia film franchise alongside Other high-profile projects have included Into The Woods, Cruel Intentions, and The Big Bang Theory. Advertisement Most recently, fans could see her in the Lord Julian Fellowes penned period drama, The Gilded Age. She stars as the snobby and stubborn old money socialite Agnes van Rhijn, alongside the likes of Before he passed away in 2014, her father had a supporting role in Martin Scorsese's film Shutter Island alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. His first film came in the form of the 1969 comedy-drama, Me, Natalie alongside Al Pacino. Advertisement 8 Lily is the daughter of the late playwright Matthew Cowles and actress Christine Baranski Credit: Getty 8 She's also the daughter of A-list actress Christie Baranski Credit: Getty 8 She regularly appears alongside her mother at exclusive star-studded events Credit: Getty 8 Christine is famous for her role as Diane in the legal drama, The Good Wife and the spin-off, The Good Life Credit: CBS Advertisement 8 Her most recent project sees the actress play a snobby and stubborn old money American socialite in The Gilded Age Credit: HBO
Irish Times
01-06-2025
- Irish Times
When it comes to ‘howcatchems', Poker Face is the new Columbo. Respect
An unwritten rule in journalism states that you need at least three occurrences of an unexpected phenomenon to generate a 'What's up with that ?' feature. Having fruitlessly searched for a third, I am, however, forced to settle for just two examples of current TV shows revisiting Columbo 's 'howcatchem' structure. You see that in the excellent Poker Face. You also see it in the amiable Elsbeth. What's up with that? There is also welcome evidence here of a drift back to a wider convention of classic telly, but we'll get to that in a minute. Let me take a pencil from behind my ear and flick through a tattered notebook while puffing on a cheap cigar. Where was I, ma'am? Ah, yes. Not the whodunit, the howcatchem. More formally referred to as the inverted detective story, such entertainments begin by showing us the crime being committed before following the coppers as they work their way to the solution. [ Donald Clarke: The enduring appeal of the greatest TV show ever made Opens in new window ] Both the current examples go further in their homage to their durable 1970s inspiration. Like Peter Falk in Columbo, Natasha Lyonne , as the wandering savant Charlie Cale in Poker Face, and Carrie Preston, as the relocated attorney Elsbeth Tascioni in Elsbeth (a spin off from The Good Wife), spend large parts of each episode making inexhaustible nuisances of themselves to that week's chief suspect. READ MORE Peter Falk as Columbo. Photograph: FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty All three exhibit borderline-supernatural levels of perception. The moment they arrive on the scene, one tiny anomaly points them towards the perpetrator, and no amount of disingenuous evasion will distract them from their pursuit. The audience, rather than fretting over whether the butler did it, focuses attention on which apparently airtight element of the murder is set to spring a leak. Sometimes the murderer is strangely likable. They are almost always comfortably off and so in a position to look down their noses at Columbo/Cale/Tascioni. If you turned on your telly in a hotel room and encountered an episode of Dad's Army, Kojak or The Dukes of Hazzard it mattered not which 'season' it was from It is a perfect, easily replicable format, and nobody should be surprised – or irritated – that the makers of these new shows look to be paying it deserved tribute. The folk behind Poker Face have even gone so far as to imitate the graphics from Columbo in their own opening credits. Respect where respect is due. Something else is, however, worth noting in the popularity of these series. We are finally seeing kickback against the hitherto unstoppable move from TV in stand-alone episodes to continuous, season-long serials. Until relatively recently most sitcoms and cop shows offered you, each week, a self-contained story that reset before the end credits. There was, in the era of Columbo, occasionally some glacial progression. A new junior detective would turn up. We met his dog for the first time. Poker Face is a 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale. Photograph: Sky/Peacock. But, essentially, nothing of note changed in Columboworld between 1971 and 1978 (or, indeed, up to the close of the lesser revival in 2003). If you turned on your telly in a hotel room and encountered an episode of Dad's Army, Kojak or The Dukes of Hazzard it mattered not which 'season' (as nobody in Ireland then said) it was from. You would get one story arc that ultimately reversed any disruption to the established scenario. Harold never escaped his father in Steptoe and Son. Starsky and Hutch were forever in the same Ford Gran Torino. I was reminded how recently this changed when talking to Michael Cera , star of Arrested Development, two weeks ago in Cannes. One reason, he explained, the show did not catch on during its initial run, 20 years ago, was that the creators insisted on a continuing plot. 'If your friends said this show is funny and you watched episode six with no context, you really couldn't enjoy half of the humour or the story,' Cera told me. [ Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera on The Phoenician Scheme Opens in new window ] Arrested Development arrived a few short years before streaming changed everything. Now every episode was sitting neatly in the same virtual space. Episode one was always available if you wished to get stuck into the larger narrative. Cliffhanger endings abounded. The dealers (streamers) soon had the users (viewers) hooked on a near-endless supply of gear (telly). Yet decisions made for the current, second season of Poker Face confirm there is still a desire for mainstream TV in discrete packages. The first outings of both that show and Elsbeth did have superficial, peripheral season arcs about which nobody much cared. It seemed there was a law against making a show that didn't at least tip its hat to the serial aesthetic. Even that has now gone for Poker Face. Speaking to GQ, Rian Johnson, creator of the show, acknowledged that he wanted to get away from 'the superstructure' and 'get back to what the show is really supposed to be about, which is, each week, let's have a fun mystery.' He delivers on that. Watch the new episodes in whatever order you prefer. It's 1978 all over again. Poker Face and Elsbeth are available via Now TV
