Pop Culture Pick: Does Suits LA Fit?

Third time could be a charm... But is it?

Image Credit: NBC

Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, Suits spins off again. But does it work? Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social

Happy Thursday, everyone! I know this is unusual having Pop Culture Pick on a day other than Wednesday, but I needed to wait for an embargo to lift so I could properly talk about this subject.

And on that note, on with the column…

Suits stands as one of those odd, unexpected success stories. The original incarnation premiered on basic cable’s USA Network back in 2011, around the time of the channel’s “Blue Sky” era, which also brought us Royal Pains (HankMed hive represent!) and Psych, still one of my personal favourite shows.

It was enough of a success that it ran for nine seasons, cooking up New York legal dramas and a healthy dash of comedy (though the blend began to favour darker tones as USA transitioned into its Mr. Robot years), anchored by the entertaining mentor/mentee partnership of Gabriel Macht’s none-more-cocky lawyer Harvey “Goddamn!” Specter and photographic memory genius Mike Ross, played by Patrick J. Adams. Around them orbited various other characters –– Gina Torres as badass managing partner Jessica Pearson, ace executive assistant all-round expert Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty) oddball fellow lawyer Louis Litt (a tour-de-force comic performance from Rick Hoffman). Oh, and not forgetting Meghan Markle as paralegal Rachel Zane… Wonder what she’s up to these days?

Cut from the same cloth, spin-off Pearson followed Torres’ character as she tries her hand in the twisted fabric of Chicago politics. Despite its watchable lead performer, it never caught on and lasted for one 10-episode season.

While it never quite became a giant pop cultural landmark, Suits was big enough that Netflix snapped it up and began showing it in 2023. Which is when things really took off, and it began to dominate the streaming service’s watching figures (though those are still wreathed in arcane magic and if you really want to see the official details, they were placed in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’), even topping The Office, which saw a giant uptick during the pandemic. Suits managed that without everyone being stuck indoors.

It's easy enough to figure out why –– for all its legal wheeler-dealing, it’s a fun, sometimes, silly, but still captivating show.

And, of course, success breeds happy thoughts in corporate minds. Soon enough, there came two announcements –– one jumping on the bandwagon of celebrity re-watch podcasts by former members of the cast (in this case, the hugely entertaining Sidebar, hosted by Adams and Rafferty, whose infectious chemistry makes it an easy listen) and, of course word that another potential spin-off was in the works, this time one not directly featuring characters from the original.

Which brings me to Suits LA. For anyone who didn’t know a new Suits was being all sewn up (note to self: enough of the clothing puns), or might not have read the official logline for the new show, here it is…

The new series follows Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York, has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career.

Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while we slowly unravel the events that years ago led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.

And for all the Arrow fans who follow Amell’s career, no, at no point does he growl that someone has failed this city. But he does lower his voice occasionally when he’s mad.

I’ve had the chance to watch the first three episodes of the new show, and while I am getting a similar vibe, there’s still something nagging at me. Yes, the show has to be different; I don’t think anyone would be satisfied with a carbon copy of the original (short of the gargantuan odds of rounding the cast back up to simply make more episodes of that show, which given that it ends with much of the main cast having headed elsewhere, is also a big creative challenge) and kudos to creator Aaron Korsh for finding some other avenues to explore, in this case the wild waters of entertainment law in Los Angeles.

There’s also running strand of Ted’s backstory from the off. While Suits did enjoy a flashback from time to time, this layers in the idea of the characters’ history from the start, so Ted has a real past with fellow lawyer Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), and competitor Samantha (Rachelle Goulding).

And, as with the parent series, there are various other lawyers running around talking about briefs and filings and so forth. Ted even has a Donna equivalent, in the no-nonsense Roslyn, played by Azita Ghanizada. There’s no Mike (though Bryan Greenberg’s Rick Dodsen has some Ross-ian properties) and the closest person to a Louis so far (for the comic relief than any actual personality trait) is excitable young associate Leah (Alice Lee).

Lee’s casting also brings me to something that Suits: LA doesn’t really address all that much, even less so than the original. It’s still a very white show –– for all the characters of colour and different ethnicity, there isn’t even someone on the level of, say Jessica, who isn’t white. It’s led by two white dudes. That’s something that can be addressed, but might have to wait, since the original show made more moves later on, with the likes of Dulé Hill and Wendell Pierce.

Also missing to some degree? The Specter swagger. Gabriel Macht brought it (despite, according to his colleagues being nothing like the character), but Amell doesn’t always feel that comfortable in the role of a lawyer. Maybe he should break out the ol’ salmon ladder instead?

It all feels like Suits Lite, not quite form-fitting enough. LA lawyers would surely be dressed more fashionably than their Big Apple counterparts and so far there’s not been all that much use made of the city (which again, will no doubt change as the season continues, and let’s not forget that Suits OG was mostly confined to various offices and shot in Toronto for NYC anyway –– at least the new show actually films in the City of Angels).

The LA setting has also spurred celebrity cameos –– John Amos shows up as himself (though he died shortly after filming) and Brian Baumgartner appears as a version of himself desperate to break out into dramatic work. His storyline, for all its comic potential, doesn’t make as much sense as it might: he demands to meet with Tom Hanks to discuss how to win an Oscar, when he personally knows someone who has truly made the leap between comedy and drama (and back again)… wouldn’t he just call his old Office boss Steve Carell for advice?

I’m sure the new show will bed in, given a chance, but for now I’m waiting to be entirely convinced that the spin-off needed to exist. Still, if you enjoyed the original, this might work as more of an off-the-peg rather than a bespoke version of the show.

And at least the theme tune made the cross-country trip intact.

Suits LA starts airing on NBC in the US on Sunday. There is no official word on a UK home or date yet.