All Rise is an American legal drama television series created by Greg Spottiswood that premiered on CBS on September 23, 2019, as a Monday night entry in the 2019–20 television season. In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second season.
Premise
Follows the cases and personal lives of judges, prosecutors, and public defenders in a Los Angeles courthouse.
Cast
Main
Simone Missick as Judge Lola Carmichael, an idealistic former prosecutor and newly appointed Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
J. Alex Brinson as Deputy Sheriff Luke Watkins, a four-year veteran bailiff who plans to leave the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and become a lawyer upon law school graduation and is now a clerk in the DA's office alongside Sam Powell.
Ruthie Ann Miles as Sherri Kansky, an experienced judge's assistant assigned to new Judge Lola Carmichael despite their difficult relationship.
Lindsay Mendez as Sara Castillo, a court reporter and friend of Emily Lopez.
Marg Helgenberger as Judge Lisa Benner, a veteran/supervisory judge in the HOJ who is a mentor to Lola Carmichael.
Recurring
Reggie Lee as Head DDA Thomas Choi, Mark's boss.
Nadia Gray as Ria, Mark's ex girlfriend who is a model.
Mitch Silpa as DDA Clayton Berger, a hard-charging prosecutor who clashes with Lola.
Lindsey Gort as Amy Quinn, a high-powered criminal defense attorney who shares a complicated history with Mark and who also later becomes Mark's girlfriend. Amy leaves her law firm to join Rachel's law firm.
Tony Denison as Vic Callan, Mark's father and a small-time bookie who gives Mark a hard time.
Paul McCrane as Judge Jonas Laski, a conservative judge known as the "Punisher".
Suzanne Cryer as DDA Maggie Palmer, an old colleague of Lola's and current DDA who accuses her of bias towards defendants.
Todd Williams as Robin Taylor, Lola's husband who works for the FBI.
Joe Williamson as Kevin Harris, a LAPD detective and romantic interest for Sherri.
Audrey Corsa as Samantha Powell, a clerk for the LA County DA's office who works with Mark and Luke.
Peter MacNicol as Judge Albert Campbell, one of Lola's colleagues.
Ryan Michelle Bathe as Rachel Audubon, a rare powerhouse attorney who can handle both civil litigation and criminal law and who has known Lola since they were in Howard University together and has been best friends with Mark since they were in law school together. She goes to Los Angeles to start her own law firm known as Audubon and Associates.
Jere Burns as Adam Pryce, an overtheatrical attorney to several Hollywood stars.
Ever Carradine as Felice Bell, Lola's old nemesis from her days as a district attorney.
Brenda Strong as Jean Rubenstein-Frost, Judge Benner's lawyer ex-girlfriend.
Dorian Missick as DJ Tailwind Turner
Episodes
Production
Development
On January 31, 2019, it was announced that CBS had given the production, then titled Courthouse, a pilot order. The pilot was written by Greg Spottiswood, who also executive produced. Production companies involved with the pilot included Warner Bros. Television. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that CBS had given the production, now titled All Rise, a series order. A day after that, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019 and air on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. A trailer for the series was released on May 15. The series debuted on September 23, 2019. On October 22, 2019, the series received a full season order. On December 5, Dee Harris-Lawrence was announced to be replacing Sunil Nayar as a co-showrunner; she will be working alongside series developer Greg Spottiswood, who will not depart. On April 6, 2020, it was announced that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an all-virtual episode will be produced about how the characters on the show handle the case using social distancing. The episode will be filmed in all the actors' homes using FaceTime, WebEx, and Zoom, but use visual effects to replace the inside of their homes with that of their characters' homes. On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed the series for a second season.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 56% approval rating with an average rating of 5.98/10, based on 16 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "While All Rise can't quite rise above the shows it aspires to be, it shows potential for future growth while providing a decent showcase for Simone Missick." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ratings
Throughout its first eight episodes, All Rise was the highest-rated freshman program of the 2019-20 television season. The series averaged 7 million viewers a week, in Nielsen's Live-plus-three day viewership.
