David E. Kelley is known for broadcast hits like “Ally McBeal,” “L.A. Law” and “The Practice,” but he’ll probably never return to the over-the-air medium that made him rich and famous.
During the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour panel Sunday for his new Amazon series “Goliath,” one media member asked the small-screen legend flat-out if he could ever see himself going back to broadcast.
“Don’t think so,” Kelley replied.
Why’s that? Well, he’s developed quite an affinity for this newfangled streaming model.
Queried earlier about a potentially different writing approach to bingeable TV, Kelley was more open in response than many. First, the future of television features “no such burden” to constantly catch viewers up on what they’ve missed, he explained. Plus, the lack of broadcast’s commercial breaks — which Kelley also used that b-word to describe — is likewise quite freeing to folks like himself.
“Emotional storytelling is the real victim,” he said of Federal Communications Commission-monitored TV. And Kelley’s just happy to have found what he called “a much freer and richer way to tell stories.”
His “Goliath,” which stars Billy-Bob Thorton and William Hurt, premieres October 14 on Amazon. Watch the teaser trailer above.