History Series / RaisingTheBar

* HeyItsThatGuy: The main character looks an awful lot like [[SavedByTheBell Zack Morris]]... [[{{Angel}} Gunn]] and [[MalcolmInTheMiddle Malcolm's mom]] are also in evidence.

* {{Fanservice}}: Bobbi tends to wear very tight tops. Justified in that she's [[BuxomIsBetter got a lot to show off]].

* WorkingWithTheEx: [[spoiler: Jerry and Michelle]].

* TokenMinority: So far, J. August Richards is the only black permanent cast member. However, this may not count since a buttload of the Client Of The Week characters are black.

* ChekhovsGun: So far, averted. But Judge Farnsworth is known to pack heat, and we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Every time [[spoiler: Jerry and Bobbi]] look set to get together, something crops up to get in their way such as [[spoiler: her divorce, her ex's suicide]].

* DirtyCop: Fabricating evidence, lying to the jury, keeping Jerry from his client...Det. Porter is the epitome of one. As well as [[spoiler: Michelle's boyfriend]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Balco, most of the judges and a few of the clients. Gavin is the worst, though.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Kessler]] doesn't get punished nearly enough for rather blatant corruption in the last two episodes.

* {{Fanservice}}: Bobbi tends to wear very tight tops. Justified in that she's [[MostCommonSuperpower got a lot to show off]].

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* TooGoodToLast: Presented viewers with complex, morally-ambiguous cases that often had no resolution or unhappy ones. Presented the lawyers as flawed human beings desperately doing their best not to be overwhelmed by the system, judges as concerned more about politics than law and overall the show GrewTheBeard in the second season. When it was promptly cancelled.

* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Bobbi and her {{Jerkass}} ex-husband Gavin. Invoked by Bobbi herself, who calls her marriage a mistake.

* TokenMinority: So far, J. August Richards is the only black permanent cast member. However, this may not count since a buttload of the Client Of The Week characters are black.

** Radley, the ADA prosecuting against Bobbi is the biggest. Even Balco takes satisfaction in [[spoiler: Jerry punching him]].

* AmoralAttorney: Michelle stoops to some pretty low tactics to win including getting a key defence witness deported and not informing the defence about the death of a complainant and key witness before offering a deal.

* TheJudge: Kessler. Moves into HangingJudge territory quite often.

* TheJudge: Kessler. Moves into TheHangingJudge territory quite often.

* GrowingTheBeard: The second season, and the three-episode final season, are far superior to the first.

* MagnificentBastard: The [[IncrediblyLamePun jury's still out]] on Balco, but just watch him in the series finale. Dude played one hell of a game of XanatosSpeedChess.

* DatingCatwoman: Jerry and Michelle early in the first season.

The show provides examples of:

** Um, in this case, [[reality is unrealistic]]. In most states, getting a judge removed from the bench is almost insurmountably difficult, even in cases of flagrant and clear malfeasance. Judges in general tend to be known as quirky at best and tyrannical at worst.

*ChekovsGun: So far, averted. But Judge Farnsworth is known to pack heat, and we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The first season took a while to find its identity but wound up being largely about the antagonistic relationship between main character Jerry Kellerman (Mark-Paul Gosselar) and Judge Trudy Kessler (Jane Kaczmarek). The second season is giving the other characters more screen time and [[CharacterDevelopment development]], and moving away from the "This City Only Has One Judge" theme by adding two more characters in robes. With the first utterance of the word "bullshit" in the last episode, it's also looking much more like a Bochco series than it did in the first season, which managed, despite being on cable, to be tame compared to ''NYPDBlue''.