''First Monday'' is an American

legal drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...

television series which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

during the

midseason replacement In American network television scheduling, a mid-season replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between December and May. Mid-season replacements usually take place after a ...

from January 15 to May 3, 2002. The series centered on the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. Like another 2002 series, '' The Court'', it was inspired by the prominent role the Supreme Court played in settling the 2000 presidential election. However, public interest in the Supreme Court had receded by the time the two shows premiered, and neither was successful.

Premise

Created by '' JAG'' creator Donald P. Bellisario and Paul Levine, the show aired on

from January until May 2002. The name ''First Monday'' is a reference to the first Monday in October, which is when each Supreme Court term begins.

Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor best known for starring on CBS's ''Criminal Minds'' since 2007 as FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi. He has voiced the recurring role of mob boss Fat Tony on th ...

starred as moderate

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Joseph Novelli, who is appointed to a Supreme Court evenly divided between conservatives and liberals. The show examined how the

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

s and justices dealt with issues and cases that came before the highest court in the United States. ''First Monday'' generally dealt with two issues per episode. Earlier in the series, that tended to be two cases. Later in the series, that tended to be one case and one personal issue.

Characters

Main

* Justice Joseph Novelli (

), a newly appointed moderate

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

* Chief Justice Thomas Brankin (

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

), the football-obsessed, conservative

Chief Justice of the United States The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...

* Justice Henry Hoskins (

Charles Durning Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays.Schudel, Matt (December 26, 2012) "''In real life and on the screen, he played countless role ...

), Brankin's best friend and a conservative justice, who often spouted

limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

s during conversation * Miguel Mora ( Randy Vasquez), Novelli's conservative

* Ellie Pearson ( Hedy Burress), Novelli's liberal law clerk * Jerry Klein (

Christopher Wiehl Christopher Wiehl (born October 29, 1970) is an American actor. Life and career Wiehl was born in Yakima, Washington and is of Danish and German descent. His father, Dick Wiehl, was an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He ...

), Novelli's moderate law clerk * Julian Lodge ( Joe Flanigan), Brankin's law clerk

Other Supreme Court Justices

* Justice Esther Weisenberg ( Camille Saviola), a liberal justice * Justice Jerome Morris ( James McEachin), a liberal justice * Justice Michael Bancroft (

James Karen James Karen (born Jacob Karnofsky; November 28, 1923 – October 23, 2018) was an American character actor of Broadway, film and television. Karen is known for his roles in ''Poltergeist'', '' The China Syndrome'', ''Wall Street'', ''The Retur ...

), a liberal justice * Justice Deborah Szwark (

Gail Strickland Gail Strickland (born May 18, 1945)Maurice, Dick (July 27, 1975)"Celebrities on the Couch – Interview: Gail Strickland" ''The St. Tammany News-Banner''. p. 4. Retrieved February 27, 2025. is a retired American actress who had prominent s ...

), a conservative justice * Justice Theodore Snow ( Stephen Markle), a liberal justice * Justice Brian Chandler ( Lyman Ward), a conservative justice

Novelli's family

* Sarah Novelli (

Linda Purl Linda Purl (born September 2, 1955) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ashley Pfister (Fonzie's girlfriend) on ''Happy Days'' (she originally played Gloria as Richie’s date in season 2 episodes 1, 2, 6 and 7), Sheila Munroe in ...

), a real estate agent and Justice Joseph Novelli's wife * Andrew Novelli (Brandon Davis), Justice Joseph Novelli's son * Beth Novelli ( Rachel Grate), Justice Joseph Novelli's daughter

Others

* Charles Bierbauer (himself), host of ''Curveball'', a political

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

* Senator Edward Sheffield (

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he appeared in '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), '' ...

), a liberal

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

who plotted to get Novelli impeached. Following the show's cancellation, Sheffield became a recurring character on '' JAG''. The character later became the

Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

Episodes

Nomination

Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed many ...

was nominated for a 2002

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.

References

External links

* * {{Donald P. Bellisario 2002 American television series debuts 2002 American television series endings American English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Washington, D.C. 2000s American legal drama television series Television series created by Donald P. Bellisario CBS television dramas