5 TV Shows To Watch If You Like The Rainmaker

Legal dramas have provided us with some of television’s most intelligent lawyers of all time. This genre has given us excellent series like “Better Call Saul” and “How to Get Away With Murder. An adaptation of the popular John Grisham novel, USA’s “The Rainmaker” is also among these ranks. The series, starring Milo Callaghan as Rudy Baylor, premiered its second season on October 16th. While Season 2 will run until December, viewers are likely holding their own litigation over what other legal dramas to watch next.

After being fired from prestigious law firm Tinley Britt, the only firm that will hire Rudy is J. Lyman Stone, run by Bruiser Stone (Lana Parrilla). He finds himself fighting Tinley Britt in court over a malpractice lawsuit. Throughout his story, Rudy faces the reality of corporate greed and its predatory legal practices, while holding onto his own ethics and juggling his personal relationships.

If “The Rainmaker” satisfies your courtroom craving, and you just can’t wait until next Friday, here is a list of similar TV shows to check out.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Production on the fifth and final season of Netflix’s legal drama has wrapped, and fans are sure to miss the stories of lawyer-passenger Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Mickey is a criminal defense attorney who works from the back of his chauffeured Lincoln Navigator. When the first season started, he had been out of the game for over a year. He suffered a surfing accident that resulted in a painkiller addiction. He inherits the practice and client list of attorney Jerry Vincent (Paul Urcioli) after he is murdered.

Like “The Rainmaker,” “The Lincoln Lawyer” showcases the devotion both attorneys have to their families. In Season 4, after he is framed for murdering a client, he instructs his mother Elena (Angélica María) to take his daughter Hayley (Krista Warner) to Mexico to avoid the trial. In “The Rainmaker,” Rudy is deeply devoted to the memory of his late brother, who died in a car accident. His demise was even a focal point in his decision to help the grieving, shaping his ethical code as an attorney.

The Practice

Years before running the mob on “Law and Order: Organized Crime,” Dylan McDermott was running a firm on “The Practice.” The legal drama aired on ABC from 1997 to 2004 and centered on the attorneys at a Boston law firm run by Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott). It was conceived as a rebuttal to the glamorized portrayal of legal practice in “L.A. Law.”

Though Bobby’s firm is not as humble as Rudy’s (a former taco restaurant), both are underdogs going up against bigger, money-backed firms. Like “The Rainmaker,” “The Practice” features the complications from intermixing personal lives with work. One of Bobby’s eventual partners, Lindsay Dole (Kelli Williams), shares a secret relationship with him that blossoms into marriage and a child, but ends with a separation.

Rudy Baylor is not immune to these conflicts in “The Rainmaker.” This is especially true in Season 1, when he must face off against his current girlfriend Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman) in court. Sarah’s professional obligations counter Rudy’s ethical ideals in the courtroom, leading to tension and an eventual breakup.

Boston Legal

The five-season spin-off of “The Practice” featured Alan Shore (James Spader) leaving Bobby Donnell’s firm for the law office of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt. This bigger firm is headed by the famous Denny Crane (William Shatner), who struggles with cognitive decline throughout the series. While the tone of “Boston Legal” is a little more lighthearted than “The Rainmaker,” both shows feature compelling characterization. At the forefront are the relationships between the senior partners and associates.

Rudy’s superior, Bruiser Stone, is a brass and tough-as-nails lawyer who believes in effective practice over idealism. While this puts her in conflict with Rudy, she still acts as an effective mentor to him, encouraging unorthodox practices. This includes grilling witnesses through their own pet peeves and discomforts. In “Boston Legal,” Alan’s relationship with his mentor Denny is also a focal point. However, their dynamic extends into more personal grounds, which counteracts their opposing political beliefs and approaches when practicing law. Most episodes see them having a cigar and drink at the end, setting their differences aside.

Suits

Another popular legal drama from USA, “Suits” aired from 2011 to 2019. It focused on Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), who was expelled from college and had his admission to Harvard Law revoked as a result. Hotshot corporate attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) recruits him to work at his firm, all the while maintaining the secret that he never attended law school.

“Suits” carries the classic underdog against the system vibe that enriches “The Rainmaker.” Both series also portray their underdog as someone who doesn’t seem entirely qualified on the surface. In “The Rainmaker,” Bruiser Stone’s paralegal Deck Shifflet (P.J. Byrne) went to graduate law school, but failed the bar exam multiple times.

In “Suits,” Mike and Harvey grow close, and their mutual respect leads to Harvey going to great lengths to protect his secret. He even tries to blackmail a Harvard professor, Henry Gerard (Stephen Macht), to conceal the truth. In “The Rainmaker,” Bruiser’s loyalty to Rudy even leads to her clearing his name in a murder case that he tried to take the rap for.

Goliath

Before playing oil man Tommy Norris on “The Landman,” Billy Bob Thornton had a four-season stint as Billy McBride on Amazon’s “Goliath.” Once a prominent and successful courtroom litigator, McBride quit his own firm after a family gets slaughtered by a client he got acquitted. Now divorced, grappling with alcoholism, and wracked with guilt, he takes on a wrongful death suit that faces him against his former firm.

The series is another example of the “David and Goliath” (no pun intended) style of legal dramas. Seeking redemption, and at least partially motivated by emotional trauma, Billy McBride goes up against powerful people in the pursuit of justice. In “The Rainmaker,” Rudy’s motivation is less about redemption. Instead, the painful loss of his brother drives his ambition the same way Billy’s guilt is his drive.

Billy’s personal life, like Rudy’s, becomes increasingly complicated in their pursuits. At one point, Billy takes his daughter Denise (Diana Hopper) to her mother’s house and gets beaten by a corrupt cop. His assault, and subsequent arrest, prevents him from appearing in court, causing the judge to dismiss a case. Fans of “The Rainmaker” would be doing themselves a disservice by skipping this series.

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