Note: This story contains spoilers from “Suits LA” Episode 1.
“Suits LA” made its NBC debut Sunday night, marking the celebrated cable franchise turned streaming hit show’s next chapter. Only this time, it’s on broadcast television.
Aaron Korsh, creator of the original “Suits” as well as spinoffs “Pearson” and “Suits LA,” knew that this new iteration not only had to surpass sky-high expectations from fans, it also faced adjusting its tone and storytelling approach for its new home at NBC.
“Broadcast is a different approach to making television. It definitely has some advantages in that you get a wider audience,” the showrunner told TheWrap. “The cons are that we can’t use the language that we used to use… We’re limited on the number of iconic ‘Suits’ goddamns we can have.”
Korsh said that, after some back and forth with standards and practices, he got to keep three goddamns for Episode 1 — “but if we had a ‘Jesus Christ’ then that counted as a goddamn.” But a win is a win for the Los Angeles-set spinoff series, which centers around Ted Black (Stephen Amell) and his team of lawyers mixing elements of entertainment and criminal law.
The first episode introduced a clash of titans between Ted and his longtime partner Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt) who, as a merger loomed with another firm run by Ted’s ex Samantha (Rachelle Goulding), decided leave Ted out of the deal and take most of the firm with him instead. That included Ted’s mentee Rick Dodsen (Bryan Greenberg), who surprised Ted by joining the other side after he rejected Rick’s request to be promoted to head of entertainment law.
But Ted was not left completely alone. Rick’s rival Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis) chose to stay loyal to her boss and landed the coveted promotion. Concurrently, Ted was haunted by a troubled past in New York, where he worked as a criminal prosecutor.
The chaos gave Korsh and the creative team the chance to push the boundaries even further, when in a moment of frustration Ted talked about his desire to bring down the “mother—” who betrayed him.
“The way the rules work is he has to stop himself, he cannot form the F with his mouth, even if you take the sound out,” Korsh said. “It’s a new set of rules.”
Though fans know “Suits LA” will welcome original series star Gabriel Macht to reprise his role as Harvey Specter sometime in Season 1, the pilot episode let the show stand on its own by keeping the focus on Ted and the Southern California lawyers in his orbit. But Korsh and team did sneak a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment alluding to the show’s connection to the overall “Suits” franchise.
Midway through the episode, Ted holds a meeting in his office at the firm. As the scene plays out, the background is blurred, hinting at the vast view of the city. But atop a table behind Ted’s desk sat a framed photo that was noticeably not blurred. We don’t get a close-up of the photo, but it does look like one featured on the “Suits LA” trailer, which shows Ted and Harvey together as Ted talks about how they were longtime friends back in New York.
“If you pay attention, you’ll see it, and if you don’t, you won’t,” Korsh said. “I was positive that if you put something like that in, fans are going to find it… they pour over this stuff.
“But now that they’ve been running the promos and actually holding the picture and showing it, I think fans are going to see it all the more,” he added.
Korsh wouldn’t share details on when Macht will begin his three episode recurring arc, but teased that Harvey is not the only original series character who will make an appearance for a crossover.
“I don’t want it to just be a parade of old ‘Suits’ stars. When we were in the original show you didn’t have people constantly flying out to California to go do things,” Korsh said. “We’re trying to be delicate about that.”
“Suits LA” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and airs the next day on Hulu.
