PASADENA, Calif. - Kathy Bates always will be known for inflicting a particular brand of Misery.
"I'll never be able to duck the sledgehammer jokes," said Bates, recalling the unforgettable scene in the 1990 film Misery when she breaks the ankles of a bedridden character played by James Caan with a sledgehammer.
"That's the one I get most often. So I don't think (Annie, her character in Misery) really compares to Harry at all."
Harry is Bates' character in the new TV series Harry's Law, which debuts Monday, Jan. 17 on NBC and Citytv.
"What I love about Harry is that even though she's a card-carrying curmudgeon, she's kind of the most normal character I've ever played," Bates said.
"She hasn't got any particular afflictions or anything. She's not psychotic. She's kind of an unglamorous, rumpled, befuddled curmudgeon. I just love playing her."
Created by David E. Kelley (Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope), Harry's Law is a legal dramedy starring the Academy Award-winning Bates as Harriet (Harry) Korn.
"I understand the role originally was written for a man and at one point they changed the name to Harriet," Bates said. "And I said, 'No, no, no, you can't change it to Harriet, it has to be Harry, it still has to be that.'
"I wanted it still to be this woman who's very forceful and eccentric and loveable at the same time."
Harry gets fired from her job as a patent lawyer in Cincinnati basically because she grows so bored with it. Then after a series of chance events, Harry concludes that opening up her own legal firm and venturing into trial law is her destined path.
"In my private life I'm probably as curmudgeonly as Harry, and I share her disillusionment at times with this crazy business I've had a career in for so many years," Bates said.
"Her upfront honesty with people, and the fact that she doesn't suffer fools gladly, all those elements are similar to me in tone. Sometimes I think David has been doing background research on me because I'll read a new script and say, 'How does he know that?' "
The 62-year-old Bates said at her age, playing a role that's closer to her own personality is more appealing that it was when she was younger.
"I worked with Marcello Mastroianni many years ago and he said as a young man you want to pile on the masks and play a lot of different characters," Bates recalled. "But as you get older you want to remove those masks and play closer to your own self.
"I found that to be true, especially in this case."
Bates' enthusiasm notwithstanding, there is substantial awkwardness in the first episode of Harry's Law.
The setup is way too fast, zooming through Harry's professional transition.
We hope every criminal Harry encounters doesn't have a heart of gold, as is the unconvincing case in the pilot.
And regardless of your political leanings, all the small-l liberal pontificating is quite irritating.
Much of Harry's Law is based upon you finding Bates unceasingly cute and quirky and interesting. The question is, do you?
No court would convict you if you said no.
But then Bates might come after you with a sledgehammer. Your call.
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