D&D goes Prime Time

The new legal dramedy, Fairly Legal, has geek spin on it enough to make even the most SciFi/Fantasy obsessed of us cock our heads and say, “Did she really say D&D?” Yes! I will keep watching this show. . .or in Chad's case begin watching it. Here's the basic idea: Kate was a lawyer who is surrounded by other lawyers. She stops practicing to be a mediator in her father's firm with her dad & stepmother (whose appears to be a year or to older than her). Her dad has just died at the beginning of the show and she is recently separated from her husband who is an ADA. But the character I like best and who is featured basically as Kate's sidekick is her assistant, Leo. Leo is an excellent representation of your every day professional gaming geek! Aside from being the Wizard of all things for Kate's professional life (even though the ringer that identifies his calls is the cowardly lion), he is a D&D gamer, a Buffy watcher, clearly a ScFi/Fantasy buff and by episode three clearly shows a preference to Apple products (which Chad & I won't hold against the writers...we like us some Macbooks too, but put Linux on it!).

In the pilot episode we discover that as a Buffy fan Leo has a watch inscribed by Sara Michelle Geller, one of only three. Which Kate destroys in a mediation not realizing its value. Luckily Kate realizes the value of Leo as an assistant and friend and plans to replace it. Kate also pleads with Leo to seek help from his D&D buddies over at the Police Department & DMV. Mid episode we find Leo calling in favors to such buddies in D&D geek speak. “Beware the one who whispers in the night and the stokes the fire that never dies & walks the endless circle.” “What filthy creature dares calls by day?” Which leads me to believe that the character is heavy into the entire world of RPG and D&D as a whole. Wicked cool IMHO. Also, Leo has to trade in three of his plains walker, magic cards, in order to get Kate the information she needs to complete a mediation the way she wants. Quite a tall order for one side kick, extremely cool geek assistant.

I guess the best part about Leo, is that he doesn't bitch and wine about these favors that he calls in for his favorite super hero mediating boss lady. A lot of the geek stereo type we might think of when we might even imagine ourselves & our characters in the campaigns we play are power hording, Pokemon card hording geeks that can't possibly give anything up to help our fellow man, unless we get something out of it. It's just nice to see geeks D&D and gaming on the whole put in such a positive light.

In other primetime hilarity D&D was featured on the sitcom Community as well. I don't watch that as much, but Shelly Mazzanoble reports that it was friggin awesome and takes D&D into the realm of all things cool.