TV dramas do this thing now where they have dialog that is WAY too “writerly”: a writer comes up with a new turn of phrase with a novel insertion of the word “fuck,” and the characters all end up being too “clever.”

Ianucci may have pioneered it, Aaron Sorkin is for sure guilty, but it’s everywhere now. I didn’t watch Succession but I’m told it’s plagued with it, too.

As I watch “Presumed Innocent,” I keep bracing for dialog like this, but it never happens. I applaud the writers’ restraint.