Petrocelli

Right now you can watch Petrocelli on streaming — and it holds up to as much attention as you give it. 2 seasons in, and the quality has not slipped. With 27 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Barry Newman leads a cast that never overplays its hand. Put it on tonight and see for yourself.

Petrocelli arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Petrocelli takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in the American Southwest. He and wife Maggie live in a trailer in the country while waiting for their new house to be built, and travel around in a beat-up old pickup truck. For a quiet rural area, Petrocelli seems to have no trouble running into his share of murderers to defend. Barry Newman and Albert Salmi lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It ran for 2 seasons (1974–1976), and the writing holds up across every one of them. What elevates Petrocelli is a refusal to let any character off the hook too easily. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Drama fans who appreciate slow-burn storytelling will feel right at home with Petrocelli. If you have already watched L.A. Law, Petrocelli is a natural next step. A contained run means every episode is doing real work. Barry Newman's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

Petrocelli wrapped up in 1976, created by Sidney J. Furie — and 2 seasons are available to watch from start to finish. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.