The lawyers couldn’t save themselves

Legal TV, a British television channel devoted to lawyers, canceled a reality show in which attorneys were asked to save the world from fictional disasters because it was “like watching paint dry,” a spokesman said Friday.

The 10 U.K. lawyers selected from 200 candidates were so “useless” that producers couldn’t air an episode, Legal TV spokesman Davy Bal said. The show was set in a luxury cottage where lawyers were asked to plan London’s rescue after catastrophic floods.

The problem wasn’t with the production or Legal TV, said Graham Gibbons, a Birmingham litigator who was among the 10 contestants chosen to participate in “Lawyers Save the World.” It was the crowd.

“There was too much talk about ‘Let’s clarify the brief here,’ and ‘Are we the right people to do this?’ ” Gibbons said. An argument erupted when one lawyer wanted to know why only London was being saved, turning the debate into a north-south divide, he said.

Legal TV, a 2-year-old channel based in Birmingham, is rethinking its entire broadcast strategy after it also canceled another reality show where cameras followed lawyers around companies. The three episodes were too boring to broadcast, said Stewart Lawley, a television producer.