It's the most amazing father and daughter team on screen since the Fonda's, and the magnetism, love and respect is there fit the gorgeous and intelligent Sydney Tamiia Poitier and her father, someone by the name of Sidney. Unlike Henry and Jane, they are not playing father and daughter, but teacher and student, with Sydney's character seeking Sidney's out for the proper education she didn't get in school. She comes from the Brooklyn projects and desperately wants to get away from the crime all around her, having witnessed the senseless murder of two of her coworkers and seeing the killer both in her nightmares and around town. As she begins to pick up the knowledge Sidney has presented with, she begins her path to success by becoming involved in the case of his ex-wife (Phyllicia Rashad, excellent as always), in prison for the murder of her abusive ex-husband.
There's also the very good Saundra McLain as Sydney's troubled mother, also involved with an abusive man but afraid to be alone and members of Sydney's former social circle who consider her desire for knowledge a betrayal. It certainly is a believable conflict as someone who seems to have no prospects begins to fight for her integrity rather than be kept down because of her upbringing. When she begins to realize she has to do something about the thug she witnessed kill someone, her ethics and courage are tested, as is everything she's gained. The teaming of the two Poitiers is top notch, one of the truly great social dramas of modern television.
There's also the very good Saundra McLain as Sydney's troubled mother, also involved with an abusive man but afraid to be alone and members of Sydney's former social circle who consider her desire for knowledge a betrayal. It certainly is a believable conflict as someone who seems to have no prospects begins to fight for her integrity rather than be kept down because of her upbringing. When she begins to realize she has to do something about the thug she witnessed kill someone, her ethics and courage are tested, as is everything she's gained. The teaming of the two Poitiers is top notch, one of the truly great social dramas of modern television.