Cupertino Premiere: Two Fired Workers Take On a Tech Giant

Watch it. TVLine's recap of the Cupertino premiere makes a strong case for the new CBS legal drama from Robert and Michelle King, the team behind The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Evil. The series starts with two firings and a fight that seems unwinnable.

The episode, "Michael & Olivia," introduces Michael Price (Mike Colter), senior counsel at the tech company S-Talk, and Olivia Siffre (Rachel Keller), a recent law school graduate. Both lose their jobs on the same day.

TVLine reports Olivia tells Michael she overheard S-Talk's bigwigs plotting to cut him out before the company takes off. Her own firing came after she rejected a founder's advances and a nude photo. Michael wants to sue, but no firm in the area will take the case. Lawyers in Silicon Valley, one counselor tells him, make money by getting a piece of startups, not by suing people.

Michael finds Olivia with help from his former assistant, Christy (Ella Stiller). He suggests two lawsuits: wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Olivia refuses at first, worried about her private, morally conservative family. Then she watches the founder show off S-Talk's AI assistant, Daisy, which speaks in Olivia's voice and can get bawdy once parental controls are off. She changes her mind.

They work out of an IHOP. S-Talk countersues for $18 million. In court, Michael's case is thrown out, but he gets a new hearing by pointing out that the judge has financial ties to S-Talk. Christy joins them as a fixer and finds an office with a polished lobby and no finished rooms behind it.

Michael's father, Bayard (Joe Morton), shows up and throws him off. A lucrative job offer comes with an NDA and a condition that Michael drop Olivia's case. Olivia plays her last card, flashing the founder the nude photo he sent her. He pushes for a settlement. Price, Siffre & Associates gets paid, and S-Talk's investors get scared off.

"Welcome to Price & Siffre," Michael says. "Who's out to get you?"

A scratched-up man arrives at the office asking for a lawyer, and that's where the premiere leaves them. Michael wants the firm to serve people the tech world exploits. The setup is classic King, and the episode earns its watch.

• CBS
• Cupertino
• legal drama
• Mike Colter
• Rachel Keller
• Robert and Michelle King