ABC's Notorious premiered on Thursday night and it did not pull any punches. Within the first five minutes, characters found themselves in several compromising positions, a dressing room had an indoor barbecue (complete with a meat pun), and high-powered attorney Jake rolled up in a Porche, looking all slick and cool. So is Jake Gregorian from Notorious a real person? According to The Wrap, the new drama is based on the real-life relationship between former Larry King Live producer Wendy Walker and celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos.
Notorious stars Piper Perabo as news producer Julia George and Daniel Sunjata as Jake, so it seems that the show is directly drawing inspiration from the characters' real-life counterparts. In the premiere episode, Jake represents Oscar Keaton, an internet mogul who flees the scene of a hit-and-run car accident. In real life, Geragos is the principal attorney at the litigation firm Geragos & Geragos, according to the firm website, and some of their notable clients include Andy Dick, Nate Dogg, Michael Jackson, Usher, Scott Petersen, Nicole Ritchie, Winona Ryder, and many others.
Geragos, who is an executive producer on the series, even acknowledged that the show is based on his real experiences, tweeting, "Tune in tonight and watch life imitate art."
According to Deadline, during the ABC Television Critics Association tour, Walker said that Geragos is not only a skilled attorney to the ahem, notorious, but a media mastermind. “Mark is a master manipulator of the press,” she said, according to Deadline. Nobody does it better than he does. He really used our show to get sympathy for Scott [Peterson] … We did 210 OJ shows, and Peterson was the next best thing, as far as as story. I used him," she said before adding that Geragos “owned my show.”
Will Julia and Jake's relationship operate in a similar way? Keep tuning in Thursdays to find out.
Image: Eric McCandless/ABC
