How nice to have "FIRST MONDAY" on Friday at 9, and "THAT'S LIFE"
on Saturday at 9! Both on CBS!!! Two Positive Depictions!!! 

Not only does "FIRST MONDAY", project a positive image of an 
Italian American, as a newly appointed Supreme Court Justice,
Justice Novelli, (an American of Italian Ancestry), is portrayed by 
Joe Mantegna, (an Italian American) who has a distinguished Movie 
and TV Career. Doubly Sweet!!!! 

Justice Novelli in the first episode, that premiered just 3 days ago on  
Tuesday, Jan.15, is welcomed as the newest Justice on the Supreme Court.
 
FIRST MONDAY revolves around the U.S. Supreme Court's nine justices, whose 
momentous legal decisions that affect the nation,make history - and 
headlines. 

FIRST MONDAY stars Joe Mantegna as Associate Justice Joe Novelli, a new 
addition to the bench who will have a pivotal role in an evenly split court 
of four conservatives and four liberals. Also starring is Emmy Award winner 
James Garner ("The Rockford Files") as Chief Justice Thomas Brankin, a 
staunch conservative, and Charles Durning ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?") as 
Justice Henry Hoskins, one of Brankin's closest allies. 

Helping the justices are young law clerks whose heady responsibility is to 
review the 6,000 yearly appeals they receive and make their recommendations 
as to which have the legal merit to be heard before the Supreme Court.

Justice Novelli displays a winning combination of  "heart", "intellect", "wisdom",
"compassion", "values", "integrity", "independence", and "collegiality" 

"FIRST MONDAY" is brought to us by the creators of "JAG", (Judge Advocate 
General), that is consistently in the Top 20, and precedes "FIRST MONDAY" 
Executive Producer: Donald P. Bellisario 

The first episode, focused on a stay of execution for a teen ager, and was 
compelling. 
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TONITE EPISODE, involves "Age of Consent" 

Justice Novelli finds himself confronted by passionate arguments on both 
personal and professional fronts when the Supreme Court must decide if a 
16-year-old has the legal right to an abortion against her parent's wishes. 
Chief Justice Brankin and Justice Hoskins sense that Novelli may be an ally 
not only in this parental rights case, but on abortion in general, and lobby 
him hard for his support. Novelli's clerks, Ellie and Miguel, also become 
very competitive in presenting their opposing briefs to sway Novelli to their 
side. Meanwhile, Novelli's own role as a parent becomes an issue when his 
teenage son wants to assert his independence by spending a summer in Europe. 
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JOE MANTEGNA (Justice Joe Novelli)

Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Joe Mantegna began his acting career on 
Broadway. His theater credits include "Working," "Glengarry Glen Ross," for 
which he won a Tony Award, and "Speed the Plow." His Off-Broadway credits 
include, "Bleacher Bums," which he conceived and co-authored and which was 
subsequently produced for television 20 years ago and earned him an Emmy 
Award, "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suite" and "Cops." 

His feature film credits include "Compromising Positions," "The Money Pit," 
"Weeds," "House of Games," "Homicide," "Things Change," "Alice," "Celebrity," 
"The Godfather III," "Liberty Heights," "Bugsy," "Searching for Bobby 
Fischer," "Forget Paris," "Up Close and Personal," "Baby's Day Out," 
"Airheads," "Queens Logic," "Wait Until Spring," "Eye for an Eye," "The 
Runner" and "Thinner." 

Mantegna's television credits include the telefilms "Mario Puzo's The Last 
Don" and "Mario Puzo's The Last Don II," both for CBS, "State of Emergency," 
"A Call to Remember," "My Little Assassin," "The Water Engine," "Boy Meets 
Girl" and "The Rat Pack," for which he was nominated for both an Emmy Award 
and Golden Globe Award. 

Mantegna is also the narrator of the Academy Award-nominated documentaries 
"Crack U.S.A.: Country Under Siege" and "Death on the Job." 

Mantegna is a native of Chicago, but currently lives in Los Angeles with his 
family. 
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For more information see the CBS Web Site, 
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/first_monday/
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Manny Alfano of IAOV wisely suggests that we may also want to send 
Comments of Support.

Email your comments to: audsvcs@cbs.com, or 
http://cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.shtml

Telephone: (212)975-3166,or
Send Letters to:

Ray Faiola
Director of Audience Services
CBS-TV
524 West 57th Street
NY, NY 10019