For the last year and a half, Daniel and Peter Thomas have spent a great deal of time immersed in the fictional world of "Queens Supreme," CBSs new series about a group of headstrong judges in the Queens County Courthouse.
Occasionally, however, reality intrudes.
Last Friday at Peters law office on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, his colleague, Peter Gordon, interrupted an interview with The Queens Courier to seek legal advice from the brothers.
"Sorry guys, Ive got a real life situation I have to talk to you about," he said.
After a brief exchange in legalese, Gordon left the office, and a wry grin formed on Peters face.
"Hes actually working on something juicy, a $150 million anti-trust case. It might be good for the show."
If they do use the case, it would be just one of dozens of such stories taken from the life experiences of the 35-year-old, fraternal twins from Neponsit, Rockaway that are serving as fodder for "Queens Supreme."
The Thomas brothers are the supervising producers / technical consultants for the television program, taking advantage of the knowledge acquired from their respective legal careers to advance a courtroom program that mixes compelling drama with a surprising twist of humor.
"Any case we work on could easily be a bit, a runner or a story within each episode," said Daniel.
For instance, Peter recently had a client who fell from a faulty ladder and sued his landlord.
When the lawsuit went before a judge and jury, only then did Peter learn the nature of the relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff the landlord was the tenants mother.
"Her legal argument was, My sons an idiot. He should have known the ladder was broken," said Peter, who eventually convinced the jury that the plaintiff had a legal right to sue his mother, the landlord. The story is the basis for a future episode of "Queens Supreme," but with an added twist. After the jury rules in the sons favor, the shows main characters learn that the mother and son are working together to coordinate an elaborate scam.
The Thomas brothers heard even stranger stories while growing up on Beach 145th Street in Rockaway. Their father, the Honorable Charles Thomas, served a seven-year stint as a judge at the New York City Civil Court in Queens before moving up to the Supreme Court in 1989.
"Just like most families," said Daniel, "wed sit around the dinner table at night and ask each other, Howd your day go?"
Unlike other families, however, the dinner table conversation often revolved around the unusual personalities in Judge Thomass courtroom and the Queens court system.
"He would tell us stories about the hierarchy in the courts, about how colleagues would let their individual color and nature dictate their judicial manner," said Daniel.
The politics of the system were a popular topic. How do judges, supposedly apolitical, function in an overtly political world? On one occasion, an assistant district attorney slammed Judge Thomas in the media after the judge sided with a defendant against the DAs office, which had supposedly made a deal with the defendant and was then reneging on it.
"We would always say never seriously these stories would be great for a TV show or a movie."
Then Daniel married Elaine Goldsmith, now a producer and partner at Revolution Studios and a former representative for Julia Roberts, among other Hollywood stars. That union would bring the idea for a television show a step closer to reality.
During a party at Daniel and Elaines apartment in the spring of 2000, Justice Thomas brought up some of the his old "war stories" while speaking to Leora Rosenberg, an agent for script writer Kevin Fox who would later become the creator of "Queens Supreme."
"We took Kevin on a field trip to one of the Queens courthouses, and he saw the characters that my dad was talking about," said Daniel.
Fox wrote a pilot script and, along with the Thomas brothers and Elaine, organized a presentation for the June 2001 "pitch season" in the world of network television, when executives hear thousands of proposals for new programs.
Over the course of an intense, three-day period, the group went before executives at a number of studios and discussed the potential behind "Queens Supreme."
Almost 1,500 ideas were pitched to the major networks during that brief period, and "Queens Supreme" was one of about eight to ten that made it to the pilot stage.
"We didnt hear anything for a long time," said Peter. "They really kept us in suspense."
In January 2002, CBS agreed to fund a pilot episode of "Queens Supreme," and the Thomases and the growing team involved with the venture immediately began a search for a star-studded cast, a daunting task.
"You have a bunch of people in New York and a bunch in Los Angeles, and they all have to agree," said Daniel. "They have to be interested and available."
The shows main actors did not audition for their parts, gaining roles on "Queens Supreme" by the weight of their names and experience.
But a lot of compromise was still necessary. Oliver Platts character, the belligerent yet brilliant Judge Jack Moran, was originally a much older character, loosely based on Justice Thomas himself. But Fox and his team of script writers changed Moran to accommodate the younger Platt.
After CBS gave the pilot high marks, the Queens Supreme team received the green light to film an entire series of 12 episodes. The filming began in August and lasted until the middle of December.
Fox and his writers had been working on scripts for the episodes for months before, but the writing and constant rewriting continued throughout the filming process.
Peter and Daniel would review the scripts and give notes on the legal accuracy of many of the story lines, which originated with both the Thomases and the writers.
"We advocated keeping it closer to reality, since reality is often chock full of drama," said Daniel. "But we also had to learn to let artistic license play a major role in interpreting our stories."
Also, at least one of the brothers was always on set, serving as a technical consultant at the courthouses in Long Island City and Jamaica, and the Silvercup East Studios. They would advise the actors on how lawyers or judges might behave in certain situations, and they helped the crew create an authentic courtroom.
And they both managed to keep their respective legal practices functioning throughout the months of filming.
"Neither of us had any free time," said Daniel. "It was like working two full-time jobs."
Both had their laptops and cell-phones on hand, so they could tend to genuine legal issues when reality intruded in the world of television. Peter and Daniel would meticulously organize their schedules, enabling them to juggle real court time with Silvercup court time.
The first episode of "Queens Supreme" premiered on CBS last Friday night at 10 p.m., and it was not without its fair share of drama, as an enraged juror took Judge Morans courtroom hostage after seizing a court officers gun.
"Now," said Dan, "were at a point where we are completely spectators."
And the pair are taking advantage of the respite from the high pressure world of television. During the holidays, they enjoyed a needed break back at their Rockaway home, a candlelight dinner with Judge Thomas and their mother, Liliane Thomas, during the massive Christmas blackout.
Since the beginning of the new year, they have been gradually getting back into the everyday routine. But both Daniel and Peter are continuously blurring the lines between reality and the television set, watching for any new cases that might work for a potential second season of "Queens Supreme."
