# The Lyon's Den

The Lyon's Den is a 2003 American legal drama television series. Set in Washington, D.C., it stars Rob Lowe as a lawyer named Jack Turner, who has been newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harbored some dark secrets. The cast also included Matt Craven, Elizabeth Mitchell, Kyle Chandler, Frances Fisher, and David Krumholtz. Both the series' title and firm's name are allusions to the surname of Lowe, who also served as executive producer. Much of the plot is centered on the firm's internal politics and on Turner's attempts to uncover information on some of the firm's conspiracies while acting as the defense of its higher-profile clients in a different case each episode.
The series premiered on the American television network NBC on September 28, 2003, but although thirteen episodes were ordered and produced, only six aired before NBC cancelled the series on November 30, 2003, due to low ratings. When the UK's channel Five bought the United Kingdom terrestrial TV rights to the series in 2004, it aired all thirteen episodes. Rob Lowe has stated that after finding out about the show's cancellation he and the show's producers decided to make the last episodes —which they were contractually obligated to make— as absurd as possible, including an "off the wall" and freakish ending.

## Characters

Character descriptions courtesy of Entertainment Weekly and The Blade
* John "Jack" Turner (Rob Lowe), "the most principled lawyer" working for the corrupt firm Lyons, Lacrosse, and Levine longtime friend
* Grant Rashton (Kyle Chandler), one of "amoral lawyers"
* Brit Hanley (Frances Fisher), Rashton's "evil secretary"
* Ariel Saxon (Elizabeth Mitchell), a lawyer recovering from alcoholism, hired by her lover Rashton to "discredit Jack"
* Jeff Fineman (David Krumholtz), Ariel Saxon's paralegal, who is attracted to her
* Terrance Christianson (James Pickens Jr.), one of "amoral lawyers"
* Harlan M. Turner (Rip Torn), the Washington, D.C. senator and Jack's father

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code |
| 1 | "Pilot" | Rod Holcomb | Remi Aubuchon | September 28, 2003 (2003-09-28) | 1AHL79 |
| 2 | "The Other Side of Caution" | Daniel Sackheim | Story by : Remi Aubuchon Teleplay by : Jon Cowan, Robert Rovner & Remi Aubuchon | October 5, 2003 (2003-10-05) | 1AHL01 |
| 3 | "Things She Said" | Vincent Misiano | Kevin Falls | October 12, 2003 (2003-10-12) | 1AHL02 |
| 4 | "Hubris" | Paul Michael Glaser | Judith McCreary | October 19, 2003 (2003-10-19) | 1AHL03 |
| 5 | "Trick or Treat" | Jack Bender | Jon Cowan & Robert Rovner | October 26, 2003 (2003-10-26) | 1AHL04 |
| 6 | "Ex" | Jessica Yu | Karyn Usher | November 30, 2003 (2003-11-30) | 1AHL05 |
| 7 | "The Quantum Theory" | Elodie Keene | Alfredo Barrios Jr. | Unaired | 1AHL06 |
| 8 | "The Fifth" | Timothy Busfield | Kevin Falls | Unaired | 1AHL07 |
| 9 | "Separation Anxiety" | Paul Shapiro | Judith McCreary | Unaired | 1AHL08 |
| 10 | "Blood" | Daniel Sackheim | Jon Cowan & Robert Rovner | Unaired | 1AHL09 |
| 11 | "Beach House" | Peter O'Fallon | Katie Botel | Unaired | 1AHL10 |
| 12 | "Duty to Save" | Peter Levin | Brett Mahoney | Unaired | 1AHL11 |
| 13 | "Privileged" | Jack Bender | Alfredo Barrios Jr. & Karyn Usher | Unaired | 1AHL12 |

## Production
### Singer Jewel's casting

In his memoir, Love Life, Lowe stated that he lobbied for singer-actress Jewel to be cast as his love interest in the show after seeing her performance in Ang Lee's cult film Ride With The Devil. However, when she arrived on set there was no chemistry between the two and Jewel brought her then-boyfriend, rodeo star Ty Murray, to the set with her on the day the actors were to film a love scene. According to Lowe, Jewel appeared uncomfortable at having to kiss Lowe, and unsuccessfully asked if the scene could be removed.
Finally relenting by stating, "Let's just do this", Lowe said Jewel agreed to do the scene. Lowe stated: "But as we approached the kissing moment it became strained and it's never good when you can't trust that your fellow actor is on the same page... I pecked her on the lips; her mouth scrunched closed like you would do if someone was going to stick something unwanted into it, which I was not intending. I sort of moved my head from side to side to make it look real, like there was at least a dollop of energy or passion. 'Cut', said the director. Jewel looked at me and wiped the back of her hand across her lips like an American Sign Language version of 'Yuck'".
Jewel was one of the celebrities chosen to roast Rob Lowe in 2015. She joked that she had asked to write out the kiss with Lowe "because I knew where that mouth had been."

## Cancellation and improvised ending

Lowe said, in a May 9, 2014 appearance on the NPR radio gameshow Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, that he and the show's producers purposefully made all 13 episodes – which they were contractually obligated to make for possible DVD distribution – as absurd as possible. The last episode ended with Lowe's character, John Turner, being exposed as a serial killer and confronted by Grant Rushton (Kyle Chandler), whom he then kills with a hidden knife. After murdering Grant, Turner stands on the ledge of the law firm's building apparently intent on jumping, but he instead uses his cellphone to call an unrevealed person, only saying: "Yeah, there's been another accident" before the screen fades to black and the series end.