Although on occassion cross has been done well (my cousin vinnie for instance, I can never recall chief (or direct exam as called by Yanks being done right). Any examples where it has been so done?
There may be something out there - maybe law and order managed to do it once. With a twenty-year run, the law of large numbers favors them doing everything right at least once. That being said - if a direct examination makes for exciting television, you’re almost certainly doing it wrong.
No, I have seen many actual situations where the examination in chief was much more interesting than the cross, especially where the chief consisted of getting the witness to tell their story and the cross consisted of counsel simply putting propositions to the witness which were promptly denied.
Found it! Bones, episode 21, season 5.