Billy Bob Thornton finds his calling as ‘Goliath’ on small screen

You can live the majority of your professional life assuming you’re a movie star.

You can alternate between blockbusters and indies. You can even win an Oscar.

And then — Boom! — one day you wake up, and it turns out you were meant for TV all along, in the absolute best way possible.

Such is the case with Billy Bob Thornton, who’s following up his mesmerizing, Mephistophelean turn in the first season of FX’s “Fargo” by playing a down-and-out lawyer with something left to prove in Amazon’s “Goliath,” debuting Friday.

Billy McBride (Thornton) founded the law firm of Cooperman & McBride with his onetime friend, Donald Cooperman (William Hurt). But after a falling-out, Cooperman runs the multinational firm that raked in $2.1 billion in revenue the previous year while McBride works out of a budget motel in Santa Monica and the dive bar next door.

McBride’s days consist of looking after a stray dog, drinking and mishandling court-appointed cases in the San Fernando Valley. The latter is where he’s approached by Patty Solis-Papagian (Nina Arianda), a motormouthed, small-time attorney and part-time Realtor.

Two years ago, her friend’s brother, an employee of global weapons manufacturers Borns Technology, died under mysterious circumstances in a boat explosion. Patty’s just looking for a quick $30,000 settlement and needs McBride to get her in the door at Cooperman & McBride, whose biggest client just happens to be Borns Tech.

McBride wants nothing to do with her and her scheme until he meets, and sleeps with, Patty’s friend (Ever Carradine) and begins to see a larger conspiracy, not to mention a much larger settlement.

Created by David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “Boston Legal”) and Jonathan Shapiro, a former writer on “Boston Legal,” “Goliath” is full of Kelley’s typical contrivances, but at least they’re fun contrivances. And none of them rises to the level of Kathy Bates’ practicing law out of a rundown Cincinnati shoe store in his “Harry’s Law.”

High-class call girl Brittany Gold (Tania Raymonde) works as McBride’s reluctant legal secretary to work off her court-related debts. McBride’s ex-wife (Maria Bello) remains a senior partner at the firm, where her best friend (Molly Parker, “House of Cards”) attempts to destroy McBride and his litigation. There’s a stuttering second-year associate (Olivia Thirlby) to whom Cooperman takes a shine. And Cooperman himself is a reclusive burn victim who stays locked away in his office, monitoring his employees via cameras they may not know exist.

But for all its quirks, there’s nothing in “Goliath” that should cause you to take your eyes off Thornton for longer than is required to blink.

For a broken, beaten-down man, McBride still has plenty of swagger and attitude to burn. Approaching Brittany to use her legal secretarial skills, he runs off a potential client by introducing himself as Det. Stone Phallus. And when Patty threatens to beat the (excrement) out of him, McBride simply responds with a weary, “I’ve had the (excrement) beat outta me a lot of times. I just replenish with more (excrement).”

To get information he needs from the dead brother’s priest, McBride threatens to sue him, his church and depose his bishop. “As a matter of fact,” McBride tells the man of God, “I’ll track his girlfriend down and (sleep with) her if I have to. I saw her picture on Facebook. It’s not good. Please don’t make me (sleep with) the bishop’s girlfriend.”

Among McBride’s many flaws, speaking as a Kentucky fan, the biggest may be his devotion to his beloved Indiana University and its basketball team. That’s just unforgivable.

Still, when the dead man’s widow (Sarah Wynter), who lives in a great house along the canals of Venice, California, begins acting suspiciously, and McBride is subjected to just enough intimidation, he’ll struggle to regain some of the expertise that made him one of the country’s top trial lawyers until whatever led to his mysterious undoing.

It’s a great part for a great actor, and much like with his time on “Fargo,” the multiple episodes give Thornton plenty of time to burrow into McBride and make him feel lived in.

It’s something actors can really can do only on TV.

And, especially in this era of peak TV, there’s absolutely no shame in realizing you’ve spent the past few decades as a TV star in movie star’s clothing.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch.