Boston Legal, ain't it ?

The Plot
This is a spin-off of the Hit legal drama series, the Practice. But boston legal has its focus more on civilian law and less on criminal law.

Ethically-challenged attorney Alan Shore, settles in at a wealthy and powerful firm focusing on civil cases. With some help from his friend and mentor, veteran attorney Denny Crane, Shore quickly makes his mark winning cases no one would take, often using less than honest methods. In doing so, he develops a rival in his colleague Brad Chase, who has been assigned to the office partly to keep an eye on the increasingly eccentric (and possibly senile) Denny Crane. Though his questionable conduct might make him a few enemies along the way, Alan's not one to be underestimated, nor will he let trivial things like honesty or integrity get in the way of winning a case.

Read the full review after the jump...

The Good
BOSTON LEGAL is one of the very few smart shows on TV that conveys a lot of important factual information through wonderfully told stories and does it with brilliant humor - all at the same time. David Kelley is a TV genius - no surprise to read he went to Princeton and Boston U Law School and that he was an attorney - in Boston. No wonder the whole thing seems so authentic. The guy who created the show actually knows what he's writing about.

There's a lot of garbage on television these days, such as the supposed reality shows. I admit, some of them are pretty good, but the majority of those shows are just a waste of our time. We don't even have to mention the soap operas. In all this grunge there is a bright spot, Boston legal, which is in my opinion, one of the best shows on T.V. The show expertly blends the intelligent wit of Alan Shore(James Spader) and the comical antics of Denny Crane(William Shatner). A lot of what you see on T.V. is just dumb humor, and I'm not opposed to that, but it's nice to have a smart show like this. Because this program is so good I rarely miss an episode, and if I do I feel empty unfulfilled for the entire week.

So what's the deal here? The DEAL, friend reader, is James Spader and William Shatner, their chemistry, their superb acting skills, the way they plug into and feed off of each other with increasingly effortless skill and almost revolutionary invention. There's ALWAYS something new to see, ALWAYS. And when you drop them into the slot with the lesser cast members, they get them going, too, pushing them into areas they might never have gone into otherwise.

I have never laughed so much and it is thanks to the actors and writers who pull off the material. Who ever came up with having a double act of William Shatner (Denny Crane) and James Spader (Alan Shore) hit gold and one of the main reasons I love the show so much is the interaction between them especially at the end of the episode when they are on the balcony, smoking cigars and drinking. The relationship at times can be very touching and I like the fact that these two heterosexual men love one another as it hasn't been shown on any other series. They are complete opposites in their views and yet they get on so well.

What I also like particularly about William Shatner's character is that he is not like the perfect lawyers you see on TV who says and does all the right things and is a goody-two shoes character. Crane is flawed because he doesn't always say the right things, he can sometimes look like he doesn't know what he is doing and his views can sometimes be racist, sexist or controversial to other people but he isn't an evil person, he just doesn't think before he speaks. He just believes in saying what's on his mind and not being bogged down with political correctness like most people.

The other characters help the show to be one of the best on Television. The cast includes Mark Valley (Brad Chase), Julie Bowen (Denise Bauer), Candice Bergen (Shirley Schmidt) and Rene Auberjonois (Paul Lewiston). Click here for the entire cast.

The writers are just brilliant, they come up with so many good one liners and they can go from humour to drama very easily but they are sensitive with the way they portray the subject matter.


The Bad
It starts out with, unquestionably, the cheesiest television score I've heard, it is just clowny and really really annoying. The whole quasi-documentary approach with hand-held cameras wracking focus out of nowhere, is beyond passé. When you believe the audience needs jerky camera movements to provide impetus in a series, that's a worrisome vote of no-contest from the executive office. Some of the cast, as well, is just bland window dressing. I speak primarily of Mark Valley, who lately, has made a much needed burlesque out of his woodenness, but before that was as much a doorstop as anything else. Nor do I like the women on the show. They're heavy-handed and unconvincing; for the most part, 60's soap opera actors. Candice Bergen doesn't seem to know what she's there for. They hand her character new situations, even a lurid past, and she marches through her scenes like a Victorian schoolmarm.

Additionally, there's the writing, which, if not continually top notch, is at least trippy and fascinating. But "Boston Legal" needs to be less of a sequel (to "The Practice", if you weren't aware) and more of a daring original. It needs some tightening, because once you remove the cheese factor (and sadly, it's probably too late for that, now), you've got something really brilliant and it needs to be better than the sum of it's parts.


The Point is : ( Rating | 8/10 )
A show about the law and lawyers is generally centered around words. This show is no exception, but what it does with words is the icing on and in the cake. It weaves a special kind of magic with its words, whether in the courtroom, the meeting room, the personal office, or any of the many unexpected locations the show may take the viewer. It also doesn't matter if the show is being funny or dramatic, whether it's a matter of law that's being discussed or an inter-firm affair. The writing of the show is excellent, spoken and demonstrated by relentless, exceptional, subtly (though not always) self-aware actors. The show's magic is to keep the viewer suspended in an area where people are both truly good and bad, where feelings are strong but can be turned upside down by a turning phrase, and where political incorrectness and even borderline misogynist (as one of many strange, perhaps "racy" issues) attitudes can win the day (even in a sexual harassment case). I for one look forward to the unexpected places this show can take us, the words that will be spoken, and the characters that will be speaking. Congrats to Spader, Shatner, the writers, and everyone else involved with the show.

For me, the height of the show are the conversations over whiskey and cigars between Denny Crane (Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader) where the pair trade philosophical observations over what has just happened, and are uncommonly revealing about their own quirky inner thoughts.

I don't always agree with the conclusions made by the show (it can be a little preachy at times), but this is one of the best written shows on TV. It has very smart dialog, usually has a dramatic theme, but is still willing to have fun and make fun of itself from time-to-time. It definitely makes me think and even better it makes me laugh!