Boston Legal is an American
legal drama-
comedy
(
dramedy) created by
David E. Kelley, which originally ran on
ABC from October 3, 2004 to
December 8, 2008. A
spin-off of
the long-running series
The
Practice, Boston Legal followed the personal and
professional exploits of a group of attorneys working at the law
firm of
Crane, Poole &
Schmidt. In its five-year run, it was nominated for 25
Emmy Awards, winning five times.
Production details
Before the
show's premiere, it had a working title of Fleet Street,
an allusion to the real street in Boston
where the fictitious Crane, Poole & Schmidt had
its offices. The working title was later modified to
The
Practice: Fleet Street, but this title was dropped in favor of
Boston Legal before the show premiered.
The real building
shown as the law office is located at 500 Boylston
Street
, 12 minutes away from Fleet Street.
The American producers of the series also hired British writer
Sir John Mortimer (creator of the UK
legal series
Rumpole of the
Bailey) as a consultant for
Boston Legal.
Premise: The Practice
Most of the final episodes of
The
Practice were focused on introducing the new characters of
Crane, Poole & Schmidt in preparation for
Boston
Legal's launch. Thus, the story of
Boston Legal can
be said to begin with the episode of
The Practice in which
Eugene Young and Jimmy Berluti of Young, Frutt & Berluti
decided to fire
Alan Shore without
consulting Ellenor Frutt, beginning a
story
arc of several episodes. They give Alan a
severance package of only fifteen thousand
dollars, even though Alan has brought in over nine million dollars
of revenue to the firm.
Tara Wilson gets fired for her loyalty to
Alan, and Alan goes to Crane, Poole & Schmidt to represent him
in the matter, thinking he has a claim under Massachusetts
law to take over Young, Frutt & Berluti.
Denny Crane, senior and founding partner
of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, takes an interest, helping develop
the 'case'; even arguing at the resulting trial, cross-examining
Young. During this period, Ellenor also has a run-in with Hannah
Rose (
Rebecca De Mornay), a
partner at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, whom Ellenor ends up
seriously injuring when they fight over Hannah's condescending
remarks to Ellenor. The character of Hannah Rose was dropped prior
to the
Boston Legal pilot's being filmed.
The jury awards Alan the millions of dollars of revenue he brought
in to Young, Frutt & Berluti but does not order the firm to
rehire him, so Denny hires Alan at his firm. After Young is
appointed a judge, his first case (in the final episode of
The
Practice) happens to be with Alan for the defense, making
Young wonder if Alan judge-shopped (this opened the door for
Steve Harris to guest-star on
Boston Legal as a judge, although in the end no starring
Practice characters made any guest appearances on
Boston Legal), though many actors and actresses who
guest-starred in
The Practice have contributed to
Boston Legal, taking on roles of a different character.
Examples include Rene Auberjonois, John Larroquette and Christian
Clemenson. One interesting fact is that
Anthony Heald, who guest-starred in both
shows, took on the characters of Judge Harvey Cooper in
Boston
Legal and of Judge Wallace Cooper in
The Practice,
although both are considered the same character.
Boston Legal
The pilot was originally produced with
James Spader,
Lake
Bell,
Mark Valley,
Rhona Mitra and
William Shatner playing the main characters,
with an expanded storyline featuring
Larry Miller as Edwin Poole, and with
John Michael Higgins as senior
partner Jerry Austin.
Monica Potter
was later cast as junior partner
Lori
Colson. After completing several episodes, the producers felt
the show needed grounding, and
Rene
Auberjonois was cast as senior partner
Paul Lewiston, effectively replacing John
Michael Higgins. Despite this, Higgins's character still appeared
in the first two episodes. The pilot premiered on
ABC on October 3, 2004,
following the series premiere of
Desperate Housewives.
On November 30, 2004, it was announced that
Candice Bergen would join the cast as senior
partner
Shirley Schmidt. The
producers had been looking to introduce the character since the
fall. Lake Bell and Executive Producer Jeff Rake subsequently left
the series, while Rene Auberjonois was made a main cast
member.
The announcement that
Boston Legal would be renewed for a
second season was made on April 5, 2005. The final five episodes of
the first season were initially pre-empted for several weeks (until
April 24, 2005) in order to expose mid-season series
Grey's Anatomy to a larger audience
behind
Desperate Housewives.
Grey's Anatomy,
however, was highly successful in the timeslot, and
Boston
Legal was pre-empted until the autumn of 2005, where it would
take over
NYPD Blue's Tuesday
timeslot for an extended season of twenty-seven episodes. Both
Rhona Mitra and
Monica Potter departed the series over the
hiatus, while
Julie Bowen was cast as
Denise Bauer.
Ryan Michelle Bathe and
Justin Mentell were later cast as junior
associates
Sara Holt and
Garrett Wells. A new writing staff headed by
Janet Leahy took over as of episode four
of the second season.
The second episode of Season 3 introduced
Craig Bierko as
Jeffrey
Coho and
Constance Zimmer as
Claire Simms. In episode 3x11
Gary Anthony Williams was added to the
main cast as
Clarence Bell, a role he
had played twice earlier in the season. Also introduced in this
episode was
Nia Long as Vanessa Walker, in
a guest role that lasted 3 episodes. In the 15th episode of the
third season, Craig Bierko left the show.
On June 4, 2007,
TV Guide
announced that
Rene Auberjonois,
Julie Bowen,
Mark
Valley, and
Constance Zimmer
would not return for the fourth season. On June 13, 2007, it was
reported that actor
John
Larroquette would join the cast as a senior partner transferred
from the New York offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt (Note:
Larroquette previously appeared on
BL's forerunner
The
Practice as another character, a hyper-intelligent man on
trial for killing his gay lover; this role earned Larroquette an
Emmy Award.); and actress
Tara Summers would be joining as a young
associate. Also,
Christian
Clemenson, who appeared occasionally as
Jerry Espenson, a brilliant but socially
inept lawyer, would be upgraded to contract player. The possibility
was left open that Rene Auberjonois, Mark Valley, Julie Bowen, and
Constance Zimmer could return in guest roles. On July 2, 2007, it
was reported that both Rene Auberjonois and Mark Valley would
return in recurring roles; furthermore, it was announced that
Taraji P. Henson would join the cast later in the
fourth season, with
Saffron Burrows
appearing in a recurring role. It was subsequently reported that
Burrows would become a full-time cast member.
On July 19, 2007,
Boston Legal was nominated for six
Emmy awards, including
Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series (
James
Spader), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (
William Shatner), and its first nomination
for Best Drama Series. On September 14, 2007, James Spader won the
Emmy for his role as the lead character in the show, whilst
nominations were lost for William Shatner and Christian Clemenson
in their roles for Supporting and Guest Actors, respectively. Also,
the show itself lost as Best Drama Series to
The Sopranos.
On May 13, 2008, ABC announced that
Boston Legal would
return for a fifth (and final) season in the fall. Saffron Burrows
did not return as a series regular, having joined the cast of
My Own Worst
Enemy. The final season consisted of 13 episodes to bring
it over the "100" episode mark, setting it up for a successful
syndication run. There was speculation that
Boston Legal
might receive an additional episode-order if the show had another
strong showing in the
Emmy Awards and
produced solid ratings in its new fall time slot. The season began
airing on September 22, 2008.
On June 18 and June 20, 2008, it was reported that Gary Anthony
Williams and Taraji P. Henson would not return for the fifth season
as Clarence Bell and Whitney Rome, respectively.
On July 17, 2008,
Boston Legal was nominated for a
series-high seven Emmy nominations, including for Best Drama Series
for a second year in a row. Spader, Bergen, and Shatner were also
nominated for their respective roles.
Boston Legal began airing in reruns on
ION Television in September 2008;
additionally, in most markets, episodes began airing in off-network
syndication on the weekend of September 28-29, 2008.
Boston Legal's two-hour-long series finale aired on
Monday, December 8, 2008, at 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central. The
finale saw the firm sold to new Chinese interests because of Crane,
Poole & Schmidt's poor financial position. The new owners were
not accepted by Shirley Schmidt, Carl Sack, or Jerry Espenson, who
voted against the acquisition along with three other partners.
Denny Crane insulted the new owners by shooting them with a
paintball gun. The acrimony engendered by the name partners'
actions led the Chinese to begin plans for downsizing and replacing
the litigation division of the firm. It was announced that all of
the show's leading characters would be fired as of January 1, 2009.
This led to a typically eloquent, but ultimately ill-received,
showdown on the part of Alan Shore, wherein he turned the tables on
the new owners, attempting to preemptively fire them. Though his
argument was not taken in the light he'd intended, it did prompt an
offer from the Chinese owners to rehire all the cast members,
though Shirley mused that they would likely be let go over a longer
period of time. Also, Denny's earlier actions led to his name being
removed from the firm, whose name was changed to "Chang, Poole
& Schmidt."
In an interview with the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on
December 7, 2008, David E. Kelley said that it was in fact ABC's
decision to end
Boston Legal. He also stated that
executives did not want to commit to a fifth season, so he had to
fight to bring it back for a short season of 13 episodes.
Breaking the fourth wall
In several instances, characters would
break the fourth wall by showing that
they are aware of their status as characters in a television show.
It was usually done in such a way that the viewer could perceive
the character as referring only jokingly to said status. A
recurring gag was when Denny was making a heart-to-heart
sympathetic speech to someone. When Alan was in the same room, he
would hold cue cards up in a way that Denny could read them.
Season 1
- In "An Eye
for an Eye," a frustrated Alan Shore states that "I want to be
on cable. That's where all the best work is being done." Later in
the season, in "A Greater Good," Paul Lewiston threatens Alan Shore
by saying "If you attempt to undermine our case in any way, your
employment will be terminated", to which Alan replies sarcastically
"In that event I will go to cable".
Season 2
- In "Schadenfreude",
Alan finds Denny on the balcony where they typically have their
cigars at the episode's end. Denny asks, "Is the show over
already?"
- In "Finding
Nimmo", Alan remarks, after a particularly nonsensical comment
made by Denny, "All reality, none of it's scripted."
- In "A Whiff
and a Prayer", Denny remarks, "I always wanted to go out with
my pride. Failing that, at least my old time slot."
- In "Gone," Denny says
to Alan, "I wish you had let me in on the game. I can act, you
know. I won an Emmy."
- At the end of "Too Much
Information," Alan walks out on Denny's balcony remarking
"There you are! Hardly seen you this episode. It saddens me."
- In "Live
Big," Denny says, "I'm tired of my Alzheimer's being a story point."
- In "Race
Ipsa", Chelina says, "God, the last time I saw you...," to
Alan, who replies, " I think it was a Sunday, then I was taken off
the air, you went off to do movies, and I got switched to Tuesdays,
and..." and Chelina responds, "Here we are... with old footage."
Later, Melissa, referring to Chelina, says, "Don't fall for her,
Alan, she's just a guest star."
- At the end of "Squid Pro Quo," as
Denny and Alan speculate on what to expect from Marlene Stanger, a
sexy new attorney, Denny sums up the situation by saying, "I can't
wait to see her next week," referring the next week's episode.
- In "BL Los
Angeles," Denny asks Shirley to kiss him, saying, "It's the
sweeps episode." Later, on Denny's balcony,
Alan offers a toast: "To next season, my friend." Denny asks him,
"Same night?", to which Alan responds, "I hope!"
Season 3
- In "Can't
We All Get A Lung?," Alan says to Joanna (Jane Lynch), "These past few years I've felt this
inexlicable compulsion to be somewhat redeeming..as if I were
some.. series regular on a television show."
- In "New
Kids on the Block," when he is told there are new lawyers in
the firm, Denny responds, "Oh, please! If there were new guys,
they'd have shown up in the season premiere." Then he welcomed them
by saying "Welcome to Boston Legal," acknowledging the
name of the show rather than the name of the fictional firm. Denny
further breaks the fourth wall by saying, "Cue the music." None of
the other characters seem to perceive this as unusual, except for
Jeffrey Coho, who seems surprised to
hear the show's theme music and looks around, seemingly for its
source.
- In "Angel
of Death," Denny plays the first few notes of the show's theme
song on his "trombone-kazoo," in tune with the real song playing over the
opening credits.
- In "Fat
Burner," Denny turns to Alan after the prosecution's summation
and asks, "Why is the other side's closing argument always so
short?", referring to how the show's writers only focus on the main
characters' summations.
- In "Lincoln," Lincoln
Meyer (David Dean Bottrell) pulls a gun on Shirley and says, "oh
dear. I bet if this were a movie they'd have one of those ominous
chords play right about now", and as he speaks an ominous tune
starts to play..
- At the end of "Dumping Bella,"
Denny (dressed as Dick Cheney) is
dancing with Alan (dressed as Shirley
Schmidt). Denny comments that the neighbors would be puzzled if
they saw Dick Cheney dancing with Shirley Schmidt on their balcony.
Alan replies, "Well, if they're regular viewers, they know by now
[that] anything goes."
- The episode "Guantanamo by the
Bay" begins with Jerry returning to ask for his old job back,
telling Schmidt that the thought of coming back makes him so happy
that it brings a song to his mind. Schmidt asks him to "hum a few
bars" of the song, and Jerry breaks into the Boston Legal theme
song, as the theme song actually starts playing with the opening
credits. He continues to hum along enthusiastically throughout the
entire opening credit sequence.
- In episode 24 "Trial of the Century" Denny Crane again says,
"To next season, my friend", Alan Shore responds, "I can’t wait to
see what we do next!" and Denny Crane states, "I’m just getting
started!"
- During the third season finale, Denny mentions he once
captained his own spaceship, referring to the USS Enterprise.
Season 4
- In "The
Mighty Rogues", Jerry announces, "During the strike, I fell in
love." Katie asks, "What strike?" Jerry responds, "It doesn't
matter, the point is..." This episode aired on April 15, 2008,
shortly after the conclusion of the 2007-2008 Writers
Guild of America strike, which had held up the production of
Boston Legal for over two months.
- In "The
Court Supreme", Alan asks Denny "Maybe we could go to
Wednesdays?" The show was then rescheduled to Wednesdays.
- Almost the entire pre-credits sequence of the following
episode, "Indecent
Proposals", consists of a conversation between Denny, Carl,
Clarence and Whitney discussing how they've changed from Tuesdays
at 10 o'clock to Wednesdays at 10 o'clock (referencing the
aforementioned rescheduling of the show at 10pm, but purportedly
discussing the shifting of an office meeting at 10am). Whitney then
even mentions that they were skipping the next week (as did the
show), but that they'd be back again for the following two weeks
(which were the final two episodes of the season). Denny asks,
"What about next year?", to which Whitney replies that it'd be best
to check with 'Howie' in Word Processing.
- In "Patriot
Acts", when Judge Clark Brown inquired as to why the same firm
is representing both sides of a trial, Denny responds "Saves on
guest cast."
Season 5
- At the end of "Guardians and
Gatekeepers", Alan begins talking about the pair's mortality,
implying that it is their "last year", referring to this season
being the last of the series. Denny replies "Really? I can't
imagine this is our last year. Aren't there still some time slots
we haven't tried?" referring to the numerous time slot changes the
show had gone through.
- In "The Bad
Seed", when a client asks to see one of the named partners of
the firm, Alan, upset, says, "Why wouldn't he ask for me, am I not
the star of this show?"
- In "Happy
Trails", Alan is arguing with other guest characters, and at
one point, a character who hadn't had any lines yet starts to speak
up. Alan responds, "You're an extra. You don't get to talk."
- In "Mad
Cows", Jerry threatens to leave the firm if Denny is fired:
"It's not an ultimatum! It's a fact! If he walks, I walk. Alan
Shore might too! Maybe even Carl, who knows? We could do a spinoff! Don't think we haven't been
approached already. Hell, it's not like you want the bunch of us
anyway. The network sure doesn't." The last part refers to ABC's
cancellation of the show.
- In "Roe", Denny urges
Alan not to take a new client wanting an abortion. Denny explains
that he likes to pretend his life is like a television show where
everyone watches him and says "who's going to watch a show about
abortion? It's not fun." Alan responds, "Try to look at it as a
challenge - consider it your Emmy episode." Denny, annoyed, mumbles
that he "can hear them changing the channel".
- In "Kill,
Baby, Kill", Denny again remarks about it being the final
season of the show, saying, "Carl, we need to bond. This is our
last season!"
- In "Thanksgiving," Alan
comments on how Denny will "live on" long after the rest of the
characters "doing Priceline commercials;" referring to William
Shatner's role as the "Priceline Negotiator" in Priceline's TV advertisements.
- In "Juiced", Catherine Piper (Betty White) brings a lawsuit concerning the
death of television programming for the elderly, and Carl Sack points out that there is only one show
on television that features a cast largely over the age of 50. Says
Carl, "... The only show unafraid to have its stars over 50 is
Bo..." (Concluding the sentence would require him to say "Boston
Legal." Upon his abrupt stop, he looks directly at two cameras and
gestures at them) "...Gee, I can't say it, that would be breaking
the wall." During the same episode, Catherine's cellphone ringtone
is the theme tune from The Practice -
in which she also appeared.
- In the
two-part series finale, Shirley Schmidt talks to Alan Shore about
the decision of the new Chinese
owners of
Crane, Poole, & Schmidt to keep them on-board as litigators
instead of laying them off as originally planned. Shirley
states to Alan that the feeling is "more Life on Mars", a subtle
reference to another David
E. Kelley
show.
- Later in the two-part series finale, when Alan and Denny agree
to get married, Denny exclaims, "It'll be great -- like jumping a
shark!" A television series is said to have "jumped the shark" when its storyline veers
into absurd or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, and usually
indicates that the series is past its prime. The phrase refers to a
scene in a three-part episode of the American TV series
Happy Days in which Fonzie, wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather
jacket, jumps over a confined shark while water skiing.
Cast
Recurring cast and notable guest stars
Guest stars include:
Episodes
Ratings and audience profile
Though the show never produced blockbuster ratings, it maintained
the majority of its audience over its five-year run despite being
switched four times to different nights (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday.) The day after the series finale, Kelley told
TV Guide ABC had treated Boston Legal like
its "bastard child," and though he was satisfied with a five-season
run in this era of television, the show could have lasted
longer.
It was one of
ABC's
most influential shows because of the audience it drew. According
to
Nielsen Media Research,
Boston Legal drew the richest viewing audience on
television, based on the concentration of high-income viewers in
its young adult audience (Adult 18–49 index w/$100k+ annual
income).
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of
Boston Legal on
ABC.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late
September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion
of May sweeps. All times
mentioned in this section were in the Eastern and Pacific time
zones.
| Season |
Timeslot |
Season Premiere |
Season Finale |
TV Season |
Season
Rank
|
Viewers
(in millions)
|
| 1st |
Sunday 10:00 pm |
October 3, 2004 |
March 20, 2005 |
2004–2005 |
#27 |
12.5 |
| 2nd |
Tuesday 10:00 pm |
September 27, 2005 |
May 16, 2006 |
2005–2006 |
#46 |
10.3 |
| 3rd |
September 19, 2006 |
May 29, 2007 |
2006–2007 |
#62 |
9.6 |
| 4th |
Tuesday 10:00 pm
Wednesday 10:00 pm
|
September 25, 2007 |
May 21, 2008 |
2007–2008 |
#51 |
9.6 |
| 5th |
Monday 10:00 pm |
September 22, 2008 |
December 8, 2008 |
2008–2009 |
#46 |
9.6 |
DVD releases
On February 9, 2006, tvshowsondvd.com announced that
Fox Home Entertainment was releasing
Boston Legal Season 1 on
DVD on May 23,
2006. It is the first
David E.
Kelley show that
FOX has released on DVD in the
United States (though
Ally
McBeal has been released on DVD in other countries). The
season one box set had five discs while the season two and three
sets had seven discs.
Note: Some of the Season 1 DVDs, provided by select offline
retailers, included a promotional DVD featuring the episodes from
The Practice that introduced Alan Shore and the firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
This was only included in the very early sales of the DVD as a
promotion.
| DVD Name |
Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 4 |
| Season 1 |
May 23, 2006 |
July 24, 2006 |
August 9, 2006 |
| Season 2 |
November 21, 2006 |
March 5, 2007 |
February 21, 2007 |
| Season 3 |
September 18, 2007 |
January 14, 2008 |
October 10, 2007 |
| Season 4 |
September 23, 2008 |
October 13, 2008 |
December 3, 2008 |
| Season 5 |
May 5, 2009 |
May 11, 2009 |
August 5, 2009 |
| The Complete Series |
TBA |
May 11, 2009 |
November 18, 2009 |
Awards
Awards won
Emmy Awards
Golden Globe
Awards:
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series,
Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV William Shatner (2005)
Awards nominated
Emmy Awards:
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series William Shatner (2009)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Christian Clemenson (2009)
- Outstanding Drama Series (2008)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series James Spader (2008)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series William Shatner (2008)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Candice Bergen (2008)
- Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Arlene Sanford (2008)
- Outstanding Drama Series (2007)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series William Shatner (2007)
- Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Christian Clemenson (2007)
- Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Bill D'Elia; Son of the Defender
(2007)
- Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One
Hour); Lincoln (2007)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series William Shatner (2006)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Candice Bergen (2006)
- Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Michael J. Fox
(2006)
- Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Nikki Valko, Ken Miller (2006)
- Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series
Phil Neel (2006)
Golden Globe
Awards:
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series,
Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television William Shatner (2007)
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a
Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Candice Bergen (2006)
- Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Drama James Spader (2005)
Screen Actors
Guild:
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Spader (2007)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
(2007)
- Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series
(2006)
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
James Spader (2006)
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
William Shatner (2006)
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Candice Bergen (2006)
References
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