(Season 3, Episodes 21-23)

Season three ended strongly, with some big cases drawing to a close, and some other major issues being left open to be resolved at a later date. And it really is amazing just how many of these clients keep on coming back for more.

3.21 “Infected”

There’s no way that the Rider Strong murder trial was really what had Helen all worked up. On a macro level, it had to be because her ineptitude has allowed countless killers to walk free. From a micro perspective, this was clearly about the nun killer case, and she proved it when she started ranting about the nun in little Gary’s (Strong) closet. And what kind of a judge hands out 20 years for perjury? This case better come back around again. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 2, Episodes 21-24)

I can still stack the complaints I have about the show all the way past the roof of the nearby 42-story building, but I’m also really enjoying The Practice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “Oh, wow!” of late. Jimmy and Ellenor haven’t changed, and I still think Bobby’s a cry-baby, but some of the moments that have taken place on screen these last four episodes have just shocked me, in a really great way. It’s Eugene carrying the load, but I can see a glint in some other eyes. Plus, the guest casting still works miracles.

2.21 “In Deep”

Lindsay got stuck with a doozy of a case: a man who needs more flush than city ordinances will allow him. Without getting into it all, the most glaring thing about the entire incident was how she placed her personal pride before her client’s wishes. However weird it was, he felt he needed to be allowed this exception; she was so embarrassed by arguing the case before a high-profile judge that she tried to convince him to plead guilty. Way to lawyer, Lindsay. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 2, Episodes 1-4)

Lots of big cases, and lots of questionable ethical, and legal, maneuvering. I’m amazed that Bobby (Dylan McDermott) hasn’t gotten his ticket pulled yet, or at least been suspended. His firm seems bent on breaking the law, a pretty broad step away from the traditional bending that most law firms on TV practice. I’m told that Alan Shore (James Spader) comes in and does the dirty, but, honestly, I can’t imagine how much worse he can do than what these people execute on a daily basis. I guess I’ll just have to be proven wrong in the seasons to come. Read the rest of this entry »

With the 2008-2009 network television season in the bag, and a dreary 2009-2010 season to look forward to, I find my mind a wandering back in time. As easy as it is to stumble back on The West Wing anyway, my stroll was aided by a recent conversation being held over the highs and lows that West Wingers past have been hitting on USA Network’s In Plain Sight.

While the topic need not be revisited (I can only tell Ivey he’s wrong so many times), Modwild got me thinking about just how well some shows cast their guests. Not that certain actors are deserving of a certain level of quality parts, but rather, that there’s a fine art to assigning an actor to a role.

While there are countless examples of how to, and not to, do this right, The West Wing, in particular, stands out as an example of casting done brilliantly. Over its life, guest stars big and small took both short and long turns on the show, and in a world where most things fall into predictable percentages, The West Wing got it right more often than most.

A few of my most memorable: Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 5, Episodes 12/13 – “Made in China/Last Call” – Series Finale)

A day late maybe, but not a dollar short if Denny Crane has anything to say about it. We could just get married. The gang pulled out almost all the stops on this final run through Crane, Poole & Schmidt. With two episodes back-to-back we got not one, not two, but three balcony scenes (though the third one was a bit of a special occasion).

We did get resolution on the financial problems at the firm, the Sack-Schmidt union and the return visit to the Supreme Court. On a character front, I’m pretty well satisfied with how things are left, but I can’t say the same for the firm. I understand that David E. Kelley likes to get his pot-shots in and he likes to shoot big with his targets, and I don’t fault him the target at all. Still, I can’t say as I enjoyed how things turned out for the firm. And poor Shirley.

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(Season 5, Episode 11 – “Juiced”)

It’s all coming to an end so quickly. Why couldn’t ABC have just given us a full season of Boston Legal this season instead of this truncated half-season? Did I really just use the word “season” three times in one sentence? I want a season six! There, said it again.

In one respect, it looks like David E. Kelley is looking to have some fun as he goes out, with Carl enabling Catherine Piper’s craziness by taking a case against the television networks to court for … wait for it … not programming for people over 50. Why, the only show on television brave enough to have stars over 50 is Bo– Well, that would break the fourth wall, wouldn’t it Carl?

Fun stuff indeed, as well as raising a lot of valid points. Why isn’t television that skews older allowed to thrive on television? They do have more money than those of us under 50. They certainly have more money than I do (he said while scraping remnants from the bottom of a can of potato soup). Kelley balanced his direct attack against ABC with the somber revelation that Denny’s Alzheimer’s is no longer something that is coming, but is in fact here. Now.

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(Season 5, Episode 10 – “Thanksgiving”)

You know what? Going into this holiday themed episode, I was pretty worried. I wasn’t thrilled with how the episode that took Denny and Alan to Utah turned out, and so when I saw that again we were going to be staying out of the courtroom, I got worried. Can David E. Kelley do what he does so well on this show completely outside of the courtroom?

And then Shirley got mugged by a nine year old black kid in a parking lot, only to find out that this is the new foster child of Edwin Poole. From there things were more fun than they had any right to be, minus a few bizarre outbursts from Shirley, and Kelley still finding a way to have Alan wax poetic about some hot political issue, this one being racism in this post-Obama America. But then halfway through, something remarkable happened and this became one of the most powerful and moving episodes I’d seen in a long time.

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