Boston Legal

If the first episode is any indication, Boston Legal will continue what it started as "The Practice" last year and remain on the air. Given the splash made by James Spader on the waning Practice, this spin off was developed. And last night's episode was clever and funny, with a black woman charging racial discrimination for her daughter who was not cast as Annie. Every time anyone looked at this kid, she sang "Tomorrow." The episode sported a cameo appearance and a hilarious bit by the Reverend Al Sharpton. There were other subplots, but for me, Annie stole the show! Rebecca de Mornay seems missing from the cast, but there is the neat addition of Mark Valley, from the ill-fated, also excellent "Keen Eddie." I look forward to future episodes to see what Spader, Shatner and the able cast will be up to.

Forget Desperate Housewives or anything else. Boston Legal is the comedy-drama that has been missing from TV for a long, long time. I barely watched "The Practice" but I got hooked when James Spader and William Shatner had guest-roles. When I heard these two would lead the spin off "Boston Legal", I was exuberant!

James Spader as Alan Shore is by far the best acting on TV. The guy is priceless, reaching a level of pure arrogance that you can't help but love. William Shatner as Denny Krane is just as good. The women of the show bring a lot more beauty then Desperate Housewives. I view them as support characters, however as this show is all about Alan Shore and DENNY KRANE.

I admit I didn't watch "The Practice" as a regular show, but I saw enough to see that it was a dark, clever series examining the everyday work of a small Boston firm who primarily defended criminals. "Boston Legal" is a much different show. Centered around a civil and corporate firm that only occasionally deals in criminal cases. The place is a circus, it's David E. Kelley's hybrid of "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal," although the latter included hallucinations and bizarre love lifes.

Emmy-winner James Spader, the ever shameless and subtly self-destructive Alan Shore is the slimy playboy who, like it or not, is a fantastic attorney. Denny Crane (fellow Emmy-winner William Shatner) seems like the perfect match for Shore's unpredictable fashion. Both men are unorthodox, and Denny is slipping. He's also a great attorney, but he doesn't know it half the time. The two are the perfect team, each willing to forgive the other for their shortcomings in the area of law, and cover each other as such. Paul Lewiston (Rene Aberjonois) is the figurehead of everything they are not. He is respectable, by-the-book, and without conscience. The embodiment of the sleazy corporate attorney, and more concerned with keeping a client than with admitting a falacy on their part. Brad Chase (Mark Valley) is in the same boat insofar as playing by the rules, but he's Denny's man, and it pisses him off that Alan gets all the attention for his crimes. Laurie Colson (Monica Potter) is the idealistic attorney who has dabbled in Alan Shore's method of practicing law with disastrous consequences. Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra) is finally sleeping with Alan, and happily playing along in his little game. And Sally Heep (Lake Bell) has all but disappeared since she broke up with Alan, so that she is little more than an errand boy (girl).

And most recently Candice Bergen has joined the cast at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt, as Shirley Schmidt (Edwin Poole has gone off the deep end after showing up at work, having only dressed the top half of his body.) and she appears to be Alan Shore in reverse. She's manipulative, wisecracking, and short with answers, but she seems to appeal to the ethical way of practicing law. Now back from New York and busting balls due to a law suit filed by one of their employees, she seems a welcome edition to the show.

Perfect follow-up to "Desperate Housewives," and just as funny. It's proof that David E. Kelley still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

After 8 episodes of Boston Legal, I am hooked. I was a big fan of The Practice for the first 4 seasons or so but lost interest until the final season when Spader was brought on. His emmy-winning portrayal of Alan Shore has transferred seamlessly to this spin off, and the rest of the ensemble cast is, by and large, excellent. It took a couple of episodes for me to warm up to the Lori Colson character but now I can see why she is the female center of the show -- she is effectively the anti-Shore. Shatner is (surprisingly) brilliant and, while the Tara character doesn't get enough airtime, I love every second she's on screen. The tone of the show is a pitch-perfect mix of quirkiness, drama and dark humor, and the pacing is much swifter than The Practice, which in the later seasons became sluggish, droning and depressing. Here's hoping Boston Legal can keep it going!

Programs like Boston Legal are competing for some very coveted viewers. Dangerous Housewives may be more the taste for those looking for "the edgey dramedy" on prime time and Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me have also found a loyal following with some pretty important demographics.* The kind of viewers that can keep a show like Boston Legal alive for a few seasons.

I'm a huge fan of the show...and was one of those people who only began to watch The Practice when Spader appeared. The moral ambiguity of the show's primary characters and the splash of David Kelly made for a wonderful show. That it found the viewers it did is a tribute to the inspired casting and originality of it's story lines. I think Shatner is a wonderful comeback story and the inclusion of Mark Valley may prove to be a superb choice...introducing a fellow who is much more than a pretty face. His character will go nose to nose with Alan Shore and not in the fluttery Major Burns manner. This is a guy who's gonna a win a few...and that in itself bodes well for the show. I look forward to reading everyone's comments on this terrific show.

*This year the Sopranos will return with first run episodes again and it's the farewell season. The show will runs opposite Boston Legal as will Nip/Tuck.