Boston Legal

I love this show. The character of Alan Shore was a great addition to the final season of The Practice and an even better one to use for a spin-off. He'd be a great character to base a show around spin-off or original series. David E. Kelley is a master of the quirky character. And in Alan Shore and Denny Crane he's created two of his best. The cases he's come up with so far are also some of his best. The only thing that has surprised me with this show is the female characters. David usually makes great female characters, no one writes women better than David does. But, he just hasn't gotten a real grasp on these women. Maybe that's his cast, perhaps their personalities just aren't meshing well with the characters.

His selection of actresses has been great. Monica Potter and Rhona Mitra, both great. I was worried about the shelf life of Tara (Rhona) once he decided to go ahead and hook her and Alan up. Monica's character never seemed to fit in real well. Lori Colson (Monica) was a little to tight and never got a ton of fun stuff or banter (althought that time when she told Tara she was "nasty hot" still makes me laugh when I think about it). Being the straight woman to everyone elses wackiness just wasn't working. Brad Chase (Mark Valley) being the straight man in that same wackiness works very well but I think that's because he has a very direct oppostion in Alan. Lori being the balance for the rest of the cast was to much to ask. In the first season I was very heart broken by the departure of Lake Bell. I think of all the casting changes that was the hardest to take. The actress and the character had so much potential in David's hands.

The addition of Candice Bergen was a stroke of genius though. She is a great opposition to Alan and Denny. And the perfect actress to go toe-to-toe with Spader and Shatner. Wasn't to thrilled with the addition of Julie Bowen over the summer. In the few times I watched Ed I was not that impressed with her. That has all changed in the first couple episodes of Boston Legal. She has been great. And love the fast one they seemed to have pulled in filming. I'm thinking they left a lot of Monica's scenes on the floor in favor of new scenes with Julie, Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Justin Mentell.

Don't believe me, look at the evidence. The guest appearances by Heather Locklear and Rupert Everett were announced early in the year. There were five episodes left unaired when the show was bumped for Grey's Anatomy, those episodes where then added to the season two run. It's reasonable to assume that by the time ABC made the decision all the episodes were pretty much in the can. (I'd say at least three of them were completely done the other two might have still been shooting or editing.) Add to that, that in the first episode Julie and the other newbies did not appear in any scenes with the established cast members. Julie appeared in one scene with Candice in the second episode, and how else would you explain her letting two pretty much straight out of law school associates handle her divorce? That's a lot of money to risk in the hands of people with very little experience.

As for the big case. Heather Locklear was perfect. Spader was on his game. That thing when he was stretching before pointing at and accusing the housekeeper of the murder was to funny. Freaking love David bringing Anthony Heald over as Judge Harvey Cooper from The Practice. Those were two of my all time favorite episodes and he was a big reason they were so good. Ranks as one of my all-time favorite tv judges.

But the end when Betty White whacked Leslie Jordan with the frying pan and killed him was the best part of the second episode. I absolutely love how David takes actors and actresses always associated with the nice character and has them do something so bad. Can't wait to see how this case plays out especially with Alan and Denny off in Canada fishing.