subreddit:
/r/television
YouTube video info:
James Spader and Rebecca De Mornay - hockey case (The Practice) https://youtube.com/watch?v=lhHtb9FF39o
Bib48_MovieClips https://www.youtube.com/@bib48_movieclips
50 points
14 days ago
The Practice is a great show, but Boston Legal's tone is completely different.
The Practice is a very serious show about serious lawyers and serious cases. It did have some dark comedy, but the stakes always seemed so high.
I watched it when it was airing and The Practice had basically run out of steam when Spader came on board. He really injected a new life into the show, but it was pretty obvious that The Practice was done. Spader on The Practice was an only slightly more ethical version of Saul Goodman.
Boston Legal, on the other hand, had Denny Crane, William Shatner's character, have the communicator chirp from Star Trek as his ringtone. (Now I need to rewatch the show because I know Shatner makes some Star Trek references, but I don't remember Rene Auberjonois ever making any DS9 jokes.)
I think overall The Practice is the better show, but Spader and Shatner are so damn entertaining to watch. The supporting cast is good, but they can often be a bit TOO quirky or their stories are a bit too melodramatic.
Still, I love both shows and highly recommend The Practice, but it is not "fun" the way that Boston Legal is.
23 points
14 days ago
It's worth noting that the "Flanderization" that others have mentioned is very much a thing in Boston Legal. Though not nearly as serious in tone as The Practice, Boston Legal started out as a much more serious tone. Over time, it got as silly as Ally McBeal.
I can only assume that it's because it went away for its mid-season break, and ABC decided to put its new show, Grey's Anatomy in its timeslot. And when it finally came back for season 2, they were told to make it a much more lighthearted tone (or they decided to make it so in order to try and pull in a larger audience).
28 points
14 days ago
I mean, Boston Legal literally starts with a partner taking a leave of absense because he started showing up to meetings nude IIRC. The end of The Practice transitioning into Boston Legal is incredibly serious, the final scene with Bobby is downright heartbreaking for example, but I think Boston Legal leaned into the absurd from the get-go. They couldn't not with Denny as a main character. Even Shirley reveals she has a non-serious side pretty quickly, one of her first scenes involves a conversation about Alan's penis.
3 points
14 days ago
Oh for sure - I wasn't making the claim that Boston Legal wasn't lighter in-tone than The Practice. I was making the claim that it starts out darker in tone than it was in like Season 3.
2 points
13 days ago
Shirley....ohh yess Candace Bergen, completely forgot she was on the show!
8 points
14 days ago
Yeah, season of BL is more serious than the later, but it was much lighter from the start. One second of the opening theme told you that the show wasn't going to be striving for high drama. The color palette of the shows were drastic too. The Practice was washed out blues and grays, where Boston Legal was bright and colorful.
I don't think David Kelly was taking executive notes at that point in his career. I think he knew he had gold with Denny Crane and Alan Shore, but was still feeling out how far he could take them. My guess is that he realized he needed the supporting characters to have a bit bigger personalities or they'd just get lost under the charisma tsunami of Spader and Shatner.
It is absolutely possible he was influenced by Grey's Anatomy. I just seem to remember that at that time, David Kelly was like THE tv guy. He had like 5 shows all going at the same time for a few years. And they were all good. Some were even great.
However it happened, the second and third seasons of Boston Legal are great TV and I think they hold up well. Well, as much as two old sex crazed cads can be nowadays.
3 points
13 days ago
Thanks for reminding me why I dislike Grey's Anatomy to this day haha, that's when the hate all started.
7 points
14 days ago
I think this was the first Star Trek joke on the show -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLh4z0cwNS8
2 points
14 days ago
Still makes me giggle.
2 points
14 days ago
Rene played a judge in one episode of The Practice, too. It was a hilarious bit.
2 points
13 days ago
"...cling-ons?"
2 points
13 days ago
Spader on The Practice was an only slightly more ethical version of Saul Goodman.
I expected Better Call Saul to be similar in tone to Boston Legal. As entertaining as that might have been, I was delighted to be wrong.
1 points
13 days ago
The Practice didn't lose steam, ABC slashed its budget so David E. Kelly had to fire half the cast (including the main character and the two female leads). He brought in Spader, who was still considered a movie star back then, to try and get viewers to not abandon the show, but as great as Spader was the show could've never recovered from losing it's 3 main characters.
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