Boston Legal - any good?

[GoogaMooga]

Hello!

Picked up Boston Legal today, all five seasons in a box, 27 discs, for a fiver. I don't know the series, but it won awards and has got William Shatner. Did I do well?

[naughty boy]

Watch it all then get back to us

[Sneelock]

I liked it quite a bit. Both lead actors luxuriated in their roles and the writing was pretty good.
I didn't go the distance and I'll tell you why - too many cast changes. Lake Bell, that gal that ended up on Modern Family, many others got canned WAY before their characters seemed resolved.

the show seemed to be trying too
hard to will itself into the mind of the viewer or the Network Executives. too bad because those two characters were very fun to watch.

[GoogaMooga]

Still it lasted five seasons. People get written in and out of these things - it's almost the norm, is it not.

[Sneelock]

I think they had many good actors in good roles who were thrown aside -- from the womb untimely ripped. most series that last do so because you build up a relationship with the characters. you can't do this if James Spader keeps needing new girlfriends.

[never/ever]

I liked its predecessor The Practice better.

[GoogaMooga]

I liked its predecessor The Practice better.

I'll look out for it. I try to get these things in thrift, for cheap.

[never/ever]

The Practice was a pretty good series. Grittier and free from Shatner's and Spader's bullshit throughout.

[GoogaMooga]

The Practice was a pretty good series. Grittier and free from Shatner's and Spader's bullshit throughout.

But - I bought mine for Shatner

[never/ever]

His character, Denny Crane, gets on my tits after a while. Shatner plays him very well and with some verve but I just got tired of all the shenanigans he got up to.

[GoogaMooga]

His character, Denny Crane, gets on my tits after a while. Shatner plays him very well and with some verve but I just got tired of all the shenanigans he got up to.

Ah, okay. I'll just have to wait and see. It may be a while, my to do pile is overwhelming.

[Geezee]

my parents inexplicably love it but I found it to be a horribly implausible misogynistic mess. ugh.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

When did James Spader and John Lithgow morph?

[GoogaMooga]

When did James Spader and John Lithgow morph?

?

[The Slider]

It is one of my favourite things ever
Implausible or not

[Belle Lettre]

I love those scenes where they're sitting in armchairs on the roof nattering, with brandy and cigars. Or was it Scotch?

[Jimbly]

It is one of my favourite things ever
Implausible or not

this

[Sneelock]

When did James Spader and John Lithgow morph?

?

I think this is a barb aimed at Spader's giving up on distracting from his receding hairline, the addition of quite a few carbohydrates and a certain habit of talking like his mouth is full of lemon juice.

I can see it!

My wife was fond of "The Practice" so I'd watch it with her sometimes. the last season, when they brought in Spader and were setting up what would become "Boston Legal" lost her interest and gained mine. "The Practice" was undeniably good episodic television but Lawyers and their travails is something I've seen on TV countless times. Even done well, The Practice, I thought, had gotten into a trap of the "lawyers with hearts of gold" routine. I know this isn't entirely fair but still, once Spader showed up this was actually something I hadn't seen on a lawyer show before - a complete cad. Now, even before "BL" started they were already playing with the notion that Spader wan't as amoral as he thought he was but he is a very offbeat actor and I took to him in the role.

another thing about BL is that they really took on topical issues especially regarding the Bush Administration's domestic and foreign policies. this was, you will remember, a time when to question those policies was to invite bile & ridicule - both of which the show received. B.Legal is the first TV show I followed a message board of online. I was surprised by the volume of people who watched every single episode just for the opportunity to vent online about how terrible it was.

I think the show missed the boat overall. The constant revolving door kept it Spader & Shatner's show when I feel like they had bigger fish to fry especially in terms of relationships. They spent all this time building up good female characters and then WHAM they were gone and Spader was trying to nail somebody else. That's fine. it's fun to watch but by season three I was getting a "been there, done that" feeling. I did stick with it pretty much all the way. Denny Crane is a hoot.

[GoogaMooga]

Thanks all, I must say many of these comments pique my interest in the show. Never followed any lawyer show, except the granddaddy of them all, Perry Mason. I like flawed protagonists and the revolving doors with the women I don't mind too much, if I can abstract from the idea that they are written out of the show.