BOSTON LEGAL SEASON 1(2004)
The great James Spader(Stargate[movie], The Blacklist)
and William Shatner! I avoided this series when it was
first airing until my lovely wife kept saying she thought
I would like it, and to appease her, I watched! And I
watched more! This became my second favorite TV drama of
time, right behind The West Wing!!
And the rest of the main cast were excellent: Rene
Auberjoinois, Mark Valley and Candace Bergman were
all great! And there's a superurb plethera of support
from guest stars!
An absolute must watch TV series!!
Having not watched any of the series before, I have no
pre-concieved idea how good, or not good, this is!
EPISODE # 1: HEAD CASES(Sept. 28, 2003):
A young black girl wants to play Annie; one of the senior
partners has a nervous breakdown; a custody a battle is
being fought; & an old friend and client of Denny's wants
his wife to be followed because he thinks she's cheating on
him!
Guest starring: Al Sharpton! B
EPISODE # 2: STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS(Oct. 05, 2003):
Alan helps an old girlfriend get out of a mental hospital!
She was there for trying to kill Alan; Denny's handling a
claim for a company being sued for malpractice when she
feels the doctor was less than sympathetic when her husband
died; whlie handling this said case Denny makes a pretty crude
comment and gets his own ass in trouble! B+
EPISODE # 3: CATCH AND RELEASE(Oct. 12, 2003):
The woman who Alan got out of the mental hospital is
now stalking him; AAANNNDDD Alan goes to court and finds
she's the apposing lawyer; Denny's son shows up as the
apposing lawyer on a work project that being held up
because of salmon. B
EPISODE # 4: CHANGE OF COURSE(Oct. 19, 2003):
Poole is back and he takes on a case where a man confesses
to murder when he's tricked into thinking he's going to die;
Alan and Sally try to get something on one of the witnesses
in a shoplifting case!
As one reviewer says "ugly"! B
EPISODE # 5: AN EYE FOR AN EYE(Oct. 26, 2003):
A hypocondriac(?) is being represented by Alan; big
pharma is being represented by Denny; a young man
is represented by Sally; Denny gets thrown into jail!
The first serious discussion about Denny having Alzheimer's! B
EPISODE # 6: TRUTH BE TOLD(Nov. 02, 2003):
Alan tries to help a politician get a inflamitory
ad off TV; a very sick man tries to get his ex-wife
to let him use their(?) sons ambilical blood to help
him which Lori is trying to help; Denny represents
a man is suing the company that made a toaster that
he got shocked from!
Guest starring: T.J. Thyne! B
EPISODE # 7: QUESTIONABLE CHARACTERS(Nov. 09, 2003):
A man gets shot while trying to stick up a convienience
store(represented by Lori); Alan represents a slum lord;
Denny gets arrested for solicitation!
Guest starring: in his first of many appearances, Henry
Gibson! B+
EPISODE # 8: LOOSE LIPS(Nov. 23, 2003):
Alan represents a gay cross dressing Santa who got fired;
A psychologist asks Lori for advice on a client who's said
he wants to kill his wife!!
Guest starring: Al Sharpton returns! A
EPISODE # 9: A GREATER GOOD(Nov. 30, 2003):
Alan and Denny are representing a drug company against
a woman who is suing for being taken off of a drug study;
Tara obtains information on a client through dubious
means which affects her and Lori! B+
EPISODE # 10: HIRED GUNS(Dec. 07, 2003):
Brad and Lori are defending a woman accused of killing
her husband and his mistress; Denny and Alan help a
woman get her kids back from her ex! This leads to
Alan being threatened by the ex! B
EPISODE # 11: SCHMIDT HAPPENS(Jan. 11, 2003):
The first appearance of Schmidt(Candace Bergan)! Lori and
Pual are taking on the United States; a man kills his mother
and Alan defneds him!
Guest starring: Leslie Jordan! B
EPISODE # 12: FROM WHENCE WE CAME(Jan. 18, 2004):
The man who killed his mother strikes again and this time
Alan gives the case to Lori; Shirley fires one of the
women on the team; Shirely, Denny and Lori defend a school
superintendent who fires a coupl of teachers who refuse to
teach creationism in their science claess!
Guest starring: Leslie Jordan returns, Betty White! B
EPISODE # 13: IT GIRLS AND BEYOND(Jan. 25, 2004)
Brad is defending a woman who says she's a lesbian but
was scheming to bilk her former partner of money and
clients. Oh, and Brad finds her fetching!!; Denyy defends
a doctor who's on trial for perscribing a non-FDA approved
drug to help a man with a weight problem; Alan's new
"assistant" is hard for the office to accept!
Guest starring: Betty White returns! B+
EPISODE # 14: 'TIL WE MEAT AGAIN(Feb. 22, 2004):
Denny, Shirley and Brad take the case of a steak restaraunt
owner against the mayor of a small town that has banned beef;
Alan gets into a fight over Tara in a bar, but instead of fighting
himself he pays a few guys to defend his honor!!
Once more with Betty White! B+
EPISODE # 15: TORTURED SOULS(Mar. 07, 2004):
Shirley and Alan defend a cop who broke a man's arm to
find a kidnapper and his victim; Denny and Chelina(?) are
representing a woman left standing at the alter!! B
EPISODE # 16: LET SALES RING(Mar. 14, 2004):
An old lawyer wants to be frozen to be awakedned later;
a principal at a school cuts off access to Fox New(never
actually named as such, but come on!) and is being brought
to court by Alan and Chelina representing some of the students
at that school!!
Guest starring: Carl Reiner, Chi Mcbride! B
EPISODE # 17: DEATH BE NOT PROUD(Mar. 21, 2004):
A woman is up for prostitution(buying not selling) and
being represented by Shirley & Denny; Alan & Chelia go
to Texas to try to help a black man with and IQ of 80
set for execution!
Paul and Shirley are still discussing getting rid of
Denny!
This was to show the barbaricness of the death penalty!
Guest starring: Shelly Long, John Considine(Tim's brother)!! B
SPECIALS:
COURT IS NOW IN SESSION:
How Boston Legal Came To Be
AN UNLIKELY PAIR:
Alan Shore And Denny Crane
DELETED SCENES FROM PILOT EPISODE
"Head Cases"
From a reviewer at IMDb.com:
I don't know, for a guy in his early 70's who has been
royally and unfairly panned for his entire career, William
Shatner as Denny Crane may be the absolute highlight of
his long career! What a role and what a show. My ultimate
benchmark as to how good a show is how fast I am back to
that show during the commercial breaks. Didn't miss one
second of Boston Legal so I guess that tells you that I
liked it a lot. Of course the "Shat Man" drew me in but
the overall show got me hooked. Well worth the late hour
on Sundays. Rene Auberjonois ( of DS 9 fame) was an added
surprise. - JJC-3