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Why I Love...Boston Legal

The cast of Boston Legal
  • Posted at 4:52pm
  • 07 February 2008
  • by RuthMargolis-RT
  • 2 comments

If I wanted to sue my pet, hug an inflatable lawyer or observe sexual misconduct in the workplace, I'd head to the Massachusetts offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, attorneys-at-law.

Boston Legal - a spin-off of The Practice - is an undervalued, merrily peculiar legal drama on Living. It's frothy, flippant and funny in ways that are difficult to illustrate without clips, or at least a finely crocheted pair of William Shatner and James Spader hand-puppets.

Shatner and Spader play lawyers Denny Crane (a trigger-happy Republican who likes to say his own name) and Alan Shore (a democrat with a heady sex appeal that's in no way undone by his burgeoning paunch). Their friendship sits somewhere on the murky tundra between straight and gay. They're vociferously woman-hungry, yet the only meaningful relationship either man is able to maintain is with the other. They even shared a bed for a while back in season two, and dressed as twin flamingos for the office Christmas party.

Alan and Denny are Boston Legal's effervescent, rutting centrepiece, yet they often lurk on the side of the main action and allow the show's chorus of underlings to hold court. It's subtle but brilliant ploy - one that ensures we don't grow immune to their charming oddities.

Recent additions to the firm's list of colourful characters are Clarence – a cross-dressing Oprah impersonator - and Jerry, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome and purrs when he's nervous or excited. But Boston Legal is much more than a collection of over-scribbled cartoon cliches with an unfeasible ability to win absurd cases.

Did I mention Alan Shore's closing speeches? As well as fulfilling his duties as a dreamy sex god and Denny's carer, Alan Shore sews up cases like a surgeon. His arguments are slick, heart-felt, occasionally maverick and always…arousing. I could go on.

OK, maybe sometimes BL's writers' room uses these sermons to slip you a simplistic version of a left-wing agenda. So what? Surely you can forgive any amount of under-cooked ideological posturing when it's twinned with smoulderingly good laughs.

BL's women are, for the most part, a one-dimensional, leggy backdrop. The notable exception is Shirley Schmitt (Candice Bergen), a partner in the firm, Denny's one-time girlfriend and the show's hot older woman. She still drives Denny wild. Alan would also like to discover what lurks beneath her power pencil skirt. Shirley's as wise as she is alluring and, importantly, acts as the sane centre of the firm's almost exclusively sectionable workforce.

I'll close on this: I for one would gladly don a straitjacket if it would get me a place on Crane, Poole & Schmidt's payroll. And I'd relish the chance to slip between the sheets with Denny and Alan on plutonic sleep over night. We'd smoke cigars and sew peacock outfits for the 2008 Christmas party.

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Comments

  • Posted on 24 April 2009
  • at 11:33pm
  • by Hazel

Slick, topical, classy, naughty. If only life was really like Boston Legal. Love for James Spader (delicious), respect for William Shatner. As a women of similar age, so delighted to see Candice Bergen keeping the flame alight for the older, experienced, powerful but sexy matriarch. Loved the show and will miss it like mad. Will have to assuage my need with DVDs.

  • Posted on 18 November 2008
  • at 9:18pm
  • by nickli323
Rumor has it that David Kelly has written a series for the Melvin Palmer character and that NBC has picked it up. Can anyone confirm this?

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