Boston Legal: Season 1 [DVD] [2004]

While senior partner Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois), senior associates Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen) and ex-Marine Brad Chase (Mark Valley), and junior associate Lori Colson (Monica Potter) struggle to maintain the firm's lofty reputation, the appearance of founding partner Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) elevates Boston Legal to an even higher plane of serio-comic perfection. A former flame of Denny Crane's, Schmidt arrives in episode 11 (appropriately titled "Schmidt Happens") as common-sense negotiator with a rapier wit and a clanking pair of big brass cojones, fully capable of holding her own against the Crane/Shore juggernaut. And while "An Eye for an Eye" (episode 5) is a sublime example of Boston Legal's deft combination of lunacy and courtroom complexity, it's the deeper implications of episodes like "Tortured Souls" (15) and season finale "Death Be Not Proud" (tackling a dubious death sentence in Texas) that cast these rich and wonderful characters into sharper relief, baring their souls and the courage of their convictions.

With surprising departures (Lake Bell, in episode 13), new arrivals (Kerry Washington, as new associate Chelina Hall, in episode 15) and stellar guest stars including Larry Miller (as the eccentrically unstable founding partner Edwin Poole), Philip Baker Hall, Frances Fisher, Carl Reiner, Freddie Prinze Jr., Shelley Long, and late-season regular Betty White, Boston Legal gained a large and loyal following with exceptional writing, timely social relevance, and that rare quality of chemistry that guarantees long-term appeal. Nowhere is this more apparent than the now-famous Spader/Shatner "balcony scenes" that quickly became an episode-closing tradition, with staunch Republican Denny Crane and passionate Democrat Alan Shore reflecting upon their careers, current issues, and their own devoted friendship over brandy and cigars. With these two actors together, virtually every episode ends on a high note of pensive introspection, and Boston Legal becomes even greater than the sum of its parts. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
BOSTON LEGAL, a wry courtroom television show that walks the line between drama and comedy, is the creation of perennial hit-maker David E. Kelly (ALLY MCBEAL, PICKET FENCES). BOSTON LEGAL revolves around the Boston litigation law firm of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt, in particular two eccentric and flawed attorneys, Alan Shore and Denny Crane. Shore, an unscrupulous and wily ambulance chaser and womaniser (played, with sly charm by James Spader) finds an uneasy alliance with Crane, a bombastic, self-aggrandising, and occasionally batty elder lawyer (William Shatner in an Emmy-winning performance). Despite their ethical and emotional deficiencies, Shoe and Crane usually find themselves fighting on the right side, as they take up cases that no one else is willing to touch. The first series kicks off with quirky flair, full of oddball situations including: Shore, on a dare, taking the case of an African-American actress denied the role of Annie; Crane caught having an affair with the firm's biggest client; Shore representing an ex-lover who had attempted to murder him; Shore defending a millionaire CEO caught shoplifting, and a Santa fired for being a transvestite. Adding even more mayhem to the madcap cases, the sexual chemistry at the firm begins to boil over, and both Shore and Crane find themselves compromised with the various female lawyers.

• DVD & Blu-ray > Television > Comedy

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