September 27, 2007

Boston Legal - $8

Recently, and in quick succession, I've watched the first two seasons of Boston Legal and I have to admit, I am hooked.


Boston Legal takes place in a law firm in (you guessed it) Boston. The law firm is run by a man named Denny Krane, a legend in the law circles of Boston and a man with an ego big enough to match his faults, which are many. Denny is going through the early stages of Alzheimer's, though he claims to have mad cow disease, and it is established early on that he doesn't actually run the firm in any tangible way, but it's his name on the door none the less.

William Shatner plays Krane and this show is a welcome return to television for a guy long thought to a one dimensional actor. He is fantastic in Boston Legal and even manages to never sound like that caricature of himself, Captain Kirk.

The cast is rounded out by the likes of James Spader and Candice Bergen as well as a host of other talented actors playing extremely varied characters.

Boston Legal is primarily a comedy but this is no cheesy sitcom, serious issues are dealt with and made light of, often at the same time. I've seen everything from Asperger's syndrome to Scientology to abortion explored in this show and each time an issue is raised an effort is made to present all sides of it to the audience. There is usually a bias that comes through and sometimes the show can even seem a little preachy but it is almost always fair, and always funny.

I enjoy Boston Legal immensely and unfortunately I now have another TV show to watch.

I put Boston Legal on my 'Watch It' list and give it a value of $8.

1 comment:

Jess said...

I hate to disillusion you, but the new season, where they got rid of most of the cast and started over isn't quite as good. I love most of the dialogue each week, but the stories are starting to be too formulaic and the Denny/Alan storylines are too common. I've commented on it several times, but here's my fav. http://insightintoentertainment.blogspot.com/2007/04/fighting-both-sides-of-fight.html