Boston Legal is an American legal drama-comedy (dramedy) created by David E. Kelley, which originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2004 to December 8, 2008. A spin-off of the long-running series The Practice, Boston Legal followed the personal and professional exploits of a group of attorneys working at the law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
Production details
Before the show’s premiere, it had a working title of Fleet Street, an allusion to the real street in Boston where the fictitious Crane, Poole & Schmidt had its offices. The working title was later modified to The Practice: Fleet Street, but this title was dropped in favor of Boston Legal before the show premiered. The real building shown as the law office is located at 500 Boylston Street, 12 minutes away from Fleet Street.
Premise: The Practice
Most of the final episodes of The Practice were focused on introducing the new characters from Crane, Poole & Schmidt in preparation for Boston Legal’s launch. Thus, the story of Boston Legal can be said to begin with the episode of The Practice in which Eugene Young and Jimmy Berluti of Young, Frutt & Berluti decided to fire Alan Shore without consulting Ellenor Frutt, beginning a story arc of several episodes. They give Alan a severance package of only fifteen thousand dollars, even though Alan has brought in over six million dollars of revenue to the firm. Tara Wilson gets fired for her loyalty to Alan, and Alan goes to Crane, Poole & Schmidt to represent himself in the matter, thinking he has a claim under Massachusetts law to take over Young, Frutt & Berluti. Denny Crane, senior and founding partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, takes an interest in the case and even argues at the trial, cross-examining Young. During this period, Ellenor also has a run-in with Hannah Rose (Rebecca De Mornay), a partner at Crane Poole & Schmidt, whom Ellenor ends up seriously injuring when they get into a fight over Hannah’s condescending remarks to Ellenor. The character of Hannah Rose was dropped prior to the Boston Legal pilot being filmed.
The jury awards Alan the millions of dollars of revenue he brought in to Young, Frutt & Berluti but does not order the firm to rehire him, so Denny hires Alan at his firm. After Young is appointed a judge, his first case (in the final episode of The Practice) happens to be with Alan for the defense, making Young wonder if Alan judge-shopped (this opened the door for Steve Harris to guest-star on Boston Legal as a judge, although in the end no starring Practice characters made any guest appearances on Boston Legal), though many actors and actresses who guest starred in The Practice have contributed to Boston Legal, taking on roles of a different character. Examples include Rene Auberjonois, John Larroquette and Christian Clemenson. One interesting fact is that Anthony Heald, who guest starred in both shows, took on the characters of Harvey Cooper in Boston Legal and Wallace Cooper in The Practice (although both are considered the same character).
Boston Legal
The pilot was originally produced with James Spader, Lake Bell, Mark Valley, Rhona Mitra and William Shatner playing the main characters, with an expanded storyline featuring Larry Miller as Edwin Poole, and with John Michael Higgins as senior partner Jerry Austin. Monica Potter was later cast as junior partner Lori Colson. After completing several episodes, the producers felt the show needed grounding, and Rene Auberjonois was cast as senior partner Paul Lewiston, effectively replacing John Michael Higgins. Despite this, Higgins’s character still appeared in the first two episodes. The pilot premiered on ABC on October 3, 2004, following the series premiere of Desperate Housewives.
On November 30, 2004, it was announced that Candice Bergen would join the cast as senior partner Shirley Schmidt. The producers had been looking to introduce the character since the fall. Lake Bell and Executive Producer Jeff Rake subsequently left the series, while Rene Auberjonois was made a main cast member.
Boston Legal was renewed for a second season on April 5, 2005. The final five episodes of the first season were initially pre-empted until April 24, 2005 for several weeks to expose mid-season series Grey’s Anatomy to a larger audience behind Desperate Housewives. Grey’s Anatomy, however, was highly successful in the timeslot, and Boston Legal was pre-empted until the fall of 2005, where it would take over NYPD Blue’s Tuesday timeslot for an extended season of twenty-seven episodes. Both Rhona Mitra and Monica Potter departed the series over the hiatus, while Julie Bowen was cast as Denise Bauer. Ryan Michelle Bathe and Justin Mentell were later cast as junior associates Sara Holt and Garrett Wells. A new writing staff headed by Janet Leahy took over as of episode four of the second season.
The second episode of Season 3 introduced Craig Bierko as Jeffrey Coho and Constance Zimmer as Claire Simms. In episode 3×11 Gary Anthony Williams was added to the main cast as Clarence Bell, a role he had played twice earlier in the season. Also introduced in this episode was Nia Long as Vanessa Walker, in a guest role that lasted 3 episodes. In the 15th episode of the third season, Craig Bierko left the show.
On June 4, 2007, TV Guide announced that Rene Auberjonois, Julie Bowen, Mark Valley, and Constance Zimmer would not return for the fourth season. On June 13, 2007, it was reported that actor John Larroquette would join the cast as a senior partner transferred from the New York offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt (Note: Larroquette previously appeared on BL’s forerunner The Practice as another character, a hyper-intelligent man on trial for killing his gay lover; this role earned Larroquette an Emmy Award.); and actress Tara Summers would be joining as a young associate. Also, Christian Clemenson, who appeared occasionally as Jerry Espenson, a brilliant but socially inept lawyer, would be upgraded to contract player. The possibility was left open that Rene Auberjonois, Mark Valley, Julie Bowen, and Constance Zimmer could return in guest roles. On July 2, 2007, it was reported that both Rene Auberjonois and Mark Valley would return in recurring roles; furthermore, it was announced that Taraji P. Henson would join the cast later in the fourth season, with Saffron Burrows appearing in a recurring role. It was subsequently reported that Burrows would become a full-time cast member.
On July 19, 2007, Boston Legal was nominated for six Emmy awards, including Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series (James Spader), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (William Shatner), and its first nomination for Best Drama Series in three years. On September 14, 2007, James Spader won the Emmy for his role as the lead character in the show, whilst nominations were lost for William Shatner and Christian Clemenson in their roles for Supporting and Guest Actors, respectively. Also, the show itself lost as Best Drama Series to The Sopranos.
On May 13, 2008 ABC announced that Boston Legal would return for a fifth (and final) season in the fall. Saffron Burrows did not return as a series regular, having joined the cast of My Own Worst Enemy. The final season consisted of 13 episodes to bring it over the “100″ episode mark, setting it up for a successful syndication run. There was speculation that Boston Legal might receive an additional episode-order if the show had another strong showing in the Emmy Awards and produced solid ratings in its new Fall time slot. The season began airing on September 22, 2008.
On June 18 and June 20, 2008 it was reported that Gary Anthony Williams and Taraji P. Henson would not return for the fifth season as Clarence Bell and Whitney Rome, respectively.
On July 17, 2008, Boston Legal was nominated for a series-high seven Emmy nominations, including for Best Drama Series for a second year in a row. Spader, Bergen and Shatner were also nominated for their respective roles.
Boston Legal began airing in reruns on ION Television in September 2008. And in most markets, episodes began airing in off-network syndication (ironically in anticipation of the last episodes, to bring it to just over 100), on the weekend of September 28-29, 2008.
Boston Legal’s series finale aired on Monday, December 8, 2008 on the ABC Television Network at 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central. It was a two-hour episode. The finale saw the firm sold to new Chinese interests because of Crane, Poole & Schmidt’s poor financial position. The new owners were not accepted by Shirley Schmidt, Carl Sack, or Jerry Espenson, who voted against the acquisition along with 3 other partners. Denny Crane insulted the new owners by shooting them with a paintball gun. The acrimony engendered by the name partner’s actions led the Chinese to begin plans for downsizing and replacing the litigation division of the firm. It was announced that all of the show’s leading characters would be fired as of January 1st, 2009. This led to a typically eloquent, but ultimately ill-received, showdown on the part of Alan Shore, wherein he turned the tables on the new owners, attempting to preemptively fire them. Though his argument was not taken in the light he’d intended, it did prompt an offer from the Chinese owners to rehire all the cast members, though Shirley muses that likely they will be let go over a longer period of time. Also, Denny’s earlier actions led to his name being removed from the firm which was renamed to Chang, Poole & Schmidt.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Dec 7th, David E. Kelly said that it was in fact ABC’s decision to end Boston Legal. He also stated that executives did not want to commit to a fifth season, so he had to fight to bring it back for a short season of 13 episodes.
