Product Description
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Led by an Emmy Award-winning cast (James Spader, Denny Crane and
Candice Bergen), "Boston Legal" tells the professional and
personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally
challenged attorneys. Fast-paced and darkly comedic, the series
confronts social and moral issues, while its characters
continually stretch the boundaries of the law.
.com
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As in Munchkinland, people seem to come and go so quickly at the
law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Out the door as Season Four
begins are cast members Mark Valley, Julie Bowen, Rene
Auberjonois, and Constance Zimmer (a tough loss). But the more
things change the more they stay the same. Introduced to sweet,
pretty and capable new lawyer Katie Lloyd (Tara Summers), it
takes Alan Shore (James Spader) all of one second to come on to
her. It takes Denny Crane (William Shatner) five. The most
stellar addition to the firm is Night Court Emmy-winner John
Larroquette as Carl Sack from the New York office. He has come
not to shake things up so much as to tone them down, and "wring
out some of the madness." "We are in the business of law," he
pronounces. "A law firm has to be discreet, conservative." Good
luck with that, Carl, especially when one of the lawyers keeps
popping up on YouTube dressed as his female alter-ego, and the
senior partner is one minute arrested for soliciting a
prostitute, and the next caught in his own Larry Craig bathroom
incident, and the next courting a discrimination suit after
firing a female associate for being overweight. That, of course,
would be addled loose cannon Denny Crane, who seems to be more of
a distraction this season, but who rises to the occasion in an
excellent episode in which he and Alan find themselves on
site sides in the case of a Massachusetts town that wants to
secede from the United States. "Every time someone counts me out
of the game, I surprise them," he tells Carl. Boston Legal is
nothing if not surprising, as witness the story arc involving a
woman (former Saturday Night Live ensemble member Mary Gross)
with Aspergers whose budding romance with Jerry Espenson
(Christian Clemenson) is threatened by her romantic love for
inanimate objects (the condition exists; look it up). Another new
addition to the firm, Lorraine (Saffron Burrows), herself an
object of Alan's obsession, reveals explosive secrets from her
past. But more compelling is the dramatic case of a woman (guest
star Mare Winningham) who efficiently plots the murder of her
daughter's killer, but wants Alan to plead temporary insanity.
Spader, a three-time Emmy-winner as Alan, is at his best when he
is on his (and series creator David Kelley's) "soapbox" ("Don't
you get tired going on and on like that?" Denny affectionately
chides him). His verbal smackdown of the United States Supreme
Court justices in the episode, "The Court Supreme," is one of the
season's most memorable moments. Carl Sack may not succeed in
making Crane, Pool & Schmidt "a normal law firm," but as one is
heard to remark, "It's not everyday you encounter compelling
characters, is it?" --Donald Liebenson
Beyond Boston Legal – Season 4 on DVD
Boston Legal – Season One on DVD (
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Boston Legal – Season Two on DVD (
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Boston Legal – Season Three on DVD (
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Stills from Boston Legal – Season Four (Click for larger image)