My own self

"Feel free to mock me all you want, but don't you dare ridicule our troops."
"Just so I'm clear, I should feel free to mock you?"

David E. Kelley is probably the most famous for Chicago Hope and Ally McBeal. I never watched the former, but I remember the latter fondly from my teens and whenever I've caught a rerun in recent year, I've never been disappointed. Those are very far from his only escapades into television creation, however, and the long-running The Practice is thus only one out of the many shows of his I've never seen. When it came to its end, it spawned a spin-off, Boston Legal. Despite my inclination to watch everything in proper order, I was recently talked into checking this show out. While I must admit I still wish I'd started at the beginning, with The Practice, I am in no way regretting this, as it is a highly intelligent and highly entertaining piece of televised storytelling.

Where The Practice is reputed to have been serious and Ally McBeal was littered with absurd fantasies, funky lawsuits and crazy characters, Boston Legal finds a neat pathway between the two. Almost every episode has at least one, usually several, interesting and intelligent points of social or political commentary, but the characters are quirky and silly enough that the humour - if only rarely the crazy - I recognise from Ally McBeal is apparent in just about every single scene.

The two main draws to this show are William Shatner's eminent performance as Denny Crane, over-the-hill rabid Republican superlawyer with an ego the size of the Atlantic Ocean and a brain that's starting to fail him, and James Spader equally stunning portrayal of the direct, witty, resourceful and, well, intolerably smug Alan Shore, the man whose behaviour as an utter bastard is only matched by the kind and caring heart that drives him deep down. These two characters are legendary on their own, but the interplay and dynamic between them is frequently nigh on perfect television.

These two would be more than enough to make me watch the show, but there's more. The cast of supporting characters, while somewhat underdeveloped as a whole, shows a lot of promise. In particular I hope to see more of Mark Valley's idealistic Brad Chase and Rene Auberjonois' superbly no-nonsense Paul Lewiston as we go along. Another stellar performance is Candice Bergen as senior partner Shirley Schmidt, entering the show halfway through the first season and giving every indication of becoming a major presence as the show continues onwards.

The little peek I've had at season 2 so far promises even more focus on the issues and the politics rather than the inter-office drama, which actually suits me fine, and I look forward to it. The dynamic duo of Spader and Shatner is simply so awesome that their very presence makes every plot they're in character-driven enough.

Every once in a while you start watching a show that just flat out entertains you to the core of your bones, and you fall a little in love with it. I have every awareness that this review is written during such a fit of affection, and is thereby probably a little overly positive. Let me therefore just add that there are some issues with this show, mainly in the underdeveloped and underutilised cast of secondary characters. But honestly, you don't fall this strongly for a show after a single season for no good reason. If you liked the comedy and characterisation of Ally McBeal and think a slightly more realistic take on the same would be for you, or you have an interest in a show that's genuinely fun whilst exploring real-life issues of politics and ideology in today's USA, you should be as excited about this show as I am. And if neither of those things sound appealing, then, well, you should still watch it just for every single scene that ends with the words "Denny Crane".