Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over Binding: DVD EAN: 5039036026833 Format: Box set Label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Number Of Items: 5 Publisher: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Region Code: 2 Release Date: 2006-07-24 Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: 2004
The classic combination of James Spader and William Shatner is just one of many reasons to savor the inaugural 17-episode season of Boston Legal. Making its highly rated ABC debut on October 3, 2004, this darkly comedic spinoff from The Practice looked like a formulaic reworking of creator David E. Kelley's previously successful series Ally McBeal, with similar plots and quirky characters enmeshed in personal and professional affairs of the heart at the prestigious Boston law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. It quickly became apparent that Kelley, co-executive producer Bill D'Elia, and the show's magnificent ensemble cast were onto something equally fresh, funny, and infectiously entertaining. Both Shatner and Spader won Emmys for their original roles on The Practice, and the priceless pairing of the erratic, egomaniacal senior partner Denny Crane (Shatner, doing the best work of his career) and ethically challenged attorney Alan Shore (Spader, likewise) signaled the arrival of one of the finest comedic duos in TV history. Waging a two-man war on political correctness, the boisterous has-been Denny loves the sound of his own name (the mere mention of "Denny Crane" qualifies as ego-stroking foreplay), unabashedly subjects female associates to his lascivious advances, and (in creator Kelley's words) "trades on the currency of his reputation" as an undefeated trial attorney. As the show's fascinating heart and soul, Alan Shore is a walking contradiction, and Spader plays him perfectly as a charismatic, self-loathing lothario who'll bend the law to suit his higher purposes. Deeply cynical yet fiercely committed to his own complex and compassionate moral code, he's brazenly open about his sexual appetites as he savors the affections of smart, sexy associates Sally Heep (Lake Bell), and Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra), whose relationship with Shore grows strained as the season progresses.
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
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: very humorous look at lawyers and also very worrying if they're anything like this in real life! Comment: This tv series is a very humorous and sometimes serious take on the legal profession and a particular group of male and female lawyers.
It's hard to imagine real lawyers having the freedom to speak to one another and to judges and other people as openly and abruptly as these lawyers do.If you watch the programme and don't take it too seriously it is certainly entertaining - I don't usually watch legal - based dramas/programmes but I managed to watch 17 episodes of boston legal in 3 days.Be warned though:if you don't like men constantly talking about sex and throwing inuendo around an office then steer clear of what's on offer here.James spader and william shatner are relentless in their pursuit of their female colleagues and any other women. Customer Rating: Summary: unbelievable Comment: may I just start by saying buying this was a drunken mistake!
And as drunken mistakes go this would be up there with my most inspired.
Can't believe I'm saying this but William shatner is utterly brilliant!! he plays his character perfectly all the cast are excellent but without a doubt shatner and james spader are outstanding!
This series is hilarious and serious and moving and again I can't believe I'm saying this as it is american but it is original
and a must watch for anyone with a sense of humour
WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST COURTROOM DRAMA EVER TO COME OUT OF THE STATES Customer Rating: Summary: Inspired! Perfect! Comment: I rarely give fives. In fact, I think this may be the second.
But I recently saw an episode of Boston Legal on digital TV from series 3 and on the strength of that one episode, bought Series 1 and 2 on DVD. I made a good investment.
Quite frankly the best series to have come out of America in years. It is like Northern Exposure set in a legal firm, but with fewer morals and more laughs. It also has a shining star in the form of William Shatner who has never been known for great parts, but as Danny Crane, has found his perfect role. When teaming up with James Spader, the 2 are phenomenal.
Every show is fresh, intelligent, well scripted and acted and most importantly, constantly surprising. There has, honestly, not been a single episode that I have not adored. I rarely use expletives, rarely give high praise, but this is the best show I have seen in years.
Enjoy!
Because you surely will - Denny Crane!!!! Customer Rating: Summary: Kirk to Enterprise: it's TV, but much better than we know it! Comment: Fans of such diverse pleasures as The Sopranos and Huff may well find in this series a further oasis of quality TV. There's an attractive core cast and milieu, lovely production values and zappy dialogue, plus consistently and wickedly original legal shenanigans to keep us engaged.
Easily Boston Legal's best feature, of course, is the sustained double-act between James Spader and William Shatner. Spader has always been an eye-catching, nuanced and authentic cinema actor. Here, he makes the switch to TV with, if anything, an uplift in his work (mostly through the room he's given to inhabit and grow into his austere but enchanting character; which he clearly does, over the course of things).
Shatner, meanwhile, is a revelation in his ability to sustain self-deprecation within the persona of an outwardly gross and superficial character whose vulnerability (and occasional steel) is, again, beautifully developed across the series. His regular delivery of (and reaction to his delivery of) his own character's name - "Denny Crane" - is a constant joy.
The Spader-Shatner show is, in fact, a sustained double impersonation (or "interpretation" if you like) of an otherwise impossible comic-acting "dream team." Watching these two at work is nothing less than seeing a partnership between Charles Laughton and W. C. Fields brought to unlikely but fantastically effective life - and again, given the time and material to forge something really precious (and hilarious) between them.
Listen out for the sound Denny's mobile phone makes when he flips it open, by the way... Customer Rating: Summary: FAB !!!!! Comment: This is one of the best things ever made for TV.
William Shatner and James Spader are a match made in heaven !!
This is real laugh out loud stuff.
Well worth buying,a real treat.
![Boston Legal: Season 1 [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SGMBY9MWL._SL160_.jpg)
