I was a fan of "the practice" for the last 6 seasons of its 8 season run so naturally, I followed the show into its spinoff, "Boston Legal". Any other fans of everyone's favorite flamingoes, Alan Shore and Denny Crane here?

Whoa, I didn't know Boston Legal was a spin-off, or that The Practice had even made it to eight seasons. I haven't watched The Practice since it's second season back in the day.

well, you're missing quite a treat!

You did know the first 13 episodes of "tp" were released on DVD this summer, right?

Yeah, I work in the movie section at Best Buy, so I was putting them on the shelves and it took me back a little bit. Still haven't purchased it, but I probably will sooner or later.

I have to go to work now but when I get on tonight, I'll post the synopsis of how "tp" became "BL" so you could start watching "BL" if you wanted. :)

Awesome :D .

Ok, I'll start with the off-air reasoning.

"tp" (I spell it "the practice" because that's the way it appeared in the logo) aired on Sunday night for its first 6 seasons. Midway through the 7th season, ABC moved it to Mondays and placed 2 brand-new shows around it. The ratings dropped and ABC apparently blamed "tp" for nto being able to carry the night. ABC renewed "tp" for season 8 BUT they cut the amount they were paying David E. Kelley to produce the show in half. So, DEK had to fire half the cast, including the lead, Dylan McDermott.

Kelley retained Steve Harris (Eugene Young), Camryn Mannheim (Ellenor Frutt), Michale Badalucco (Jimmy Berluti), and the one who played Jamey Stringer (I forget her name but she's Steven Spielberg's stepdaughter).

DEK brought in two new characters--Tara Wilson (played by Rhona Mitra) and the new star of the shore--Alan Shore as played by James Spader.

In my next post, I'll give you the synposis of tp:S8 which led directly to "Boston Legal" which I wrote for an Australian friend who started watching BL and wanted to know what he missed in tp.

It would take too long to explain the first 7 seasons of "The Practice" so I won't bother. At the start of S8, the firm (Young, Frutt, and Berluti) has been drastically reduced and needs staff badly. Alan Shore, a long-time friend of Ellenor Frutt walks into the firm's office and asks her for a job because he was fired from his last job for embezzling--allegedly. As you can imagine, things get progressively weirder/more entertaining from there. Various things that Alan does which are questionable to say the least include: telling a female DA he fantasized about her, concealing evidence to help a mentally-disturbed man get away with murder, hacking into a corporation's computers to get a document that would destroy them in court then blackmailing their attorney to sell it back to them, attempting to call in favors from judges he has slept with, impersonating an airline executive to settle a lawsuit, videotaping a cheating wife having sex and broadcasting it in the office, attempting to buy off witnesses and probably more that I'm forgetting. Even his non-court actions are odd, such as the time he picks up a hooker and when she asks him his name, he says "Eugene Young".

However, in all of this, he always does all he can to help his client, especially the ones he thinks are innocent. Also, Eugene Young (the head of the firm) wants to fire him several times but always gladly accepts the checks Alan produces. One time, Eugene was going to fire Alan but Alan produced a $3,000,000 check from a client and Eugene was forced to swallow his pride and keep him on.

When Alan has to go to his hometown to defend his childhood friend, Paul Stewart (Patrick Dempsey), everything comes to a head. Catherine Piper appears and is the witness that Alan tries to buy off. However, as the money wasn't enough, she has "an attack of conscience" and reveals her attempted perjury to the police. In the middle, of the trial, Alan's jury consultant tells him he comes off as smug and cocky so he needs an average person sitting at the table with him. This would be the perfect role for Jimmy Berluti except that Alan has been belittling Jimmy since he arrived and Jimmy doesn't want to help him. They get in a shoving match (which Alan wins) and Eugene swears he'll fire him after the case (I won't reveal the verdict or the details of the case).

Eugene fires him in the next episode. Tara Wilson, the paralegal who joined the firm along with Alan and has had heavy sexual tension with him all season, also gets fired for giving Alan access to the firm's computers. Alan hires the firm of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt to represent him in his wrongful termination suit against his old firm. We meet Denny Crane, the greatest trial lawyer of all-time, who constantly says his name because "often people can't believe they're in the same room as a legend. I say my name to remind them that yes, it's true!" We also meet Matthew Billings as the man who keeps Denny in line (a sort of amalgam of Brad Chase and Paul Lewiston) and Hannah Rose, a bitchy attorney who gets the job done but has no time for little things like feelings. We meet Sally Heep, the newest lawyer at the firm. Alan is represented by Denny and Matthew in court but Denny allows Alan to deliver his own closing argument. Alan wins the suit and Denny is so impressed by Alan that he hires him and because she's cute, he hires Tara too. We do not meet Poole, Chase, Lewiston, or Schmidt until Season 1 of BL.

Alan and Denny build a rapport (although we never see the balcony) and Alan puts his unresolved sexual tension with Tara to the side while he pursues Sally Heep, who has a penchant for taking her shirt off and dancing in her bra on tabletops in bars. :) TP ends with Alan making his way at his new firm, Denny being a credible lawyer and possibly totally nuts and Tara proving she knows Alan better than he knows himself by getting him to admit he has feelings for her even though he was trying to deny it.

Check the forum for much more detail but I hope that sheds a bit of light on what you missed.

Oh, and the best Denny Crane moment from TP is when Denny asks Alan to introduce him before his opening statement. Alan does so, denny gets up and says "Denny Crane!" and sits down again. That is his entire opening statement. ^_^

Catherine Piper is played by Betty White (This was written fro someone who knew BL but not tp so for those that don't know either, it may be more confusing).

BL centers around Alan and Denny's cases at Crane, Poole, & Schmidt (Shirley Schmidt, as played by Candice Bergen).

The writing and acting are brilliant but there is much more humor in BL than in tp. The next epsiode of BL is Tuesday at 10 (local) on your ABC station. try an episode and tell me what you think! :)