The Practice - And then there were three... (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

OW. Ow, ow, ow.

http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/ar...053402312,294,

 

[Patrick Sun]

No money, no money, no money...

 

[TheLongshot]

Might as well not bring it back. I wonder how they are going to explain that much turnover at the office?

Jason

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I can understand shaking up the cast a bit, but seems overboard. I wish they'd at least kept Marla Sokloff. As it is, they've lost all their major sex-appeal actors, which will make it hard to keep drawing in viewers.

 

[Don Black]

I'm guessing that Jessica Capshaw will be around along with Chyler Leigh. That's plenty of sex appeal. Still, it will be interesting if they can revitalize the series.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Is it time to also bring in the other 2 from Girls Club (Gretchen Mol and Kathleen Robertson)?

 

[Don Black]

Actually, according to CNN, Chyler won't be back. But Jessica will. Ah well...

 

[Jim Douglas]

Some more information here.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...eut/index.html

I think that will pretty much do in the show.
Any thoughts???
Jim

 

[Michael Martin]

Frankly, I think this could be great for the show. Because the characters had been around for so long, and were fairly experienced in regards to law cases, Kelly & Co was running out of things to do with them.

What I'd really like to seem them do is keep the firm small - maybe only one more person added. Right now, with the exits, we have Eugene, Ellenor, Jimmy and Jamie. That's 4 people, a lot to keep stories lines active.

My biggest hope is that they'll just forget about the Eugene/Jamie romance, and hope the audience does too. I love both characters, but they have ZERO chemistry together. It just doesn't work.

 

[Todd Henry]

I don't think it will be too hard to explain the exits. Bobby already quit the firm to start his own practice. It wouldn't surprise me if Lucy went with him to be his secretary. With Bobby out of the mix, no need to focus on Lindsay's firm. And Helen Gamble resigns after gettign frustrated with the DA. All that in the first episode.

I will continue to watch the first couple of episodes to see how the new cast works together.

Todd

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The only real thing they can't explain easily would be Lisa Gay Hamilton's exit. The rest could be explained as Todd just said.

 

[Rob T]

The only real thing they can't explain easily would be Lisa Gay Hamilton's exit. The rest could be explained as Todd just said.

Rebecca sticks by Bobby no matter what. That has been shown before many times throughout the series. She could of left with him, due to not liking Eugenes leadership abilities, to start up a new firm.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Rebecca sticks by Bobby no matter what. That has been shown before many times throughout the series. She could of left with him, due to not liking Eugenes leadership abilities, to start up a new firm

But he said he was going to leave to start up his own private practice. Bringing her along kinda destroys the point of him making a new firm by himself. Bringing Marla along makes sense because he'll need a secretary, but I don't think his intent was to bring any lawyers with him.

 

[Joel Mack]

Chyler's been on "The Practice"? Why doesn't somebody TELL me these things?!?! Argh!

 

[Todd Henry]

I forgot about Rebecca.

Todd

 

[Michael Martin]

But he said he was going to leave to start up his own private practice. Bringing her along kinda destroys the point of him making a new firm by himself.

To a degree, yes. But I was fully expecting Rebecca to go with him, no matter what. The last episode really hinted at her possibly leaving to go with Bobby, so I think it's not out of the question.

She could even leave to start a practice by herself.

I'd like to see them do something credible and perhaps over 2-3 episodes to explain why Helen leaves. She's been so integral to the series that an abrupt exit will not work.

 

[David Coleman]

I must admit that i'm shocked by the cast changes (mostly there being so many of them). After thinking about them it's becoming a little more clear to me.

The past couple seasons the character of Bobby has become boring! Honestly can you say that he's been interesting at all this past season? If his character had been the type of bedrock (think Sipowitz, Dr.Carter) then I can see how the different characters could bounce off against him. Maybe they've done all they can with Bobby personally and professionally? As far as Lindsey is concerned, they really butchered her character this year! In watching the show I said to myself "what the heck is going on with Lindsey"? I truly think the writers back themselves into a corner and couldn't get out of it. Without Bobby negates the need for Rebecca as those two are intertwined together. I wouldn't have expected her to stay around with Bobby's exit. As for Lucy, her character was great the first season she appeared but they strangely tamed her character thus negating the need for her. Claire? Well without Lindsey there's no need for Claire!

What surprises me most is the exit of Helen's character!! I think that the show improved most when they added her character the second season! A strong DA character provides a perfect counterpoint to firm and I really wonder how well they'll do in replacing her character (if the have a DA at all)! I personally am still missing Richard Bey!

As for the remaining cast I think they can survive but not without a few concerns! I do think that Eugene can make an effective leader of the firm. I think his character has been a very effective one (if not under appreciated one). I see great potential in exploiting Eugene's character! Jamie I really like!! I think there's a lot you can do with her character!! We only scratched the surface of her this season and we should discover lots more. Eleanor, I wonder about? This character has basically been ignored since she had her child. I really wonder if she hasn't run her course? Jimmy too!! Have we exploited all the "Jimmy the Grunt" stories? We'll have to see!

Personally i'm in favor of cast changes! As a long time LAW & ORDER fan i'm used to them and can honestly say that they've helped keep the show fresh and interesting! I think that shows like L&O, NYPD BLUE and ER have proved that the audience will continue to tune in if presented with fresh, interesting characters. However, I do think this is too much of an overhaul! This reminds me of Kelley's purge on CHICAGO HOPE! Though that show has some interesting adds (Carla Gugino's character and James Garner's recurring role) they kept the most boring character (Dr. Shutt) and lost a great character in Dr. Austin to bring back Geiger!! Overall that purge didn't work and I'm wondering if it will be the same this year?

I'll definitely tune in the first few episodes out of curiosity but will quickly disappear if it heads south!! Hopefully it will right itself as the show quickly!!

 

[Elizabeth S]

Just when I was thinking of giving up, the addition of James Spader makes this show a "MUST SEE" for me.

 

[Andres Munoz]

Taken from Yahoo News:

The Practice may not have been perfect, but few expected producer David E. Kelley to fire most of the drama's cast, including star Dylan McDermott (news), after its seventh season.

Now, ABC's legal drama is readying its eighth season with a core cast joined by film actor James Spader (news), newcomer Rhona Mitra (news) and a three-episode appearance by Sharon Stone (news) in an attempt to rejuvenate the show after a steady decline in ratings and a disastrous move to Mondays last winter.

Spader will play Alan Shore, a brash, flamboyant attorney caught embezzling from his white-shoe firm who comes knocking on The Practice's door. Mitra plays a tough paralegal and assistant. And Stone will appear in October in a guest role that could be expanded.

Deciding to cut Kelli Williams, Lara Flynn Boyle (news) and other actors was ''creatively driven,'' Kelley said. ''The characters I found myself gravitating toward with meatier stories'' were those who remained, played by Camryn Manheim (news), Michael Badalucco (news), Steve Harris (news) and Jessica Capshaw (news).

And McDermott was simply too expensive for the show's new economics: Thanks to a last-minute renewal by ABC that halved the $6.5-million-an-episode price tag of the network's most expensive series, some changes were clearly in order.

McDermott and others were fired last May in what Kelley calls ''probably the toughest day for me careerwise.'' (McDermott agreed to return for four episodes but it's unclear when he'll resurface.)

Yet ''there's an upside to the extent that it rejuvenates you creatively,'' Kelley says. ''I think it will give a new energy to the series,'' although he admits ''we can't necessarily count on the viewing constituency that's been there (before) because many of them have left.'' (An average of 9.8 million viewers tuned in last season, little more than half the show's late 1990s peak.)

Kelley shoulders some of the blame: After a few seasons of increasingly outrageous plots, he now seems ready to re-embrace the show's earlier focus on moral and ethical quandaries while adding some humor as the show returns to Sundays.

''Gradually over time it became a show about big murder cases, and it was heavily plot-driven. I think there's room for mixing those plots with the interaction of characters.''

Holy Crap. That's a major overhaul. Not sure how that's going to play out. Takes some balls to get rid of your major star and a few others and start fresh. Let's see if it works.

Sounds like the show came very close to being cancelled.
Anyone looking forward to the changes?

 

[Elizabeth S]

This is one of the shows which I repeatedly considered dropping during the last couple of seasons. I DID stick with it though. With this mass exodus, I fully expected to finally give up, but James Spader equals a definite "must see" for me.