The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

It just seemed to come out, and then get forgotten in the excitement of launching Boston Legal on dvd...

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

Yeah I liked this show too, am also in the UK so only saw bits and pieces of it.

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

This is the point where Hank Dearborn would've chimed in with, "Fox sucks."

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

I absolutely love THE PRACTICE. I'm currently watching Season 6, but haven't seen either season 4 or season 5, as they never aired on French national TV and I didn't have cable when they aired on it. This one and PICKET FENCES are my two favorite shows from David E. Kelley, and I certainly hope Fox gives them another chance.

On the other hand, I have never watched a single episode of BOSTON LEGAL. The constantly revolving cast seems to tell me they don't know what to do with their characters.

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

Kelley also did the same constant cast-changing on "Boston Public" and to a lesser extent "Ally McBeal." It does appear to be a weird and generally unproductive tic of a restless mind, although some of it may be budgetary. It's certainly not the biggest flaw in "Boston Legal," unfortunately.

I'd love to see "Picket Fences" and other early Kelley shows finished on DVD. I was hoping that, once "Boston Legal" ended, Kelley would use the added time on his hands to twist Fox's arm. But after 20+ years at Fox, he bailed this year and moved his production company to Warner Bros., so his clout with respect to Fox home video may now be zilch. Alas.

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

The Ally cast changes were almost always due to the restlessness of the cast itself. There were many departures in seasons 3 & 4, leaving Calista, Jane and Greg pretty much the only original cast members left. I know one of the cast members was let go because of a drug problem...others simply wanted out, especially Lucy Liu. The cast members early in season 5 (James Marsden, etc), were actually fired though, because their characters were adding nothing to the show. So they fired James Marsden and added...Dame Edna??? Weird, weird weird...

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

Again, I can't say for sure, not having seen the show, but I'm under the impression BOSTON LEGAL gets more of the "unexplained sudden disappearance" kind of departures than either ALLY McBEAL or BOSTON PUBLIC, two shows I watched from start to finish, did.

I'll admit it bugged me that Ally's roommate Renée (Lisa Nicole Carson) disappeared without any explanation mid-way through Season 4 only to appear (along with Georgia) with a lousy "we haven't seen much of each other lately" line in the series finale and that Louisa (Rashida Jones) vanished from BOSTON PUBLIC without so much as a throw-away line, though.

Ethan, the final season of ALLY McBEAL is a prime example of shooting your show in the foot. Out of the many characters introduced in this final season, they elected to get rid of the two most likeable (Julianne Nicholson's Jenny Shaw and James Marsden's Glenn Foy) to shove the insufferable Raymond Milbury (Josh Hopkins), Victor Morrison (Jon Bon Jovi), Claire Otoms (Dame Edna Everadge) and Maddie Harrington (Hayden Panettiere) down our throats. I did like Christina Ricci's Liza "Lolita" Bump a lot, even though she was clearly a replacement for Ling (Lucy Liu). It made no sense that the firm could afford hiring her, Wilson Jade (Bobby Cannavale) and Claire, after they claimed budget cuts were their reason for firing Jenny and Glenn, though.

Anyway, back to THE PRACTICE, I definitely want at least the rest of Season 2 released if only for the fact that it contains the conclusion to the ALLY McBEAL crossover episode (I own ALLY McBEAL in Region 2).

Re: The Practice S2 (Part 2) +?

As you say, there are a variety of reasons, although it's interesting that the pattern is constant across the later Kelley shows. At one time Kelley had a way of writing out characters in startling, unexpected ways: Roma Maffia in "Chicago Hope" (caught embezzling with an altruistic motive) or Joey Slotnick and Thomas McCarthy in "Boston Public" (teacher/student romance). Sympathetic characters who'd usually get a reprieve on TV, but not in real life. But in recent years Kelley hasn't bothered with anything so nuanced; the explanations are usually nonexistent or just silly.

The one I'd really like to know about is whether Jessalyn Gilsig quit or was fired from "Boston Public." Her personality and Kelley's "Ally McBeal"-style writing of her character seemed at odds throughout the whole show (and Jeri Ryan seemed to be a de facto replacement of Gilsig with someone more in line with Kelley's thinking), so it wasn't a surprise. But Gilsig's departure immediately after the consummation of her character's relationship with Anthony Heald was a huge disappointment - a real "jump the shark" moment, to use a term I generally detest.