L.A. Law (1986-1994) (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

Fox had a MOD program that even included Blu-rays … until the Disney deal. I don't recall them doing any TV material.

 

[jayembee]

The first five seasons are the best. Several original cast members left after season 5, and so did showrunner David Kelley, later of “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal” fame. Kelley took over the show in season 4 after Steven Bochco stepped back, and his two seasons are arguably the best of the series.

The first half of season 6, with new showrunner Patricia Green, was a disappointment from both a creative and a ratings standpoint. Green was fired halfway through the season and Bochco came back to run the second half of the season. It recovered temporarily.

Then, Bochco hired “St. Elsewhere” vets John Masius and John Tinker to run season seven, and those episodes were simply a disaster. Tonally, the show was all wrong and the audience tuned out in droves. The show shut down production and they brought back William Finkelstein, one of the writers from the early seasons, to run the show. He lasted for the rest of the series and also wrote the 2002 reunion movie. Creatively it was an improvement, but it never reached the same heights again. The audience didn’t return either.

The later seasons are still worth watching, but keep in mind that you’ll struggle to get through the first half of both seasons 6 and 7.

Funny thing is...I started watching the show with Season 5. At the time, it didn't look like my kind of thing, but then I discovered that a favorite writer (novel, short story, comics, and TV) of mine, Alan Brennert, started working on L.A. Law. So I started watching the then-current S5 while catching up with the previous seasons being syndicated on Lifetime. Brennert co-wrote from 5x13 to the end of the season, did a couple of S6 (first half), then worked on most of the episodes in the second half. Of course, at the time, it was definitely a Writers Room co-op deal, with most episodes being credited to three or four writers.

Anyway, got really hooked on the show. I think I've got most of the episodes recorded on Betamax from the NBC airings from late S5 to the end, and Lifetime airings for the earlier seasons.

I was disappointed that Shout! only released the first three seasons, but I guess I'll have to snag the UK releases.

 

[jayembee]

I agree, but what's also remarkable is how many moments on the show are fall-down, flat-out, laugh-out-loud funny. In an era when sitcoms were trying to be more dramatic with varying degree of success, you also saw dramatic shows such as this one adding humor to the mix.

What made L.A. Law even funnier was the episode titles. Since they weren't presented on-screen, the writers often gave them very funny titles. The one I appreciated the most was an episode from S1 in which Grace had a case involving bull semen, and the episode was titled "Beef Jerky".

 

[jayembee]

EDITED UPDATE: turns out LA Law complete series is OOP on Amazon.co.uk

Well, that sucks.

 

[sjbradford]

I like the story with Abby hanging out a shingle. She was one of my favorite characters from the show because she was a bit of an underdog. She was also played by the very appealing Michelle Greene.

I didn’t like how they portrayed her as being super successful/arrogant in the subsequent TV movie reunion.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Coming to Hulu next month, in a newly done Disney HD remaster!

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2023/10/12/date-announcement-la-law-all-8-seasons-remastered-in-hd-on-hulu-november-3-245214/20231012hulu01/

...in16x9.

 

[jayembee]

I "liked" the previous post before noticing the "in 16x9". Argh!

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I "liked" the previous post before noticing the "in 16x9". Argh!

That was my initial thought as well when I first saw the news.

"A new classic Fox remaster from Disney? In HD? THIS IS WONDERFUL!"

Then I read a little further and the joy turned to a string of profanities.