Reviews

AP is reporting today that Candice Bergen is joining the "Boston Legal" cast full-time in January, playing Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner of the firm. I never cared much for Bergen's acting, I find her shrill and annoying. And my concern is that her character will overshadow Alan Shore and Denny Crane, the two best-written (and acted) characters currently on TV. Who knows -- maybe it'll be good to have a "mature" woman on the show -- but as far as I'm concerned, Tara, Lori and Sally are just fine. (If they are going to add characters, it would be nice to see a minority character; the show is getting whiter by the week and a diversity would only make it better).

After 8 episodes of Boston Legal, I am hooked. I was a big fan of The Practice for the first 4 seasons or so but lost interest until the final season when Spader was brought on. His emmy-winning portrayal of Alan Shore has transferred seamlessly to this spin off, and the rest of the ensemble cast is, by and large, excellent. It took a couple of episodes for me to warm up to the Lori Colson character but now I can see why she is the female center of the show -- she is effectively the anti-Shore. Shatner is (surprisingly) brilliant and, while the Tara character doesn't get enough airtime, I love every second she's on screen. The tone of the show is a pitch-perfect mix of quirkiness, drama and dark humor, and the pacing is much swifter than The Practice, which in the later seasons became sluggish, droning and depressing. Here's hoping Boston Legal can keep it going!