A Televisual Feast

That’s Susie Essman in a pound of makeup as the ancient aunt who prattles on about all the famous people she once knew. The voice sounded familiar, but it’s still a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately, while it’s an okay gimmick, the episode falls back on it most of the time. Otherwise, it’s falling back […]

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If the first new (season two shot) episode of “The Practice” after the conclusion of the burners, which redeemed the show, doesn’t put it right back in the crapper, I don’t know what would. Kelley goes all out here, going as exploitative as he possibly can–Bobby Donnell, on trial for murder… because he’s a defense […]

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Olivia Newton-John guest stars as herself, slowly driven from perky to pissed as she suffers through Stacey’s waitressing. This episode has a solid hold on the character–dingy but capable. I remember, back when it was first aired, I don’t think I knew who Olivia Newton-John was.
The episode deals with Stacey’s credit card debt, the pre-title […]

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This episode has to be the series best so far and for a couple unrelated reasons. First, it’s the most artistic. The story’s simple and unadorned. Rockford’s on a case. Director Vincent McEveety has a bunch of sequences with just music and sound effects, no dialogue. They probably take up a majority of the episode’s […]

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A superior episode. Most of it takes place at a Halloween party, or on the way to one, where Ned and Stacey eventually kiss. That big plot development isn’t the best part of the episode by far, though it’s handled very well (their public argument over the ramifications, since they liked it, is fantastic). The […]

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The last burner–written by David E. Kelley, credited solo (which I had commented on back when I finished the first season)–pulls “The Practice” out of its hole. Three cases–Bobby’s high school girlfriend is now a call girl, Eugene and Lindsay have a woman freaking from the doctor using maggots in her leg, Ellenor is trying […]

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This episode features a number of the best lines in the series (so far), particularly, “Oh, God, what kind of world is it where a man can’t love his fake wife’s mother’s best friend?” Or something to that effect.
It also–with two women credited as writers–features the most humanizing portrayal of Ned. It isn’t just his […]

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Here’s a fun way to spend an hour… I suppose the episode’s kind of different, dealing with Eugene’s realization of how terrible a person his actions–professionally required or not–make him. There’s a hilarious bit when Ellenor tells him to man up. It’d be more effective if the series hadn’t already done covered these problems with […]

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The series–with its first female writer so far–gets around to humanizing Ned and saving Stacey from her dumbness arc. In this episode, Stacey realizes Ned loves the parents she can’t stand. It gives her and Amanda a funny scene together and Ned has some great moments with the whole cast around, but it never pays […]

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Jimmy’s shooting a commercial, Bobby’s trying to save his priest from a manslaughter charge (for performing an exorcism) and Eugene… Eugene’s got a whole different thing going on. The episode does feature Barry Miller as Eugene’s soft-spoken nemesis, which is a welcome return, as well Paul McCrane as Eugene’s client and McCrane’s funny enough. But […]

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