A Televisual Feast

Another messy episode. I paid attention this time and noticed no Lara Flynn Boyle in the opening credits, which means ABC just ran the first season leftovers during the second. It doesn’t really matter, except to show how little thought went into it (how many series did Kelley have on back then, four?). With four […]

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Big surprise ending as they burn off first season episodes (look at Bobby’s changing hairstyle). Besides Bobby’s big surprise case, there’s lots of Bobby bonding with Judge Linda Hunt, which is fine enough, but it really doesn’t do much. His case is interesting, but it just seems a wee bit too much for the show. […]

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A nice episode. Jimmy gets a case–oh, and I didn’t mean nice in the above adequate sense, but in the sentimental and pleasant sense–a girl bitten by a doctor’s dog, Eugene has to get off another guilty client (to win two more bets) and Ellenor and Lindsay get involved in jury tampering (technically). The end […]

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Hmm. Here’s an odd one. When Kelley has to pick between making Boyle and Bobby–I’m actually wondering if and when I’ll think of her as Helen–the protagonist of the episode (and maybe, in a “Crime Story” sort of way, the series protagonist)… he goes with Boyle. It’s an odd choice, out of place for the […]

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Kelley brings “The Practice” back up to snuff–in fact, maybe even exceeding any previous snuff–the second episode of the second season. It’s clever and emotionally affecting. Oddly, it does so well because Bobby takes a back seat to the rest of the characters. Rebecca, Lindsay and Eugene help Jimmy out with a case only Jimmy […]

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I always talk about stories–movies usually–shortcutting at the end, getting to a level they didn’t quite build to… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TV episode try to do it before, but Kelley tries to get away with it here and it doesn’t work. It works okay (maybe a half point), but it doesn’t […]

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There’s something decidedly lackluster about the first season finale of “The Practice.” Lackluster enough for me to use the passive voice. The supporting members of the firm disappear–Ellenor and Lindsay have an argument, otherwise they’re all background (and Rebecca interrupts the argument again). Rebecca and Eugene have a “black” adventure (Eugene’s defending a nineteen year-old […]

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