Evolution of Legal Drama – LA Law to Boston Legal.
How did the legal drama evolve to include the type of “over the top” antics, humor and lovable characters that we’ve see in “Boston Legal”? This blog is going to briefly look at the evolution of the legal drama starting with “LA Law”.
“LA Law” was the first wildly popular legal drama to hit network airwaves. The most important element of the legal drama was in place as many episodes were dealing with controversial issues such as homosexuality, AIDS, abortion and racism. Keep in mind that the evolved form of the genre (Boston Legal) would once again tackle all of these. The problem with “LA Law” was that it was all drama; it didn’t leave a lot of room for humor.
“The Practice” was brought along by David Kelly who also created the legal comedy “Ally McBeal”. “The practice” ran for eight seasons and was mostly serious but contained two important genes that needed to be passed on: Alan Shore and Denny Crane (these characters were respectively played by James Spader and William Shatner). With Shatner and Spader, audiences found the occasional giggle during the last season of “The Practice”, and the rest is history. These two characters were given their own spin off series “Boston Legal”. As all fans know “Boston Legal” tackles the issues expected of the legal drama while also mixing that “over the top” style of humor that made Ally so fun!
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