09-13-2008, 12:45 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 835
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Has anyone watched “The Practice”
My SO bought me a set of DVD’s (about 25 disks) covering all episode of this series. The series provides a unique view into the lives and goals of a group of attorneys who pursue criminal defense cases. They often win but lose frequently as well. What is unique about this show is that it provides an unblinking view at defense attorneys, the DA’s office, and several Superior Court Judges and focuses on many of the conflicting dilemmas between law and morality.
The series chief protagonist, Bobby Donald (played by Dylan McDermott) is the originator and head of a small law firm in Boston. The story portrays what amounts to the descent of his life from a happy, outgoing and very bright person, to someone who’s life has become all but destroyed by his profession. Towards the end he leaves his wife, who is another partner in the firm, and shortly after leaves the firm with the goal of starting another practice and regaining something of what he idealized in law practice. Along the way there are many, many, many fascinating and revealing stories. Mr. Donald, we learn, decided to pursue the practice of law due to stories his father relayed to him from the time Mr. Donald was a child. While we never hear these stories, we find out that Mr. Donald’s father works as a janitor in a law firm nearby.
David Kelley, one of the writers and producers of the show has a unique gift for showing parts of individual’s nature that are seldom seen elsewhere. There are wonderful and occasionally highly philosophical discussions that take place between judges, between Mr. Donald (and others) and Judges, and, of course, between members of the firm. In the next to last season (the final “year” of the law firm), a brilliant, dark, and highly idealist character named Alan Shore (played by James Spader) comes into the practice. Mr. Shore brings new levels of meaning to the dilemma of morality verses legal ethics. He is very talented and is brilliant at twisting ethics to serve goals of morality. Mr. Kelley said he brought Mr. Spader into the show to wreck it, but the character is so compelling, he ended up making Mr. Spader the central person and same character in Mr. Kelley’s next series, named Boston Legal.
I've been watching The Practice, mostly on weekends for the last 2 months or so. While I’m not a fan of TV in general, this is one of the best legal drama shows I've seen, and in its depth and breadth it rates with many of the best novels I've read.
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