"The Practice" is the best TV series about lawyers to come along since "L.A. Law."
Well, maybe since "Murder One."At any rate, "The Practice" (Tuesday, 9 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4) is one very good TV show. And it has an awful lot in common with "L.A. Law," not the least of which is creator/executive producer/writer David E. Kelley, the man who helmed "Law" through its best years (and has since gone on to create and produce "Picket Fences" and "Chicago Hope").
Both "The Practice" and "L.A. Law" feature ensemble casts whose characters are the attorneys who make up a small law firm. Both shows feature storylines that tackle legal and ethical issues.
But "The Practice" is really the flip side of "L.A. Law."
"L.A. Law" was West Coast. "The Practice" is East Coast - Boston, to be specific.
"L.A. Law" was about an upscale law firm full of rich partners whose clients were, for the most part, richer still. "The Practice" is definitely downscale, from the dumpy office to the lower-class - sometimes scummy - clients to the mere struggle to survive.
It's a show that features what Kelley calls "the underbelly" of the law.
"This series isn't about the cases so much as about sustaining the practice of law," he said. "So you will be inside the office as much as you will be inside the courtroom and you will probably see components of the law . . . that we never delved into on `L.A. Law.' . . . It will always be a firm that is looking to turn the corner."
Dylan McDermott stars as Bobby Donnell, the lead attorney in the struggling firm. Donnell and his associates - who include Jimmy Berluti (Michael Badalucco), Rebecca Washington (Lisa Gay Hamilton), Eugene Young (Steve Harris), Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim) and Lindsay Dole (Kelli Williams) - are talented and bright, but they often find themselves caught between their ideals and their need to make money - and the more mercenary part of the job often wins partial victories for their souls.
"You're going to see these characters, these lawyers, struggling to maintain their idealism against the pragmatism of practicing law," Kelley said.
For example, they will defend obviously guilty people "because they can pay - because that's what criminal defense lawyers do," he said. "You'll see them maybe settle a case a little earlier rather than hold out for an extra 10 or 12 thousand dollars because the settlement not only serves the client's immediate need for money but also the firm's."
"The Practice" features story-lines in which the attorneys struggle mightily to get guilty clients off - and sometimes succeed. It's something Kelley makes no apologies for.
" you're uncomfortable with the idea that clients might get off or that lawyers might try to use the system to help guilty people . . . this is definitely not the show for you," he said. "Because that goes on all the time."
But "The Practice" is not a show about morally bankrupt attorneys.
"At its heart, I think the show is about five or six fundamentally ethical people trying to exist and thrive in a fundamentally unethical arena," said Kelley - himself a licensed attorney who once worked for a Boston law firm.
Not that the lawyers in "The Practice" always fight a losing battle with their ethics. Tuesday's premiere features a strong story in which Bobby defends a 17-year-old girl against a drug charge. The girl maintains her innocence, rejecting a plea bargain that would mean a matter of months in jail in favor of a trial. And if she's convicted, the girl faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison.
It's vintage Kelley - an ethical dilemma topped off with an impassioned summation by the lawyer. Only, instead of Victor Sifuentes or Michael Kuzak delivering the speech, this time it's Bobby Donnell.
There's a fascinating juxtaposition in Tuesday's pilot when Donnell and his scruffy band begin a four-episode storyline that pits them against a high-powered law firm that represents a tobacco company. Lindsay Dole and the client, whose wife died of smoking-induced cancer, visit that law firm, which is sleek, spacious and just oozing money and power.
You almost expect to see "L.A. Law's" Arnie Becker or Leland McKenzie strolling the halls.
But this time around, those lawyers are the bad guys. The lawyers that the attorneys of McKenzie, Brackman and Associates used to wipe their shoes on are now the good guys. Flawed, but good.
And "The Practice," while not perfect, is the kind of quality drama that will not only entertain you but make you think - a rare and winning combination.