"Ally McBeal" (1997)TV-Serie 1997-2002

Schöpfer:

David E. Kelley

Staffeln:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Premierendatum:

8. September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Komödie | Drama | Musik | Romanze

Plot:

Ally McBeal and Billy Thomas were going steady throughout their childhoods. Ally even followed Billy...

Plot Keywords:

Weird Lawsuit | Bathroom | Imagination | Boston Massachusetts | Female Executive

Filmpreise:

Won 4 Golden Globes. Another 29 wins & 94 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

It's hard to watch something you used to love go downhill.

Besetzung

Calista Flockhart	...	Ally McBeal (112 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Greg Germann	...	Richard Fish (112 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Jane Krakowski	...	Elaine Vassal (112 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Peter MacNicol	...	John Cage (104 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Courtney Thorne-Smith	...	Georgia Thomas (69 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Vonda Shepard	...	Vonda Shepard (54 Folgen, 1997-2002)
Portia de Rossi	...	Nell Porter (52 Folgen, 1998-2002)
Albert Hall	...	Judge Seymour Walsh (47 Folgen, 1998-2002)

Alternativ:

Ally McBeal (Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

45 Min | USA:60 Min (including commercials) (112 episodes)

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

1.33 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby

Altersfreigabe:

Singapore:M18 (season 5) | Malaysia:U (all jurisdictions) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-11 (DVD) (2006) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Malaysia:(Banned) (one episode) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 4) | Singapore:PG | UK:15

Drehorte:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Firma:

20th Century Fox Television

Dies und das:

Liza's real name is Debbi.

Dialogzitate:

Richard Fish: [defending a client for attempted murder] Adrenaline can be like a drug, can't it, Dr. Burns? Ever know adrenaline to work on the brain like a drug?
Dr. Burns: Certainly, but...
Richard Fish: Thank you. And in your career as a doctor, have you ever been - um, how do I say this - uh, wrong?
Dr. Burns: Wrong?
Richard Fish: Yes. In all your years and many diagnoses, have you ever been wrong?
Dr. Burns: Of course, but... I'm *not* wrong *here*.
Richard Fish: You're a doctor who's been wrong, right?
Dr. Burns: I am not wrong *here*.
Richard Fish: But you've been wrong, yes or no?
Dr. Burns: I already said yes, I have been wrong on some occasions.
[...]

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in 101 Biggest Celebrity Oops (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Searchin' My Soul

It's hard to watch something you used to love go downhill.

David E. Kelley's a talented man, no doubt about it (and since he's married to Michelle Pfeiffer, many would add "sickeningly lucky" on top of that); when you have a CV that includes writing for Steven Bochco shows and successfully launching your own Twentieth Century Fox-affiliated company (and let's not forget, "girls club" has been his only real flop on the tube - even "Chicago Hope," which is doomed to be the Billie to "ER"'s Britney Spears, still ran for six years), on top of being the primary writer for your shows, it takes more than mere luck.

"Ally McBeal" was a delight for the first four years - though many claimed it would have been better without Calista Flockhart, I doubt it. True, the other characters and actors were of equal or better value - who'd want the show to be without Greg Germann as Fish, the world's most likeable inconsiderate wattle-obsessed dolt ("Ally, it's not my nature to be concerned about people, but what's wrong?") - but the show did clearly have Miss McBeal at its centre; and let us not forget that for all her insecurities, her looniness, and horrible luck in her personal life, she was in fact a pretty good lawyer when you think about it. Certainly better in court than Fish...

The people and writing were always funny and easy to take, apart from Lisa Nicole Carson as Renee* (in a TV special about the show, "This Life"'s creator Amy Jenkins said she thought Renee was smug. I agree), and adding the sultry and classy Lucy Liu to the cast was a chance that worked - her reduced role in the latter episodes, though understandable from her point of view, was a sad sign of the show's degeneration, but when Julianne Nicholson and James Marsden arrived and Peter MacNicol left that was it... and as for that child - spare me. The fun and the thrill were gradually seeping out, and Cage/Fish stopped being a place you wanted to visit. Episodes like the one where a man wanted to fly didn't help either - the toll of writing nearly every episode by himself must have affected Mr. Kelley. (Also note how that bar suddenly let people more famous than Vonda Shepard take a turn on stage. And as for Sting being allowed to act... although in fairness, Mariah Carey's episode was better than "The Bachelor" or "Glitter.")

In the end, I was searching my soul one night, and found there was so much more to life than watching a dying series. But one poor season after four good ones isn't a bad average. Thanks for the first 80%, David E. Kelley... youuuuu stinker! (He said affectionately.)

*About Lisa Nicole Carson; in all the articles written about how skinny all the women on the show were, nobody seems to have noticed that Miss Carson and Jane Krakowski are, as they say, really built.