Born-Again TV Stars
February 21, 2005
Boston Legal is the place where forgotten actors go to be reborn. And the acting is actually good, but the writing has to be some of the best on network TV. It is funny without relying on gags; it is dramatic and sometimes sad but always compelling.
Witness William Shatner, Candace Bergen, and Betty White’s turns on the show. All three are doing some of the best work of their lives. Where Betty White was annoying on The Golden Girls, Shatner was just weird on Star Trek, and Bergen was sometimes funny but often too self-important on Murphy Brown; on Boston Legal all three are pee-your-pants-funny on a weekly basis.
If you’re wondering what spurred this outburst, it was Betty White’s line in tonight’s episode, while prosetylizing to a serial killer:
”...if you are out there murdering people, on some level, you must want to be Christian. Would you let me take you to church?”
No mention of James Spader whose character Alan Shure is probably responsible for reinvigorating the final season of The Practice allowing its metamorphosis into Boston Legal? The repartee between he and Shatner is ludicrous and makes for arguably the best hour of tv all week—then again, I don’t really watch too much tv.
James Spader plays, for me, one of the best characters on television. I neglected to mention him earlier but mostly because I’d never actually seen his work before. I never saw The Practice, although I had heard about the fact that his character was what allowed Boston Legal to happen.
You’re so right about the banter between Spader and Shatner. I can’t get over how well they work together. I’ve been a fan of Shatner’s since the Ben Folds Fear of Pop days, though, so I was really excited about seeing him in a role that allows him to be…just, Shatner.