Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal Logo
Genre	Dramedy
Running time	45 minutes
Creator(s)	David E. Kelley
Starring	Calista Flockhart Courtney Thorne-Smith Greg Germann Lisa Nicole Carson Peter MacNicol Jane Krakowski Portia de Rossi Lucy Liu Gil Bellows Barry Humphries (as Dame Edna Everage, though uncredited) Vonda Shepard
Country of origin	USA
Original network/channel	FOX
Original run	September 8, 1997 – May 20, 2002
No. of episodes	112

Poster of the Main Cast of Ally McBeal Season 2

Ally McBeal was an American television dramedy created by David E. Kelley, with Calista Flockhart in the title role as a young lawyer working in a fictional Boston law firm named Cage & Fish, filled with similarly young lawyers whose lives and loves are highly melodramatic. The show ran on the FOX network from 1997 to 2002.

Nature Of The Show

Despite its legal environment, the show pays minimal attention to the actual practice of law. Instead it focuses on the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, though sometimes using legal proceedings as plot devices to contrast or reinforce a character's drama. For example, bitter divorce litigation of a client might backdrop Ally's decision to break up with a boyfriend.

Particularly notable, the show frequently used vivid, dramatic fantasy visuals for a character's wishful thinking. Also, regular visits to a local, idealized bar where singer and cast member Vonda Shepard regularly performed (though occasionally handing over the microphone to the characters). Each episode generally concluded on an upbeat, hopeful note with energetic music.

Ally McBeal was hugely successful, but received much criticism from TV critics and feminists who found the title character annoying and demeaning to women because of her excessive flightiness, lack of demonstrated legal knowledge, and extreme emotional instability. Flockhart's visible loss of weight by the second season also caused much media speculation.

However, Ally's search for true love struck a chord with young female audiences, and the eccentric characters around her were developed further, giving the show firm footing.

In the fourth season, Robert Downey Jr. joined the regular cast as Ally's boyfriend Larry, resurrecting the ratings of a show that had lost its novelty and thus much of its audience. However, when Downey was forced to leave as his (real life) drug addiction caused him legal troubles, plus other central cast members such as Lucy Liu also left, the ratings sank again. Not even guest appearances from Matthew Perry and singer Jon Bon Jovi and Christina Ricci in season five were enough to save the show.

Ally the sitcom

In 1999, at the height of the show's popularity, a half-hour version entitled Ally[1] began airing in parallel to the main program. This innovative version, designed in a sitcom format, used re-edited scenes from the main program, as well as previously unaired footage. The intention was to further develop the plots in the dramedy in a sitcom style. It also focussed only on Ally's personal life, cutting all the courtroom plots. 13 episodes of Ally were shot, but only 10 were aired.

Main Cast

The major cast members of the show included:

• Calista Flockhart - Ally McBeal
• Greg Germann - Richard Fish
• Peter MacNicol - John Cage
• Jane Krakowski - Elaine Vassal
• Vonda Shepard - Vonda Shepard
• Courtney Thorne-Smith - Georgia Thomas (1997-2000)
• Gil Bellows - Billy Alan Thomas (1997-2000)
• Lisa Nicole Carson - Renee Raddick (1997-2001)
• Portia de Rossi - Nelle Porter (1998-2002)
• Lucy Liu - Ling Woo (1998-2002)
• James LeGros - Mark Albert (2000-2001)
• Robert Downey Jr. - Larry Paul (2000-2001)
• Regina Hall - Corretta Lipp (2001-2002)
• Julianne Nicholson - Jenny Shaw (2001-2002)
• James Marsden - Glenn Foy (2001-2002)
• Josh Hopkins - Raymond Millbury (2001-2002)
• Hayden Panettiere - Maddie Harrington (2002)
• Barry Humphries (as Dame Edna Everage, uncredited) - (2002)

Notable guest stars on the show included comedian Tracey Ullman as Ally's unusual therapist, and singers Barry White, Al Green, Sting, Tina Turner, and Barry Manilow as themselves. Special musical guests included KC and the Sunshine Band, Elton John and Josh Groban.

Trivia

Barry White's music was frequently showcased on the show as a sexual stimulant; when one of the characters mentally "heard" the music, other characters would be attracted. This action was often accompanied by dancing and took place in the unisex bathroom.

The show is also noted by many for introducing the 'dancing baby' computer-generated image (CGI) to mainstream American pop culture.

Known for controversial topics, the show was well-known for the infamous Cro-Magnon episode, whereby a well-endowed male model becomes the focus of the Ally's attentions. Some critics have claimed that this penis size obsessed view of female sexuality is distorted and reflects more of a male point of view, as the show was written by David E. Kelley. Others have charged that the ridiculing of modestly endowed men is sexist and harmful, contributing to body issues for men similar to that of young women over their weight. On that note as well, the show has been criticized for the "anorexic" main character as being a bad role model for girls.

DVD Releases

Due to music rights issues, Ally McBeal has not been made available on DVD in the United States, though it has been available in Italy, Japan and UK. However tvshowsondvd.com announced that Fox Home Entertainment had plans to release box sets of Ally Mcbeal on DVD in North America along with a number of other David E Kelley shows such as Boston Legal and The Practice. [2]

Awards & Nominations

Awards Won

Emmy Awards:

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1999)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Peter MacNicol (2001)

Golden Globe Awards:

• Best TV Series-Comedy/Musical (1998-1999)
• Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series-Comedy/Musical Calista Flockhart (1998)
• Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series Robert Downey Jr. (2001)

Screen Actors Guild:

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1999)
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Robert Downey Jr. (2001)

Awards Nominated

Emmy Awards:

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1998)
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1998-1999, 2001)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Peter MacNicol (1999-2000)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Lucy Liu (1999)

Golden Globe Awards:

• Best TV Series-Comedy/Musical (2000-2002)
• Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series-Comedy/Musical Calista Flockhart
• Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series Jane Krakowski (1999)

Screen Actors Guild:

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1998, 2000-2001)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Calista Flockhart (1998-2001)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Lucy Liu (2000)
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Peter MacNicol (1999-2001)

External links

• Ally McBeal: Woman of the '90s or Retro Airhead