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Best Viewed With GFS!Ally McBeal
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2012) |
| Ally McBeal | |
|---|---|
 Original title card |
|
| Genre | Legal drama Surreal dramedy |
| Created by | David E. Kelley |
| Starring | Calista Flockhart Courtney Thorne-Smith Greg Germann Lisa Nicole Carson Jane Krakowski Vonda Shepard Portia de Rossi Lucy Liu James LeGros Regina Hall Julianne Nicholson James Marsden Josh Hopkins Hayden Panettiere Peter MacNicol Robert Downey, Jr. Gil Bellows |
| Theme music composer | Vonda Shepard |
| Opening theme | "Searchin' My Soul" |
| Composer(s) | Danny Lux Vonda Shepard |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 112 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | David E. Kelley Bill D'Elia |
| Producer(s) | Kayla Alpert (2000–01) Kim Hamberg (1998–2002) Mike Listo (1997–2000) Jack Philbrick (2000–02) Steve Robin (1997–2002) Pamela J. Wisne (1997–2002) |
| Cinematography | Thomas F. Denove Billy Dickson David A. Harp Tim Suhrstedt |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | 20th Century Fox Television David E. Kelley Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original run | September 8, 1997 – May 20, 2002 |
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama television series, originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997 to May 20, 2002. Created by David E. Kelley, the series stars Calista Flockhart in the title role as a young lawyer working in the fictional Boston law firm Cage and Fish, with other young lawyers whose lives and loves were eccentric, humorous and dramatic. The series placed #48 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.1
Contents |
Overview
The series, set in the fictional Boston law firm Cage and Fish, begins with main character Ally joining the firm (co-owned by her law school classmate Richard Fish) after leaving her previous job due to sexual harassment. On her first day Ally is horrified to find she will be working alongside her ex-boyfriend Billy Thomas—whom she has never gotten over—and to make things worse, Billy is now married to fellow lawyer Georgia, who later joins Cage and Fish too. The triangle between the three forms the basis for the main plot for the show's first three seasons.
Although ostensibly a legal drama, the main focus of the series was the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, often using legal proceedings as plot devices to contrast or reinforce a character's drama. For example, bitter divorce litigation of a client might provide a backdrop for Ally's decision to break up with a boyfriend. Legal arguments were also frequently used to explore multiple sides of various social issues.
Cage & Fish (which becomes Cage/Fish & McBeal or Cage, Fish, & Associates towards the end of the series), the fictional law firm where most of the characters work, is depicted as a highly sexualized environment, symbolized by its unisex restroom. Lawyers and secretaries in the firm routinely date, flirt with, or have a romantic history with each other, and frequently run into former or potential romantic interests in the courtroom or on the street outside.
The series had many offbeat and frequently surreal running gags and themes, such as Ally's tendency to immediately fall over whenever she met somebody she found attractive, or Richard Fish's wattle fetish and humorous mottos ("Fishisms" & "Bygones"), or John's gymnastic dismounts out of the office's unisex bathroom stalls, that ran through the series. The show used vivid, dramatic fantasy sequences for Ally's and other characters' wishful thinking; particularly notable is the dancing baby.
The series also featured regular visits to a local bar where singer Vonda Shepard regularly performed (though occasionally handing over the microphone to the characters). The series also took place in the same continuity as David E. Kelley's legal drama The Practice (which aired on ABC), as the two shows crossed over with one another on occasion, a very rare occurrence for two shows that aired on different networks.
Main cast
- Calista Flockhart – Ally McBeal
- Greg Germann – Richard Fish
- Jane Krakowski – Elaine Vassal
- Dyan Cannon – Jennifer "Whipper" Cone (seasons 1-3 recurring)
- Peter MacNicol – John Cage (episodes 2–103; recurring afterwards)
- Lisa Nicole Carson – Renée Raddick (seasons 1–4; one guest appearance in series finale)
- Gil Bellows – Billy Allen Thomas (seasons 1–3; recurring afterwards)
- Courtney Thorne-Smith – Georgia Thomas (seasons 1–3; recurring afterwards)
- Vonda Shepard – Herself (seasons 2–5; recurring previously)
- Portia de Rossi – Nelle Porter (seasons 2–5)
- Lucy Liu – Ling Woo (episodes 32–96; 103)
- James LeGros – Mark Albert (season 4; recurring previously)
- Robert Downey, Jr. – Larry Paul (season 4; uncredited appearances afterwards)
- Regina Hall – Corretta Lipp (season 5; recurring previously)
- Julianne Nicholson – Jenny Shaw (episodes 91–103)
- James Marsden – Glenn Foy (episodes 91–103)
- Josh Hopkins – Raymond Millbury (season 5)
- John Michael Higgins – Steven Milter (season 5)
- Hayden Panettiere – Maddie Harrington (episodes 101–112)
- Jon Bon Jovi – Victor Morrison (season 5)
Episode list
Reception
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2012) |
The show's ratings began to decline in the third season, but stabilized in the fourth season after Robert Downey, Jr. joined the regular cast as Ally's boyfriend Larry Paul. However, Downey's character was written out after the end of the season due to the actor's troubles with drug addiction.
Along with Dharma & Greg, Ally McBeal was one of the last two surviving shows to debut during the 1997-98 season, one of the weakest in television history for new shows. (Only seven shows to debut would be picked up for a second season, and only Dharma & Greg and Ally McBeal would last longer than three seasons, each providing enough episodes for syndication.) Both shows ended at the end of the 2001-02 season, five years after their debut.
Ratings
| Season | U.S. ratings | Network | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997–98 | 11.4 million | Fox | #592 |
| 2 | 1998–99 | 13.8 million | Fox | #203 |
| 3 | 1999–2000 | 12.4 million | Fox | #354 |
| 4 | 2000–01 | 12.0 million | Fox | #405 |
| 5 | 2001–02 | 9.4 million | Fox | #656 |
Criticism
Despite its success, Ally McBeal did receive some negative criticism from TV critics and feminists who found the title character annoying and demeaning to women (specifically professional women7) because of her perceived flightiness, lack of demonstrated legal knowledge, short skirts,8 and extreme emotional instability. Perhaps the most notorious example of the debate sparked by the show was the June 29, 1998 cover story of Time magazine, which juxtaposed McBeal with three pioneering feminists (Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem) and asked "Is Feminism Dead?"9 In episode 12 of the second season of the show, Ally talks to her co-worker John Cage about a dream she had, saying "You know, I had a dream that they put my face on the cover of Time magazine as 'the face of feminism'."10
Music
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2012) |
Ally McBeal was a heavily music-oriented show. Vonda Shepard, a virtually unknown musician at the time, was featured continually on the show. Her song "Searchin' My Soul" became the show's theme song. Many of the songs Shepard performed were established hits with lyrics that paralleled the events of the episode, including "Both Sides Now", "Hooked on a Feeling" and "Tell Him". Besides recording background music for the show, Shepard frequently appeared at the ends of episodes as a musician performing at a local piano bar frequented by the main characters. On rare occasions, her character would have conventional dialogue. A portion of "Searchin' My Soul" was played at the beginning of each episode but, oddly enough, the song was never heard in its entirety.
Due to the popularity of the show and Shepard's music, a soundtrack titled Songs from Ally McBeal was released in 1998, as well as a successor soundtrack titled "Heart and Soul: New Songs From Ally McBeal" in 1999. Two compilation albums from the show featuring Shepard were also released in 2000 and 2001. A Christmas album was also released under the title Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas.11 The album received positive reviews, and Shephard’s version of Kay Starr’s Christmas song (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man with the Bag, received considerable airplay during the holiday season.12
Other artists featured on the show include Barry White, Al Green, Tina Turner, Anastacia, Elton John and Mariah Carey. Josh Groban played the role of Malcolm Wyatt in the May 2001 season finale, performing "You're Still You". The series creator, David E. Kelley, was impressed with Groban's performance at The Family Celebration event and based on the audience reaction to Groban's singing, Kelley created a character for him in that finale. The background score for the show was composed by Danny Lux.
| Soundtrack name | Tk# | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Songs from Ally McBeal | 14 | May 5, 1998 |
| Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal | 14 | November 9, 1999 |
| Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas | 14 | November 7, 2000 |
| Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life | 14 | April 24, 2001 |
| The Best of Ally McBeal | 12 | October 6, 2009 |
DVD releases
Due to music licensing issues, none of the seasons of Ally McBeal were available on DVD in the United States (only 6 random episodes can be found on the R1 edition) until 2009, though it has been available in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil and the Czech Republic with all the show's music intact since 2005. In the UK, Ireland and Spain all seasons are available in a complete box set.
20th Century Fox released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 on October 6, 2009. They also released a special complete series edition on the same day.13 Season 1 does not contain any special features, the complete series set however does contain several bonus features including featurettes, an all-new retrospective, the episode of The Practice in which Calista Flockhart guest starred and a bonus disc entitled "The Best of Ally McBeal Soundtrack". In addition, both releases contain all of the original music.14 Season 2 was released on April 6, 2010. Seasons 3, 4 and 5 were all released on October 5, 2010.15 Season 1 and 2 are also available on the US iTunes Store.
| DVD name | Ep# | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 23 | October 6, 2009 | February 21, 2005 | April 26, 2006 |
| The Complete Second Season | 23 | April 6, 2010 | February 21, 2005 | April 26, 2006 |
| The Complete Third Season | 21 | October 5, 2010 | February 21, 2005 | April 26, 2006 |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 23 | October 5, 2010 | May 9, 2005 | April 26, 2006 |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 22 | October 5, 2010 | May 9, 2005 | April 26, 2006 |
| The Complete Series | 112 | October 6, 2009 | October 30, 2006 | April 18, 201216 |
Ally (1999)
In 1999, at the height of the show's popularity, a half-hour version entitled Ally17 began airing in parallel with the main program. This version, designed in a sitcom format, used re-edited scenes from the main program, as well as previously unseen footage. The intention was to further develop the plots in the comedy-drama in a sitcom style. It also focused only on Ally's personal life, cutting all the courtroom plots. The repackaged show was cancelled partway through its initial run. While 13 episodes of Ally were created, only 10 were actually broadcast.
In popular culture
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2012) |
The season one episode of Futurama, "When Aliens Attack", featured a parody of the show entitled Single Female Lawyer. The principal crux of the parody was that, effectively, Single Female Lawyer had no discernible plot other than the fact that the female lead was very attractive, wore a short skirt, and slept with her clients. The show has been broadcast into space for centuries, but the last episode was missing (due to Philip Fry's incompetence and time travel) and so a warlike alien race, who had become hooked on the show, demanded that Earth either play out the final episode for them or they would ignite the planet's atmosphere. Luckily, due to the nature of the show being little more than fan service, it was easy for Fry, Leela and the others to replicate it by simply putting Leela in a miniskirt and ad libbing the dialogue on the spot; this satiated the aliens, who left Earth peaceably.
In episode 2, season 3 of the British comedy The Adam and Joe Show, the show was parodied as 'Ally McSqeal' using soft toys.18
McBeal and 1990s young affluent professional women were parodied in the song Ally McBeal (tune of Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan) by a cappella group Da Vinci's Notebook on their album The Life and Times of Mike Fanning, released in 2000.1920
International broadcasters
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ "The New Classics: TV". Entertainment Weekly. June 18, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ "The Final Countdown". ew.com. 1998-05-29.
- ^ "Final ratings for the 1998–1999 TV season". Archived from the original on 2009-10-23.
- ^ "TV Ratings 1999–2000". fbibler.chez.com.
- ^ "The Bitter End". ew.com. 2001-06-01.
- ^ "How Did Your Favorite Show Rate?". usatoday.com. 2002-05-28.
- ^ Michelle L. Hammers, "Cautionary Tales of Liberation and Female Professionalism: The Case Against Ally McBeal" Western Journal of Communication 69 2, April (2005): 168. "The ease with which McBeals depictions of women are reincorporated into dominant masculinist discourses ... is particularly problematic for professional women. The increased danger that co-optation poses for professional women is due to the complex ways in which the discursive sedimentation that surrounds the female body, particularly as it has been traditionally sexualized and linked to emotionality, operates as a barrier to women's full and effective participation in professional spheres. Thus, McBeal operates as a cautionary tale about the dangers presented by the co-optation of postfeminist and third-wave feminist discourses as they relate to current professional discourses surrounding the female body.
- ^ "Is Feminism Dead? (Chat Transcript – Phyllis Chesler)". Time Magazine. June 29, 1998.
- ^ "Is Feminism Dead? (Chat Transcript)". Time Magazine. June 25, 1998.
- ^ "Ally McBeal, episode 12, season 2". 20th Century Fox. August 22, 2009.
- ^ Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas (2000) Sony Music
- ^ Atkinson, Terry (December 3, 2000) “TV Shows Breed Christmas Albums” The Post-Tribune (Gary, Indiana) (Entertainment News Service), page D-5.[1]
- ^ "Amazon Posts Date for Season 1 & Complete Series". TVShowsonDVD. July 3, 2009.
- ^ "Fox's Press Release for The Complete Series Confirms ALL ORIGINAL MUSIC!". TVShowsonDVD. August 7, 2009.
- ^ "Ally McBeal DVD news: Release Date and More for Individual Sets of Seasons 3, 4 and 5". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
- ^ "Ally McBeal: Season 1-5". EzyDVD. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ "Ally" (1999) at IMDB
- ^ The Adam and Joe Show. YouTube. Retrieved on 2012-04-23.
- ^ "Ally McBeal". elyrics.net. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
- ^ Rogovoy, Seth (2003-02-18). "Da Vinci's Notebook fills doctor's prescription". Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ally McBeal |
- Ally McBeal at the Internet Movie Database
- Ally McBeal at TV.com
- Ally McBeal at the Internet Movie Database
- Ally McBeal: Woman of the '90s or Retro Airhead
- Ally McBeal on Paramount Comedy
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