To celebrate the release of season three, available now to add to your list, Blockbuster.co.uk's Marshall Julius shares his enthusiasm for hit legal dramedy Boston Legal.

Arguably the best show on the telly, Boston Legal is a darkly comedic and socially conscious legal drama focusing on the roller coaster personal and offbeat professional lives of lawyers at the prestigious Crane, Poole and Schmidt law firm. A powerhouse spin-off of The Practice laden with Emmy wins, including three Outstanding Lead Actor awards for James Spader and a pair of Outstanding Supporting Actor awards for veteran star William Shatner, Boston Legal is a hit with critics and audiences alike.

"We were convinced it would fail," reveals show creator David E. Kelley, producer of previous TV sensations Ally McBeal, Picket Fences and L.A. Law. Believing the series had no future, Kelley felt free to explore sensitive topics and unconventional characters without the fear of failure. "If you think you're only going to last for a finite amount of time," he reasons, "you might as well swing for the fences and try to have fun."

"I think what makes the show frankly Emmy-worthy," explains executive producer Bill D'Elia, "is that we don't follow any particular formula. We deal with real issues, be they political, moral, ethical or personal, that reflect what's going on in society today, but we're always aware of trying to entertain as well."

"If an issue isn't going to succeed on an entertainment level, we will usually pass on it," emphasises Kelley. "Beyond that, if we can be provocative on an intellectual or social level as well, than all the better."

"I would loathe this show if all it became was a platform," says James Spader, who leads the eccentric ensemble cast as the complex, eccentric and articulate Alan Shore, a lawyer who'd never allow such trivial notions as honesty and integrity get in the way of winning a case. "It's a strange mix of drama and comedy, and something funny, something farcical. Any one of those things by itself would be unbearable."

Of the many devices employed by the show to keep us glued to the screen, it's always fun when Boston Legal gets self-referential, breaking the invisible fourth wall between cast and audience, and letting us know with the cheekiest of winks that the characters know they're in a TV series. Examples include Shatner's character Denny Crane, an outrageous, egomaniacal lawyer with self-diagnosed Mad Cow Disease, saying at the end of an episode, "I can't wait until next week." Then there was the time Alan remarked to Denny that, "I've hardly seen you this episode." Once, they even had Emmy award winning co-star Christian Clemenson dance and sing along to the theme tune.

For Star Trek fans already excited by the presence of William Shatner, there are rich pickings indeed, frequent appearances from Trek regulars like Deep Space Nine's Rene Auberjonois and Armin Shimerman and Voyager's Jeri Ryan and Ethan Phillips, and a wealth of in jokes. "Dennycranelaw.com," announces Denny to a gathering of reporters. "Pictures, bios, hobbies. I once captained my own spaceship. Multi-talented."

Key to the success of the series is the gloriously realised central relationship between Alan and his best friend Denny, a loony lawyer who has never lost a case and whose hobbies include fishing, drinking scotch, smoking cigars, operating firearms, evading jail time, and of course, chasing the ladies.

Their authentic and poignant friendship gives the show its heart. "I love you Denny," declares Alan. "You are my best friend. I can't imagine going through life without you as my best friend. I'm not going to kiss you however."

"I never had a male friendship that dispensed with pretense and leveled with each other," says William Shatner, whose chemistry with James Spader rivals anything he shared with Leonard Nimoy in their Star Trek days. "I had it with women - a lot - but never with a guy. And never without sex."

"The friendship of Shore and Crane will probably be the lasting legacy of this show," states Kelley. "It is a real, intimate friendship between two grown heterosexual men who aren't afraid to be vulnerable with each other, and intimate with each other with respect to their insecurities and their feelings. The fact that they take time out every day to either service or celebrate that friendship is very unique, and I think that's something we all long for."

"You. Democrat!" Barks Denny at Alan. "Protesting war and banning guns. If you Nancys had your way, nobody would ever shoot anybody! And then where would we be?"

Provocative, engaging and hilarious, Boston Legal has the wit, heart and invention of ten ordinary shows, a classic series you'd be well advised to add to your list.

Enjoy!

By Marshall Julius, Blockbuster.co.uk

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