One of the few lawyer based TV shows that I actually avoided watching*, "The Practice," almost bit the dust as ABC fought with creator David E. Kelley about the cost of the show. Kelley, also, was not happy with ABC's decision to move the show from Sunday night to Monday night. Well, according to the latest news, the show will be back for its eighth season.**
In an effort to pull the long-running, Emmy-winning legal drama back to budget, creator David E. Kelley has announced that a half-dozen key players--Dylan McDermott, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kelli Williams, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Chyler Leigh (news) and Marla Sokoloff (news)--will not be back in court.McDermott may be back for a four-episode guest stint, but his $300,000-an-episode-and-rising price tag worked to eliminate him from full-time 2004 employment. In fact, only legal eagles who will be back for certain are Steve Harris (news), Camryn Manheim (news), Michael Badalucco (news) and a few Practice newbies, like Jessica Capshaw (news).
In a statement, Kelley blamed the departures to "economic and creative realities," citing the need to bring the show back on budget and get viewers interested in new, exciting story arcs.
"It hurts, professionally and personally," said Kelley. "This is perhaps the finest group of actors and people one could ever hope to work with. I hope for all of them to recur if possible, and if I'm lucky, I'll get to work with them on future projects as well. I'm indebted to each and every one of them."
Hey, maybe it will be worth watching now. Maybe, but not sure I will even be turning the dial to find out.
*Another lawyer based show that I did not see very often was Ally McBeal. Partly this was due to the fact that it was on FOX and I get horrible reception on the FOX station in my area. Also, the time slot conflicted with something I liked better. I am hopeful that this show will go into syndication soon, and I can watch it late night on one of the other stations.
**It has been on for 7 seasons already? Unbelievable! I bet I have only seen two episodes of it.
Posted by Tiger at May 20, 2003 08:19 PM