L.A. Law

L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features, including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off the wall humor.

Location

The series is set in and around the fictitious Los Angeles law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, and featured attorneys at the firm and various members of the support staff. The exteriors for the law firm were shot at the Citigroup Center in downtown Los Angeles, which was known as the 444 Flower Building at the time.

Story

The show often combined humor and drama in the same episode. For example, in the opening of the first episode of the series, only the back and hand of partner Chaney gripping the pages of a tax manual while seated at a desk is seen before he drops dead of a heart attack. Later in that episode, in front of his partners, friends and his wife, a man appears to speak at Chaney's eulogy, to announce how he first met him at a gay bar, revealing Chaney had been in the closet as either bisexual or a gay man while still married.

A running gag throughout the series was the overtly promiscuous lifestyle of divorce lawyer Arnie Becker, and his chronic and constant liaisons with women, up to and including bedding some of his own clients. This would end up causing problems when a client would use him to set up her (estranged) husband to be murdered. Series producer Steven Bochco used a similar incident in Hill Street Blues when a woman bedded one of the police officers in the squad and tricked him into shooting her ex-husband when he (apparently) broke into her house.

To some extent, the sexual peccadilloes of almost the entire cast would become fodder for episodes of the series.

After Grace Van Owen makes a comment that Michael Kuzak would have to be a monkey before she'd be interested in him, he woos her on the courthouse steps in a monkey suit. Douglas Brackman becomes involved with a sex therapist. Benny Stulwitz, a mentally retarded clerk at the office, has sex with the mentally retarded daughter of a client of the firm. Leland McKenzie and Rosalind Shays, antagonists, secretly become lovers.

The show tied itself into the events of the Los Angeles riots of 1992, which were prompted by the acquittal of four white police officers who were put on trial for the videotaped beating of African American motorist Rodney King. In a scene reminiscent of the Reginald Denny incident, tax attorney Stuart Markowitz is struck on the head by a rioter, and ends up having serious head injuries, causing a number of problems for him and his wife for several episodes as a result.

In one scene later in the series, the writers enacted an inside joke: "The easiest way to get rid of a soap opera character is to just have them fall down an elevator shaft." In her final scene, the character of Rosalind Shays steps into the empty shaft (expecting an elevator car when the doors open) and falls to her death.

The show did not shy away from controversy, with a scene in the episode "He's a Crowd" where one of the female lawyers, Abby Perkins, has an on-screen romantic kiss with C.J. Lamb, another female lawyer who is openly bisexual.

Series history

L.A. Law took over NBC's prized Thursday 10PM (9PM Central) time slot from another Bochco-produced show, Hill Street Blues, and was itself eventually replaced by another hit ensemble drama, ER. Bochco had been fired from Hill Street Blues in 1985. L.A. Law's original time period was Friday 10PM following Miami Vice but after struggling there, NBC moved it to Thursdays as Hill Street Blues was winding down. The original two-hour movie aired on Monday, September 15, 1986. The series was a critical favorite before it had premiered. An encore of the movie aired in place of Saturday Night Live on September 27, being a rare scripted rerun in that late-night slot.

The car with the California "L A LAW" rear license plate was originally a Jaguar XJ, but was replaced with a Bentley in the final seasons; its registration sticker was updated at the start of every new season. One episode's cold-open scene depicts an angry circus performer withdrawing knives from a trunk and throwing them at divorce attorney Arnold Becker who shouts to his secretary, "Roxanne, close the trunk! Close the trunk!" The credits immediately begin with their signature closing of the car's "trunk." Two different openings for the show's theme were used: a saxophone riff, for episodes that were lighter in tone; and an ominous synthesizer chord, for more serious storylines.

Co-creator Terry Louise Fisher was fired from the series in season 2 and filed a well-publicized lawsuit with Bochco and the studio. Bochco and Fisher had also co-created the 1987 John Ritter series Hooperman for ABC.

The scene where Leland McKenzie, played by Richard Dysart, was shown in bed with his enemy Rosalind Shays, played by Diana Muldaur, was ranked as the 38th greatest moment in television (the list originally appeared in an issue of EGG Magazine). Rosalind's demise, falling into an open elevator shaft, has also been a famous scene from the series. In fact, it was referenced in The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Diana Muldaur, the actress who played Rosalind in the series, also played the role of Dr. Katherine Pulaski during season 2 of . At the end of the biography of the Pulaski character, it says "There is no truth to the rumor that an ancestor of Dr. Pulaski was killed falling down the elevator shaft at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. None at all."

After co-writing the feature film, From the Hip, Boston attorney David E. Kelley was hired by Bochco during the first season of L.A. Law. Kelley went on to critical and commercial success as show-runner of the series before leaving to create Picket Fences. While on L.A. Law, Kelley and Bochco co-created Doogie Howser, M.D. as the first Steven Bochco Productions series for a major, ten-series deal with ABC. Shortly after, Bochco was offered the job as President of ABC Entertainment but turned it down.

At the height of the show's popularity in the late-1980s, attention was focused upon a fictitious sexual technique named the "Venus Butterfly". The only clue describing the technique was a vague reference to "ordering room service". Fans and interested persons flooded the show's producers with letters asking for more details about this mysterious technique.

During the seventh season, the executive producers John Tinker and John Masius were fired midseason, and while the show went on hiatus, William Finkelstein was brought in to fix it. Bochco and Kelley each returned to pen episodes until Finkelstein took over. Tinker and Masius had brought a whimsical, soapy tone to the series which they were known for on St. Elsewhere. Dan Castellaneta (who does the voice of Homer Simpson) appeared in a Homer costume and hired the attorneys in the seventh-season premiere. That episode also reflected on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Finkelstein reined in the series, returning to the serious legal cases that made the series famous.

In the eighth and final season, the characters of Denise Ianello (Debi Mazar) and Eli Levinson (Alan Rosenberg) were transplanted from the canceled Bochco legal series Civil Wars, which had run on ABC from 1991–93. Eli Levinson was revealed to be Stuart Markowitz's cousin. During the final season, the series was rested in January 1994 to launch the second season of . When that series succeeded wildly with a guest appearance by Robin Williams, it was expected that L.A. Law would conclude that May and Homicide: Life on the Street would succeed it on Thursdays in the fall. However, ER tested so well that Warner Bros. executives campaigned network president Warren Littlefield to give that series the prized Thursday slot.

The series ended in 1994, though a one-off reunion show, , aired in 2002, and featured most of the main cast from the series (except Smits, Underwood, Donohoe and Spencer).

On May 24, 2007, the AmericanLife TV Network announced that it would begin rebroadcasting L.A. Law starting June 3, 2007, Sundays at 10 pm. From 2000 until 2004, A&E; had been rebroadcasting the show. Lifetime Television also reran the show until the late 1990s. The series is currently being shown Monday through Thursday nights at 9:00PM and 1:00AM (Eastern) on the AmericanLife TV Network.

The series has not been released on DVD.

Nielsen ratings

Season 1 (1986–87): #21 (15.2 million viewers)

Season 2 (1987–88): #13 (16.2 million viewers)

Season 3 (1988–89): #13 (15.9 million viewers)

Season 4 (1989–90): #16 (16.0 million viewers)

Season 5 (1990–91): #23 (13.7 million viewers)

Season 6 (1991–92): #19 (13.7 million viewers)

Season 7 (1992–93): #33 (12.3 million viewers)

Season 8 (1993–94): #35 (12.0 million viewers)

Cast and characters

The show's original ensemble cast:

Harry Hamlin as Michael Kuzak (1986–91; seasons 1–5)

Susan Dey as Grace Van Owen (1986–92; seasons 1–6; not including the pilot) Corbin Bernsen as Arnie Becker (1986–94; seasons 1–8)

Jimmy Smits as Victor Sifuentes (1986–91; seasons 1–5)

Jill Eikenberry as Ann Kelsey (1986–94; seasons 1–8)

Alan Rachins as Douglas Brackman, Jr. (1986–94; seasons 1–8)

Michele Greene as Abigail "Abby" Perkins (1986–91; seasons 1–5)

Michael Tucker as Stuart Markowitz (1986–94; seasons 1–8)

Susan Ruttan as Roxanne Melman (1986–93; seasons 1–7)

Richard A. Dysart as Leland McKenzie (1986–94; seasons 1–8)

Over the run of the show, additional cast members included: Larry Drake as Benny Stulwitz (1987–94; seasons 2–8)

Blair Underwood as Jonathan Rollins (1987–94; seasons 2–8)

Dana Sparks as Jennifer Kepler (1988–89; season 3; recurring)

Dann Florek as Dave Meyer (1988–90; seasons 3–4; recurring)

Diana Muldaur as Rosalind Shays (1989–91; seasons 4–5; recurring)

John Spencer as Tommy Mullaney (1990–94; seasons 5–8)

Amanda Donohoe as Cara Jean "C.J." Lamb (1990–92; seasons 5–6)

Cecil Hoffman as Zoey Clemmons (1991–92; seasons 5–6)

Sheila Kelley as Gwen Taylor (1990–93; seasons 5–7)

Conchata Ferrell as Susan Bloom (1991–92; season 6)

Michael Cumpsty as Frank Kittridge (1991–92; season 6)

A Martinez as Daniel Morales (1992–94; seasons 7–8)

Lisa Zane as Melina Paros (1992–93; season 7)

Alexandra Powers as Jane Halliday (1993–94; season 8)

Alan Rosenberg as Eli Levinson (1993–94; season 8)

Debi Mazar as Denise Ianello (1993–94; season 8)

Awards

The show won numerous awards, including the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991.. Some of the actors, such as Larry Drake, also received Emmys for their performances. The series shares the Emmy Award record for most acting nominations by regular cast members (excluding the guest performer category) for a single series in one year with Hill Street Blues and The West Wing.

For the 1988–1989 season, nine cast members were nominated for Emmys. Larry Drake was the only one to win (for Supporting Actor). The others nominated were Michael Tucker (Lead Actor), Jill Eikenberry and Susan Dey (for Lead Actress), Richard Dysart and Jimmy Smits (Supporting Actor), Amanda Plummer, Susan Ruttan and Michele Greene (for Supporting Actress).

LA Law won a Latino Image Award.

It was listed as #42 on Entertainment Weekly's list of The New Classics in the July 4, 2008 issue.

Impact

The show is credited as encouraging a surge of applications for lawyers.

References

External links

Interview with Steven Bochco from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Currently this video may not be available in some countries outside the U.S.

Category:1980s American television series Category:1986 television series debuts Category:1990s American television series Category:1994 American television series endings Category:Best Drama Series Golden Globe winners Category:English-language television series Category:Legal television series Category:NBC network shows Category:Peabody Award winners Category:Television series by Fox Television Studios Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles, California