McBeal Appeal

I've been watching Ally McBeal again lately. I sure loved this show when it first came out in late 1997, a few months after I graduated high school. I watched it and The Practice, both legal dramas created by David E. Kelley that took place within the same universe, despite airing on different networks. I gradually came to prefer The Practice as it focused almost entirely on the courtroom drama while Ally McBeal was obliged to find new ways to be quirky. Kelley seemed to run out of inventiveness on the quirky front by the end of the second season. I still haven't even seen the last couple seasons, the show got so insufferable. Still, I have to admire the fact that Kelley wrote or co-wrote every single episode of the five season series. I suspect illegal stimulants were involved.

Of course, it's always refreshing now to watch something from the '90s, to stick your head out of the cultural Mirkwood of to-day. The third episode features the characters arguing about age discrimination and the ethics of hiring on the basis of physical beauty. In the second episode, the characters debate the ethics of sexwork. Kelley clearly had a point of view himself but he had the imagination to play devil's advocate and intelligently write characters who disagreed with himself.

A culture that believes in the intrinsic virtue of debate is not as common as many Americans still take for granted, even though it's become increasingly devalued in current American culture. David E. Kelley's shows and Star Trek among other things fostered my love for it. I guess from shows about arguments, good television evolved to implicit arguments. Shows like Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, instead of presenting individuals or groups directly debating each other, an argument was implicit in how the characters made unusual choices based on unusual circumstances. I would say that's more sophisticated, possibly too sophisticated for much of the audience and that's why many shows now seem to feel being obnoxious is the same as being smart.

Ally McBeal is available on Disney+.