Cool News
Larroquette In; Auberjonois, Bowen, Valley & Zimmer Out At BOSTON LEGAL!!
I am – Hercules!!
Michael Ausiello at TV Guide has the scoop on the big cast changes this coming season on “Boston Legal.”
Shatner and Spader survive the bloodbath.
Read all of Ausiello’s piece here.
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Entertaining enough to watch but can't really say I like the show that much. Have to say the loss of Auberjonois is gonna hit the show,kinda the straight man that all the crazy played against...
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Tis better to have loved and lost...I'm kissing the end of a shotgun.
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Will this be the Night Court John Larroquette or the lame John Larroquette that followed afterwards?
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I won't miss the other ones but Odo will always hold a warm and fuzzy place for me.
Funny how all these guys from DS9 managed to spin off into character rolls but their best and most interesting work (from an actors standpoint) is still on the space station. -
She was the hottest little Anglo-Indian piece of ass on TV!
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Wasn't Laroquette a recurring character on The Practice who was a gay lawyer (judge? polititian?) who got away with killing two people in two different storylines?
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They desert after bonus season.
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Okay, not exactly THIS, but we all know that David E. Kelley's shows always jump the shark after 3 seasons, maybe even earlier. (Except Picket Fences. I enjoyed the show till the end!)
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It's late here. And I don't speak this fucking language anyway. Leckt mich.
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And David E. Kelley *must* introduce Laroquette's character with the "Night Court" theme song!
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*hop*
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Denny Crane is funny, but David E Kelley's own brand of whimsy mixed with inanity mixed with preachiness really grates after a full season.
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It's not that losing any one or two of them is a huge thing, but losing 4 major characters...that's a tough thing to write around. I'm really glad they're making Jerry a regular, he's a fantastic actor. Regardless of Kelley's politics, their aren't a whole lot of onscreen duos as good as Shatner and Spade. Wonder where Laroquette fits in...
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According to a TV Guide Ask Ausiello article reported at AICN Rene Auberjonois as Paul Lewiston, Julie Bowen as Denise Bauer, Mark Valley as Brad Chase and Constance Zimmer as Claire Simms have been told that they are leaving the cast of "Boston Legal" (specifically, that "their contract options have not been picked up), joining the ranks of former cast members Rhona Mitra as Tara Wilson, Lake Bell as Sally Heep, Craig Bierko as Jeffrey Coho, Monica Potter as Lori Colson, Ryan Michelle Bathe as Sara Holt Kerry, Washington as Chelina Hall
Honorary former cast members include Rebecca De Mornay as Hannah Rose (part of the original premise when the series was being set up in "The Practice"), frequent (though not lately) recurring guest Betty White as Catherine Piper, Parker Posey as Marlene Stanger (whose character was introduces as a potential new cast member at the end of one season and then written out at the start of the next), and Larry Miller as Edwin Poole, the named partner in the firm of "Crane, Poole and Schmidt" who is even more insane than Denny Crane.
Over the years the series has featured many high profile guest stars such as heather Locklear, tom Selleck and Michael J. Fox in recurring roles, as well as extended guest arcs with Howard Hesseman, Henry Gibson, Michael Ensignm Shelley Berman, Armin Shimerman and Gail O'Grady as Judges and Currie Graham and Tyler Labine as key adversarial prosecutors.
The shows core stars remain James Spader as Alan Shore, William Shatner as Denny Crane and Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt
It is announced that Christian Clemenson as Jerry "Hands" Espenson has been promoted to full series regular. Gary Anthony Williams as Clarence/Clarice was added to the series opening credit sequence during the middle of the previous season.
No word on whether Meredith Eaton as Bethany Horowitz (Denny's girlfriend) will be returning: most of her appearances end with her declaring she's breaking up with Denny for good, but somehow he keeps charming her back.
The big news is the addition to the cast of a new regular: John Larroquette - though NOT as Practice lawyer Joey Heric or Night Court's Asst. D.A. Dan Fielding (either of which would be brilliant additions to the shows cast). Larroquette is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor with a lengthy resume, so he is no doubt up to the challenge of creating a foil for Crane and Shore who will be as memorable as Fielding, Heric or John Hemingway, the moody lead on his "dark ride" sitcom The John Larroquette Show.
Tara Summers (Abby from the series "Dirt") will also be added to the cast as an associate, continuing the shows tradition of casting females who are moderately attractive without being model glamorous.
Auberjonois's Paul Lewiston character was conceived as the anchor at the center of the madness, a role Bergen's Schmidt has largely usurped.
Valley and Bowen as Brad and Denise had a story arc involving a casual "friends with benefits" relationship that culminated in their getting married and having a child. I suppose it is a peculiar bachelor-centric point of view to see that as a 'happy ending' conclusion to their story arc rather than a midddle or new beginning.
Constance Zimmer joined the cast so her Claire character could serve as a foil for Craig Bierko's Jeffery Coho - his departure relegated her to a minor role as Clarence's ex-boss turned girl-friend.
Clarence's continued presence, especially after the departures of Sara and Chelina, keeps the series from becoming embarrassingly all-Caucasian.
Christian Clemenson's Jerry serves the essential Edwin Poole-esque purpose of providing the series with a character even more quirky and comedic (if not quite as crazy) as Denny Crane!
Although announcing four departures at once seems like a major - even shark jumping - reformat for the series, it has obviously had a revolving door or cast members from it's days as a Practice sub-pllot and the summer when it was known alternately as "Untitled Practice spin-off" and "The Practice: Fleet Street", before picking up the locale-centric title "Boston Legal" which had recently been made available by the cancellation of David E. Kelley's high school teacher series "Boston Public."
With a renewed emphasis on the shows lead characters Crane, Shore and Schmidt, plus additional duties for Jerry and the addition of John Laroquette as a series regular, the series should continue to thrive and pontificate for seasons to come. Or, if not, this season could be used as a trial run for a Laroquette starring spin-off the way the final season of The Practice was used to set the stage for Boston Legal, Either way, the continued presence of Kelley's peculiar look at the legal profession should stave off "Ally McBeal" withdrawal symptoms for several seasons to come.
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Sorry, I like Larroquette, and if he came back as Dan Fielding, I would be thrilled. But as much as I love this show, it's dead to me now. This is the point where David Kelley screws it up. The show is really about three people, Bergen, Shatner and Spader. If there was anyone else who really factored in on that show it was Odo and Valley. Both of them played the straight men to the other three. Bowen, as hot as I think she is was nothing in the grand scheme of things, sadly to say that this is true of most all of the women on that show, Bergen excluded. But this past season, Kelley felt it necesary to bring in the most annoying characters. Seriously, the midget, if they do the "look down" joke one more time, I am going to drive up to LA and shoot Kelley in the head. Now we have a crossdressing psycho, and a the "Timmy" of the law firm being forced upon us. Note to David E. Kelley. Watching both of them this past season has been like watching that annoying kid in first grade scrape their fingernails down a chalkboard. What genius writing device is Larroquette expected to have, a stutter, erectile disfunction, a hump back perhaps? Is that what substitutes for character development these days? CPS is supposed to be a large firm, whay not, if you are going to remove Odo, Bowen and Valley, just focus on the big three and use random actors who just happen to work in the office? See, problem solved. No need to bring in human-waste like Tom Selleck, Delta Burke, or the midget chick. I have a better idea, let's put Odo, Valley, Bowen, Clarence, Espenson and any other past series regular in a pit in some crazed ex-client's basement and let them thunderdome it out for an "also starring" role.
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the show has always had revolving doors, glad to see jerry as a series regular, he's a great character. all the others apart from constance zimmer had their storylines run out of steam. Auberjonois i had no idea what he was doing for the whole season
really needs some hot women on the show how about Christina Hendricks? -
Jeebus, this show was almost unrecognizable at the start of season 2 with the cast changes then.
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I do not deserve to live. Fine, I'll kill ya later. Anyone who says Star Trek 3 wasn't great is a dumbass.
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That would be cool.
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Coughlan is seriously cute and banters well with Spader, so where the hell did she go? And since BOSTON LEGAL is losing a STAR TREK actor, how about bringing in Robert Picardo, Avery Brooks or Nicole De Boer?
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I don't watch the show every week but when I catch it, I enjoy it. They have good stand-alone eps. Plus a pontificating Spader is hot.
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Constance Zimmer is a little hotbox.
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Amazon is fresh out of Schrute shirts
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It's a fairly common avenue now for hourlongs to take to stay fresh. Look at how Wolf handles the various L & O iterations. Kelley's done it before. And he'll do it again. And actors know to keep their resumes fresh.
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That's why the cast changes. Instead of deepening the relationships between characters or fleshing them out, he just gets bored and decides he wants new blood and that's that. Like, he'll try for an episode or two (like giving Lewiston an addict daughter) then he's like- this is too much work, and I can't make goofy jokes here, and then he's making cast changes. Same thing happened with alley mcbeal. The practice at least had a lasting cast, but that's probably b/c he had other writers doing the show from time to time. Hey, I still love the show, b/c of Alan Shore, and Crane is okay- I like their relationship. Everyone else is expendable. I know that going in.
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Jun 14, 2007 10:12:51 AM CDT
Once again, the Kelley Revolving Door strikes again...
by agentarchangel
I have to say, the one character I'll really miss from the lot being dumped is Paul Lewiston. He was a great dramatic foil for both Denny and Alan, with his being one of the only voices of reason in the firm and all. I hope they at least explain the departures properly, but looking at the show's history the odds look 50/50.
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All four, if their contracts had been renewed, would have most likely gotten a pay raise. No doubt the show's salary budget is weighted mostly towards Spade, Shatner, and Bergen. By dumping long-time regulars they free up some dough they can throw at the top 3 to keep them around.Partway through Season 2 I was sure Mark Valley would be gone by the end of the year. They didn't seem to have anything for him to do. But that seems true for most of the characters. Most of the court cases go to Alan Shore, leaving only the occasional case for the other characters, most of which are settled out of court.Watching the last few episodes this year it was obvious to me they were setting Gerry up as a regular for next season. I am surprised that Clarence will still be around. It seems with Odo & Keen Eddie gone, the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
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but looking at the show's history the odds look 50/50."Remember the young guy and young girl at the beginning of Season 2? Whatever became of them? Midway through the Season they had faded away? They were listed as cast regulars even after they were no longer on the show (or, I think one was already gone and they were waiting for the other to leave before changing the opening credits). Perfect example of introducing a couple of characters but not having any idea what to do with them. Was there any mention of them after they left; any explanation?
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Isn't Boston legal the remnants of the first bloodbath the show had?
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Are people still watching this show? I loved the first season, until they hacked off part of the cast (the first time). Julie Bowen is great eye candy though.
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yeah, I remember the younger characters that were dumped season 2. I also remember them explaining Tara's departure (and to a lesser extent, Lori's) That's why I say 50/50 they'll either explain or not. However, I do agree with you, they did kind of run out of ideas for the younger associates. I mean if you get your assed bullied around by Betty White on primetime, I guess that is a sign that you're on your way out. =P
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The only character I'll miss is Claire. Brad and Denise grew tiresome after the departure of Jeffrey Coho, and whilst I like the character of Paul, its a glorified extra role.
Having these characters leave as regulars doesn't preclude them coming back as guests.
Personally I'd like to see some former cast members make some return appearances. -
"She's just a guest star."
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Valley and Bowen were boring. Rene was good but hardly vital to the show. Constance Zimmer was hot, but her leaving is no biggie. I'm glad they're trimming the fat because the show slows to a crawl when Spader and Shatner aren't onscreen. Maybe now I'll think twice before switching to Law and Order SVU.
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What man lets Julie Bowen out of his life??
...Oh, one married to Michelle Phieffer...lucky sod! -
i was so disapointed when i read that rene was leaving, he was my favorite supporting actor on the show, who knows maybe they will leave it open for a eventual return for his character.
in any case i will still watch.
i think its funny though how many actors from the different incarnations of trek have been on this show, be it as regulars or guest stars.
thats actually one of the reasons i really enjoy the show.
now they just need to get christopher lloyd to guest star in a episode or two. have a nice little star trek 3 reunion
anyways i didnt get to catch much of the 3rd season thanks to work, but i look forward to catching up with it when the dvd comes out in sept, that is if it doesnt get pushed back to november like season 2 dvd set did last year.
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