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.

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?

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.

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?