Oh and best miniseries..Andromeda Strain???!!! Ex-fuck me??

at its outset a funny show but it's followed the same decline as all David E Kelley shows past their first season. it should be circling the drain now, not picking up Emmy nods.

BSG, Pushing Daisies and the Wire all deserve more props than this. Pleased that Mad Man has got the recognition it deserves. Damages & Flight of the Conchords too.

because it follows the same David E Kelley formula as Single Female Lawyer. A great first season, followed by the same old tired schtick over and over and over: take main character, cast of funny supporting characters with various clever tics, cut between storylines dealing with topical issues featuring pathos and whimsy, but sum it all up with a little bit of passionate and or serious writing that makes us all love the noble business of the law, yawn, retch.

Yes, Spader's a great actor. Yes, Denny Crane is a funny character. But, no, it's neither great nor funny to see them perform the same dog & pony trick week after week after fucking week.

As most other posters have already pointed out, it makes a mockery of awards to nominate mediocre shows like Boston Legal and Grey's Anatomy and sideline truly excellent television like the Wire or BSG.

The only thing Boston Legal deserves at this stage is a quick death.

Sure, the year after year exclusion of The Wire is unexcusable, maybe The Sopranos took away some votes for that program. And cult classics like X Files and Buffy never really got their due, much like Galactica nowadays. Hey its all a glorified popularity contest anyway...

Had to throw that in...

Boston Legal has become tired. It has not grown from its first season. The only difference between seasons (even during seasons) is the shuffling of cast members. It makes it difficult to care about new regular characters when they may be gone in 8 episodes.

The best part of the show is Alan & Denny. But that too has pretty much run its course. I said before the show has not grown and it is most evident in these two characters. There are no repercussions for their actions. There is talk, but nothing comes of it. Whatever they go though they never seem to learn anything and are the same characters week after week, season after season.

You referred to the Supreme Court episode as an example of how good the show can be. It was that episode that made me begin to question if I would tune in again next season. Alan is told not to stray from the case as the Justices have little patience for grandstanding. What does he do? He goes off on a tangent about how impartial the Justices are. Whether they are or not is irrelevant. He jeopardizes his case, and the life of the man he is defending, so he (rather Kelly, or whoever wrote it) can get up on his soapbox and say "shame on you". There was nothing "fair" or "balanced" about it. It was a one-sided argument.

The show was good in its first 2 seasons. It has since become a parody of itself. The eccentricities of the characters have gone from being unique and fresh to different for the sake of being different. Quirks over quality.

The show, after four seasons, is no longer unique. The same can be said of the characters. Everyone seems content to simply maintain the status quo.

Oh, and the only people that care about THE WIRE are AICN Talkbackers and the people that make the show. Yeah, I went there.

That said, I'm also a huge fan of Boston Legal. As accordingtojimrulz and others have stated, its writing is amazing, Spader, Shatner, and Clemenson are top notch, and it is one of the few shows (Wire and BSG are the only other ones that come to mind) that address any sort of social or political commentary. Sure, the characters haven't changed. Sure, there is no overarching plot or mystery to make it a serial like Lost or BSG. But watching any one episode, there is a quality of writing and acting, along with amusing and relevant exploration of socio-polital themes, that is unsurpassed by any "stand-alone" weekly show.

I knew David E. Kelley would get his show nominated, thus shutting out The Wire. The guy has too many friends in high places in Hollywood. Hope this is his last year nominated. After he butchered "Life on Mars" he needs to sit on the sidelines for a year or 2. Maybe then BSG can sneak in.-----later-----m

An American Crime sucked, Keener was trying to be the chick from Monster. The real life Gertrude Baniszewski was a witch. Ellen Page's role was reduced to a footnote, and it seemed like the filmakers had a hard on for the criminals.

Reverse ageism, anyone?