I am – Hercules!!

Long story short: ABC is paying a lot less for episodes of “The Practice” this coming season, and about a month ago series producers sacked a big chunk of its cast. Word is the departed include Dylan McDermott, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Marla Sokoloff and maybe rookie Chyler Leigh.

A Josef Adalian story in this morning’s Variety sugggests that James Spader, who played a very odd lawyer in last year’s “Secretary,” will likely replace McDermott as a "complicated, ethically challenged" attorney on the series.

The stunning Rhona Mitra, who played a Jewish-Latina med student on “Gideon’s Crossing” a few years ago, has apparently also been approached about a role. A Brit of Irish and Indian ancestry, Mitra was the original model for Lara Croft in the “Tomb Raider” video game.

I am – Hercules!!