Come meet the newborn which is Season 5 Episode 8, which its parent has not yet named. For now it’s being called Roe, but when the title becomes official, we’ll update this thread.
There’s lots of fodder here – a couple of quick references that, by airtime, we’ll look back on as shoutouts to the summer of ‘08; some slightly recycled storylines and even dialogue (I’m sure in the spirit of being green), but some good stuff nonetheless. When I saw that this was going to be another episode about abortion my heart kind of sank because….really….do we need to hash through that worn out topic again? (And pleased to find out even Denny agrees with me.) But after sifting through the intel, I think there’s some good stuff here, and the topic is handled a heckuva lot more thoughtfully than it was in Roe vs. Wade: The Musical (an ep I pretty much detested). So there’s that.
Production Company- Fox TV, Dick Clark, David E. Kelley Prod.
Cast and Crew
Director- Mike Listo
Screenwriter- David E. Kelley, Corinne Brinkerhoff
Main Cast
James Spader as Alan Shore
John Larroquette
Christian Clemenson
Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt
William Shatner
Gary Anthony Williams
Tara Summers
Saffron Burrows
Taraji Henson
Additional Cast
Grainger Hines
Synopsis
Denny and Alan visit a Dude Ranch in Utah, but find themselves in trouble with their tour group and the local authorities, including Melvin Palmer. Back in Boston, Shirley defends Catherine Piper after she unintentionally blows up her doctor when she sets his office on fire in revenge for prescribing her drugs that gave her a heart attack.
Alan and Shirley prepare for a fight with the military on behalf of a man whose brother died under suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile, Jerry helps his sister in her search for the identity of the father of her son.
“True Love” - Alan Shore is called upon by ex-flame Phoebe Prentice (Ally Walker, “Profiler,” “Tell Me You Love Me”) to prove her husband’s innocence in the murder of a nurse. But deep down, Alan’s unrequited love for Phoebe makes him hope that her husband is guilty so that they can rekindle their relationship. Brenda Strong (”Desperate Housewives”) guest stars as presiding Judge Judy Beacon, on “Boston Legal,” MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/VIVIAN ZINK)
The ep starts out with a bang—literally—when Denny and Jerry are mugged in the parking lot at night. They’re in the middle of a discussion where Jerry is asking Denny to support him for partner this year and Denny is explaining to Jerry that being partner isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. (So I guess Jerry was given a clean slate when he was rehired! Cool.) An African-American man steps out of the shadows and pulls a gun on our boys. Jerry starts to turn over his watch and wallet. Denny – as only Denny can – points out that it’s going to look really bad for a black man to shoot a white big shot just as we’re trying to get a African American elected president. Somehow the guy doesn’t find this argument convincing. So Denny reaches for his watch, reaches for his wallet and—do you see where I’m going with this?—reaches for a gun and shoots the guy in a knee and both feet.
The next day, as Shirley and Alan are asking him if he’s okay two policemen come to Denny’s office to arrest him because he was carrying a concealed weapon. Heh heh. In pure Denny style, he was actually carrying multiple concealed weapons. They removed 3 from him the night of the mugging and 5 the day of the arrest.
Sack defends Denny in the courtroom of the eternally shocked Judge Brown.
Alan is busy with his own case. It seems that his (and Jerry’s) former sex surrogate/counselor Joanna is being sued by her ex-husband for custody of their daughter (age of daughter isn’t clear, but appears to be a pre-teen). Evidently (ex) hubby is very uncomfortable with his daughter growing into some very impressionable years with a mother who sometimes has sex for a living. Ex hubby is represented by our cynical friend, Emma Path.
They put the daughter on the stand, and she’s a pretty cool kid. Judge Stern, who really lives up to her name, is pretty good at keeping Alan in his place and wiping the smirk off his wise-cracking face. I can’t wait to see this chick. Also, in a conversation between Alan and Joanne while they’re waiting to go into court, Joanna tells Alan that the contempt she heard earlier in his voice directed at Emma wasn’t just contempt for another lawyer. It was contempt for a woman. She believes a part of Alan actually hates women. Needless to say, Alan takes umbrage. I’m pretty sure we can expect this to come up on the balcony.
Boston Legal: Guardians and Gatekeepers - A close call for Denny involving prescription drugs inspires Alan to go after a pharmaceutical company for its unscrupulous advertising tactics. Meanwhile, Carl defends Shirley’s 17-year-old granddaughter after she’s caught voting illegally, and Jerry and Katie help a girl who was sexually assaulted in a private detention facility. Monday 10:00 et/9:00 ct on ABC.
Katie and Jerry are helping a client, Jeffrey Addario, whose 15-yo daughter Lauren was arrested and convicted for cocaine possession after her mother died. They had the choice of a juvenile detention facility or a private Pennsylvania facility that offered drug counseling, and chose the latter. Jeffrey says that he doesn’t think she was an addict, but that cocaine possession at age 15 isn’t an encouraging sign. Well if that doesn’t scream upper-middle-class-parent-in-denial, I don’t know what does. But it’s sad nonetheless, so we’ll move on.
Jeffrey is meeting with Katie and Jerry because his daughter was allegedly raped by a guard at the facility. And for some reason that I can’t fathom, they seem to be trying to make a case on whether the guards are held up to the promise that they were trained in juvie justice or child psychology—as if that mattered one way or the other if she was raped. Eyeroll. whatEVer.
Jerry and Katie counsel Jeffrey on the odds of winning, and he agrees to consult with his daughter on whether they should settle (for a pittance, in legal terms) or go to trial. And I know you’ll be shocked to learn they decide to go to trial. (Because one or more scenes of Katie and Jerry negotiating a settlement in a CP&S boardroom holds so much drama!) Jerry maintains that the fight will be tough against this particular opposing counsel, but Katie presses on for the win.
Of course, there’s a catch: Opposing counsel is our good friend Melvin Palmer, and he brings to light during the trial that Lauren was having some nookie (i.e., kissing) with the guard in her cell—and while Lauren concedes that she never consented to be raped, she can’t deny that she had a relationship with this guard beyond the usual guard/prisoner thang.
BOSTON LEGAL - “Smoke Signals” - On the season premiere episode, “Smoke Signals,” Bethany Horowitz asks Alan Shore to help her out with a case against a large tobacco company. But when it turns out that the defense attorney is Phoebe Prentice (Ally Walker, “Profiler,” “Tell Me You Love Me”), an old flame of Alan’s, he finds himself distracted and fears that he won’t be able to perform in court. Meanwhile, Denny is distraught over his own personal lack of performance in the bedroom. Led by an Emmy Award-winning cast, “Boston Legal” returns for its fifth and final season to tell the professional and personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally challenged attorneys, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/VIVIAN ZINK) JAMES SPADER, ALLY WALKER
Saffron Burrows is an English actress who was born on October 22, 1972 in London, England. She appears as one of the members of the cast in the ABC network’s legal drama television series Boston Legal, playing the character Lorraine Weller. She was introduced during the show’s fourth season and became one of Alan Shore’s old love interests. Saffron Burrows was brought up in a politically active family, by parents who were Socialist activists, with her father an architect and her mother a feminist teacher. When she was 15 years old, she was discovered by a modeling talent scout who was impressed with her nearly six-foot height, and who introduced her to the world of modeling. Burrows has also revealed in a previous interview that she is bisexual.
Saffron Burrows made her film debut in 1993’s In the Name of the Father. She soon got more significant roles, playing an ambitious Irish woman in Circle of Friends opposite Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver. She continued to star in a number of films during the late 1990s, some of them being Hotel de Love, The MatchMaker with Janeane Garofalo, Wing Commander and the thriller Deep Blue Sea. This was followed by roles in 2000’s Timecode and 2001’s Enigma. She was also able to co-star with Burt Reynolds, Peter Facinelli and Michael Arata in Tempted. She was also known for playing Andromache in the 2004 blockbuster Troy, also starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana. In 2005, she focused on her stage career. She originated the role of Janey in the world premiere of Earthly Paradise at the Almeida Theatre. Burrows was also at the Old Vic Theatre in London for the 24-hour play Night Sky. She was once again seen on screen the next year, landing roles in Perfect Creature and Fay Grim. She soon found herself as a cast member of Boston Legal, while accepting more movie roles. Burrows made an appearance in 2007’s Reign Over Me, as the character Donna Remar. She was also seen in the independent film, The Guitar, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. She also had a lead role in The Bank Job with Jason Statham.
The final season of David E. Kelley’s Emmy Award-winning series Boston Legal will begin its run with an episode titled “Smoke Signals.”
“Smoke Signals” will take audiences to a different scene, when the firm of Crane, Poole and Schmidt tackles the tobacco industry. This will be the 89th episode of the series, following last season’s “Patriot Acts.” We were left with Alan (James Spader) and Denny (William Shatner) celebrating their acceptance to the Auxiliary Coast Guard. We next see them this season defending a client whose father smoked cigarettes and died from lung cancer. The tension between Denny and Alan surfaces even more, even in the smallest of acts in the trial. Another surprise character from Alan’s past appears in the episode as well.
It has been reported that the fifth season of Boston Legal will no longer include Gary Anthony Williams as Clarence/Clarice Bell. Williams claims that he was not upset that his stint on the show was over. He already had two years on Boston Legal, and that was much more than he expected. Taraji P. Henson has also confirmed her departure from the show, no longer playing the character of Whitney Rome.
Boston Legal is one of ABC’s consistent performers, having a concentration of high income viewers in its young adult audience. It premiered in 2004 as a spin-off of The Practice, but has remained on the network because it was well-received. It was once again nominated in the Emmy Awards this year, for the outstanding performances of its cast members.
Boston Legal will be airing “Smoke Signals” on September 22 at 10pm, its new timeslot on ABC. It will be appearing regularly with Dancing with the Stars and Samantha Who? on Mondays.
: Guardians and Gatekeepers - A close call for Denny involving prescription drugs inspires Alan to go after a pharmaceutical company for its unscrupulous advertising tactics. Meanwhile, Carl defends Shirley’s 17-year-old granddaughter after she’s caught voting illegally, and Jerry and Katie help a girl who was sexually assaulted in a private detention facility. Monday 10:00 et/9:00 ct on 
