Boston LegalandThe Practicearen’t just two of the best legal dramas ever, with 268 episodes between them; the shows also exist in a shared universe. Shared universes are now most closely associated with superhero movies and TV shows, but before Spider-Man was jumping between worlds, networks were filled withshared universes between procedural TV shows.Law & Order,CSI, andThe Buffyverseall interchanged characters between their shows for years.Boston LegalandThe Practiceare more examples of these older, shared universe shows.
Along with being an early adopter of the shared universe conceit,Boston LegalandThe Practiceare alsosimply excellent legal TV shows. It’s a packed crowd with long-running shows likeLaw & Orderand prestige series likeBetter Call Saulusually sitting at the forefront of people’s minds when they consider the genre. However,Boston LegalandThe Practiceneed to be considered alongside the great legal drama shows. Together, they’ve provided over a decade of excellent TV, all set within the same universe.
The Practice And Boston Legal Are Two Of The Best Legal Dramas Of All Time
These Series Deserve To Be Lauded Alongside Acclaimed Dramas
The PracticeandBoston Legalare up there with the best legal drama TV shows ever. Premiering in March 1997,The Practiceran for eight seasons and earned seven Golden Globe nominations, winning three times, and earned 41 Emmy nominations, with 16 wins. The series follows the lawyers at Robert Donnell and Associates, which becomes Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt, a legal firm in Boston. While the show could be funny,it was a more grim look at the legal system compared to other series, showcasing how morality and legal ethics can be at odds.
Boston Legalcame out the same year thatThe Practiceended, premiering on ABC from 2004 to 2008 for five seasons.Boston Legalfollows the lawyer, Alan Shore (James Spader), who previously worked at the firm inThe Practicein that show’s final season. The show earned one Golden Globe win out of four nominations and five Emmy wins out of 26 nominations. The series also stars William Shatner as Denny Crane, a flamboyant, loose-cannon of a lawyer who works alongside Alan.
Boston Legal Is A Rare Example Of A Spinoff That Is Just As Good As The Original Show
Both Shows Are Great For Different Reasons
The problem withspinoffs is that the new show is rarely as good as the old one. The handful of cases where this is the case are only the exceptions that prove the rule, likeBetter Call SaultoBreaking BadandFrasiertoCheers.Boston Legalcame out the same year thatThe Practiceended, and it manages to be just as good a show as the original. One of the ways it does this is by not trying to out-and-out copyThe Practice. They are quite different shows with very different tones.
It’s these different tones that probably set them apart more than anything. WhileThe Practiceis a legal drama with some comedy moments,Boston Legalis much more of a comedy, with the juxtaposition of Shore and Crane’s style of lawyering the source of a lot of this comedy. However,Boston Legalstill has plenty of dramatic moments to keep it a thrilling and engrossing show. BothThe PracticeandBoston Legalare great to watch, even if you haven’t seen the other one, which is the sign of a great spinoff.
The Practice And Boston Legal Are Still Worth Watching Even Decades Later
These Shows Hold Up Thanks To Their Lengths And Casts
Even two decades afterThe Practiceended, and a decade and a half afterBoston Legalended, both shows are still worth watching. For one, unlike a lot of legal shows,The PracticeandBoston Legalare relatively short in their series length, meaning it’s possible to get through the entire show.Law & Orderis currently on its 25th season. If you haven’t been watching along all this time, you might find it hard to jump into the long-running series.The PracticeandBoston Legalat least have finales.
There are also a lot of actors in both shows who are still doing great work in the 2020s, so it’s fun to see them in these roles. Dylan McDermott and LisaGay Hamilton fromThe Practiceare still acting in notable productions. James Spader, Lake Bell, Julie Bowen, Constance Zimmer, and Taraji P. Henson ofBoston Legalhave gone on to great careers. These shows don’t break the legal drama mold, but they just excel at every opportunity, making them solid series that happen to be set in the same universe.
