Amazon.com reviews for
"Ally McBeal" (1997)

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Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: When Ally McBeal premiered on the Fox network in 1997, the series was already riding high on critical praise, with its upscale mix of savvy humor and hot-topic legal drama. Created, produced, and written entirely by the amazingly prolific David E. Kelley, the show immediately found an appreciative audience of women drawn to the title character's frank perspectives on dating, sex, and career objectives, and men lured by a cast full of attractive, outspoken women with vibrant personalities and flattering wardrobes. (If you think that's a sexist observation, you haven't tuned in to the show's brilliant balance of male chauvinism, feminist attitude, and hilariously turbulent office politics.)

This two-disc compilation of episodes from the show's first season is aptly titled, because Ally McBeal--a Boston lawyer played by Calista Flockhart--is defined by her seemingly perpetual singlehood, her sexual and emotional yearnings, her professional passions, and--by one of Kelley's creative masterstrokes--her flights of imagination (often visualized via amusing computer-generated effects) that give the series a constant, unpredictable edge of humor and emotional depth.

These well-chosen episodes offer a comprehensive summary of the first season's major developments, including the emotional history shared by Ally and her now-married colleague Billy (Gil Bellows); the notorious "dancing baby" (in "Cro-Magnon") symbolizing the insistent ticking of Ally's biological clock; the amiable quirks of John "the Biscuit" Cage (Peter MacNicol); and the dubious pearls of wisdom known as "Fishisms." Here we witness the sublime chemistry of the ensemble cast, and each member is given ample time in the spotlight. Regular guest star Dyan Cannon is strongly featured in "Silver Bells," prior to the second-season addition of Nelle (Portia DeRossi) and Ling (Lucy Liu). That leaves plenty of room to establish Ally McBeal as the lively focus of the series--confused, opinionated, sexy, neurotic, frustrated, ecstatic, intelligent, emotional... and never, ever boring. --Jeff Shannon

Ally McBeal: Pilot/Silver Bells (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: With the premiere of its untitled pilot episode on the Fox network in 1997, Ally McBeal arrived as a comedy-drama worth watching. Springing from the observant mind of creator David E. Kelley, the show briskly established its well-cast ensemble of oddballs, legal sharks, neurotics, and semihappy couples in love, lust, or various stages of personality crisis. The pilot instantly sets the tone for the series, introducing Ally (Calista Flockhart), a young Boston lawyer who's just joined a firm where her now-married former boyfriend Billy (Gil Bellows) is also employed. To make matters worse, Billy's wife, Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith), is jealous of Ally's romantic past with her husband (a conflict developed in subsequent episodes), and Ally loses her first case in court. Through all of these emotional crises, this impressive pilot introduces meddlesome legal assistant Elaine (Jane Krakowski); Ally's former classmate and new boss, Richard Fish (Greg Germann), who excuses every tactless remark he makes with the word "bygones"; Ally's hip and headstrong roommate, Renée (Lisa Nicole Carson); and Vonda Shepard as the house singer at the nightclub that provides the show's after-hours pressure valve and watering hole. A slick, engagingly comedic study of human foibles, the pilot gets this popular series off to a rousing start.

"Silver Bells" (first season, episode 11) is a Christmas episode, following an impasse in the relationship between Fish and Judge "Whipper" Cone (series semiregular Dyan Cannon), while Georgia continues to stew when husband Billy confides in Ally over private marital matters. The episode also deepens the platonic affection between Ally and law-firm partner John Cage (Peter MacNicol), who, like Ally, is at odds with being perpetually single. Culminating in a memorable scene during an office Christmas party, this delightful episode conveys series creator David E. Kelley's expert ability to combine humor and melancholy in a way that perfectly captures the personalities of the characters, all of whom reflect some quirky manifestation of human strengths and weaknesses. --Jeff Shannon

Ally McBeal: Cro-Magnon/The Attitude (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: "Cro-Magnon" (first season, episode 12) will be remembered by Ally McBeal fans as the "dancing baby" episode, in which Ally--woefully celibate and tortured by the ticking of her biological clock--envisions a strutting, diapered infant who haunts her at home and office. The little tyke's appearance (accompanied by the "ooga-chocka" refrain from the 1970s hit "Hooked on a Feeling") coincides with Ally's obsessive attraction to a well-endowed male model she meets in a sculpting class. A prime example of the series' capacity for frank and hilarious sexual content, the episode finally gives Ally a chance to unleash her pent-up sexual energy (courtesy of the model), while the guys in the law firm are left to ponder if "size really matters." By the final scene, Ally (sporting the flannel pajamas that became a modest fashion trend) has come to terms with her imaginary dancing baby, and the episode closes with the two of them dancing happily together... at least for the time being.

"The Attitude" (first season, episode 7) finds Ally struggling to navigate the stormy seas of romance. She's coping with close proximity to Billy, the former love of her life, and the tension increases when Billy's wife, Georgia, is invited to join the firm of Fish & Cage. While Ally defends a woman (Brenda Vaccaro) who's been wrongfully expelled from her synagogue, Cage takes on Georgia's ex-boss on a sex-discrimination charge. During a disastrous dinner date Ally obsesses over salad dressing on her date's chin, and later she simultaneously offends and attracts the young rabbi who ousted her client, leading Ally to trade her pursuit of "Mr. Right" for more pragmatic dates with "Mr. Not-Likelys." As usual, this episode is blessed with Kelley's rapid-fire dialogue, but it's best remembered for the superbly written scenes between Ally and Georgia, who forge a friendship despite their shared history with Billy. Calista Flockhart and Courtney Thorne-Smith really shine here, making this one of the first season's pivotal episodes. --Jeff Shannon

Ally McBeal: Theme of Life/Playing the Field (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: While Billy sits speechless at ringside, "Theme of Life" (first season, episode 17) gives Ally and Georgia the opportunity to vent their suppressed animosity in a kick-boxing match, and the battering leaves them bruised but closer as friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Ally defends Greg (Jesse L. Martin), a handsome young doctor who transplanted a pig's liver into a dying woman without securing official permission. A romance begins between him and Ally that will continue in subsequent episodes. Fish is seen on the town with Attorney General Janet Reno (later Whipper confronts him about his obsession with Reno's wattle), and Ally reluctantly visits a therapist (Tracey Ullman) who urges her to choose a lively, danceable "theme song" for her life. While the kick-boxing match is surely a season highlight, this episode is memorable for creator David E. Kelley's seemingly effortless balance of crackling wit and engaging drama. Here we have an episode that's as moving as it is amusing--a quality that gives the series its singular appeal.

A lively round in the battle of the sexes, "The Playing Field" (first season, episode 18), finds Ally returning to the therapist (Tracey Ullman), worried that the "dancing baby" that plagued her in previous episodes has reappeared as a roller-blading hockey player! ("Get him!" advises the counselor.) Continuing the "baby" theme, Ally finds herself pitted against child prodigy Oren Koolie (Josh Evans), a pint-sized 9-year-old attorney whose negotiation strategy consists primarily of crying when he doesn't get his way. Kelley continues to probe the gender gap in a case of harassment via sexual exclusion, the outcome of which causes a tempest of fury in the office, with Ally and Georgia confronting Fish over his backward theories of gender inequality. All's well that ends well in the closing nightclub scene, where men and women call a truce. --Jeff Shannon