Wednesday

When perfect
doesn't make 'Practice'

Kelley, endless tinkerer, ought to dump the show

By Ed Robertson

   So David E. Kelley thinks the best way to breathe life into “The Practice” is by dumping the cast and starting from scratch.
   Granted, he didn’t exactly put it that way last week in announcing that six of the show’s principal actors, including Dylan McDermott and Lara Flynn Boyle, won’t be aboard this fall when “The Practice” embarks on its eighth season on ABC. But that’s clearly the producer’s plan of attack.
    Kudos to Kelley for showing spunk in the face of a trying year. After watching “girls club” implode, the eight-time Emmy winner fought tooth and nail with ABC over “The Practice's” time slot and licensing deals while ratings for his other series, Fox’s “Boston Public,” dropped 20 percent.
   Audacious though it is, Kelley’s “Practice” maneuver is unfortunately doomed to fail.
   History shows that radical cast or format changes to tired, failing shows rarely make a difference and only serve to delay the inevitable.
   Remember the last season of “Roseanne,” when the beleaguered Conner family suddenly won the lottery?
   Trying to compensate for lost viewers (as well as the loss of John Goodman), the show took an ill-fated detour into “Beverly Hillbillies” territory that practically left the audience begging for cancellation.
   “Maverick” actually boosted its ratings when Roger Moore replaced James Garner in 1960, but that was tied to nationwide interest in the outcome of Garner’s lawsuit with Warner Bros. Once Garner won the case, viewers hoping for the actor’s return suddenly left the show in droves, knowing that Garner was gone for good. Within a year’s time, so was “Maverick.”
   Then again, for sheer chutzpah, there’s the story of “Nichols,” an offbeat comic Western that Garner starred in and produced back in 1971.
   “Nichols” was the “Kingpin” of its time, a “buzz” show that never quite caught on. Despite Garner’s considerable appeal, viewers simply didn’t care for the character he played, a hapless drifter hoodwinked into becoming sheriff of a small Arizona town.
   With “Nichols” foundering in the ratings, Garner called for killing off his own character in the season finale and replacing him with his twin brother, a stalwart, more traditional dramatic hero also played by Garner. Assuming the show was renewed, the second season would have focused on the actor’s new character.
   It was precisely the sort of move David E. Kelley would appreciate. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. “Nichols” was canceled at the end of one year.
   So far as we know, none of the departing “Practice” characters have been executed. But the show’s personnel shakeup is no less extreme.
   Kelley is clearly betting on precedent, knowing that many ensemble shows before “The Practice”—including “Bonanza,” “M*A*S*H,” “Dallas,” “Hill Street Blues,” “N.Y.P.D. Blue,” “ER,” and Kelley’s own “L.A. Law”—have managed to survive despite major cast changes.
   While that’s certainly true, there’s a caveat that Kelley has apparently overlooked: No ensemble show has ever survived the loss of its central characters, with the possible exception of "Law & Order," which focuses on cases rather than personal lives.
   Think about it. For every television show, there are characters who are disposable, and there are those that are absolutely vital to the success of the show.
   “Bonanza” got along fine without Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), but had either Lorne Greene or Michael Landon left the Ponderosa, it would have been an entirely different story. Papa Ben and Little Joe were the pillars of the show.
   Similarly, Hawkeye Pierce was the linchpin of “M*A*S*H.” It didn’t matter whether he cavorted with Trapper John or B.J. Hunnicutt, answered to Henry Blake or Sherman Potter, or had Frank Burns or Charles Winchester III as a foil. Without Hawkeye or Alan Alda, there was no show.
   Likewise, without Bobby and J.R., there was no “Dallas.” Larry Hagman knew that better than anyone, which is why he lobbied hard for Patrick Duffy to hurry back to the show after Duffy departed in 1985.
   Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) and Helen Gamble (Lara Flynn Boyle) may be insufferable and annoying, but without them, “The Practice” is a just another legal drama -- and a stale one at that.
   Longtime “Practice” co-stars Steve Harris, Michael Badalucco and Camryn Manheim are all set to return. While all are fine actors, none of them has the star quality capable of carrying the show.
   Manheim’s character, Ellenor Frutt, particularly poses a problem, in that she’s the kind best taken in small doses. Making Frutt the focus of the show is a recipe for disaster.
   History suggests that Kelley would be better served cutting his losses, abandoning “The Practice” altogether and concentrating on developing his new CBS show, “The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.,” as well as resuscitating “Boston Public.”
    Either way, it won’t be long before “The Practice” is permanently disbarred.

-Ed Robertson is a writer from the San Francisco Bay Area who covers television.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us