Boston Legal Season I on DVD Review

Boston Legal is about the functions and dysfunctions of the law firm Crane, Poole, and Schmidt and deals with their branch office in Boston. The chemistry between the characters and the extremely well written storylines are what make this show what it is.

Despite not being on the air for a very long Boston Legal has already gotten a little bit of a cult following. It has relaunched the career of William Shatner, won numerous emmy awards, and is starting to make the name Denny Crane appear more and more common place in pop culture. Interestingly enough it has blended the line between being a drama and a comedy so much that it has been nominated for Emmy awards as a drama but for Screen Actors Guild awards as a comedy.

There are some minor disappointments in the DVD extras. I was surprised by the lack of guest commentaries on any of the episode tracks. It would have been to hear David E Kelley or one or some of the cast members or writers going over the episodes and what went into them.

DVD Features

This DVD set covers all seventeen episodes of Season 1.

These DVDs are widescreen and use the standard 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The sound is the usual Dolby Digital. It also features the usual English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Featurettes

Court Is Now In Session: How Boston Legal Came To Be
This dealt with how the show came about with David E Kelley and had interviews with the cast members from Season 1 (Including Sally Heap who left the show midway through season 1).

An Unlikely Pair: Alan Shore and Denny Crane
This dealt with obviously the characters portrayed by James Spader and William Shatner and how it works so well.

Deleted Scenes from Pilot Episode

The alternate pilot episode is interesting. It almost seems like it is trying too hard to be like Ally MacBeal. It is much more comical and less serious than Boston Legal usually is and definitely doesn't navigate the narrow line between drama and comedy that the series has done so well. It is an okay episode and worth watching although some of the jokes seem too forced.

Episode Listing

Episode 1: "Head Cases"
Episode 2: "Still Crazy After All These Years"
Episode 3: "Catch and Release"
Episode 4: "Change of Course"
Episode 5: "An Eye For An Eye"
Episode 6: "Truth Be Told"
Episode 7: "Questionable Characters"
Episode 8: "Loose Lips"
Episode 9: "Greater Good"
Episode 10: "Hired Guns"
Episode 11: "Schmidt Happens"
Episode 12: "From Whence We Came"
Episode 13: "It Girls and Beyond"
Episode 14: "Til We Meat Again"
Episode 15: "Tortured Souls"
Episode 16: "Let Sales Ring"
Episode 17: "Death Not Be Proud"

Conclusion
The DVD offers the average standard features you expect to get set nowadays and nothing more. However ,the fact of the matter is if you are a fan of the show this is definite "must buy"