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Boston Legal v ABC

Spoilers: Monday's ep lets rip on behalf of older viewers in America: "Give us something to watch, damn it!”

bljSPOILERS: On Monday night there’s a particularly interesting episode of Boston Legal on Seven.

Writer David E. Kelley has been on the record as saying, “ABC didn’t want us back,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. They didn’t even want us back for this year at all. We had to fight to get back on with 13. It’s not a product they care to market.”

Betty White, 86, appears in the episode in a case against television networks.

The case involves an elderly woman’s right to have television programmes made for older viewers. For a programme with a cast of seasoned actors including WIlliam Shatner, Candice Bergen and John Larroquette, it was widely perceived as an attack on ABC Television and network television.

“We’re just shoved aside as a nuisance,” White’s character Catherine declared. “I can’t even watch television shows for God’s sake, because the networks consider me irrelevant. It seems they don’t program for anyone over 50!”

“You actually may have something there,” Sack (Larroquette) replied. “The networks are supposed to serve the public. I’m over 50 myself and I want something to watch!”

In court Judge Clark Brown (Henry Gibson), responded with his usual characteristic exasperation, “You can’t sue the networks!”

But Sack, with the words of David E. Kelley let rip. “The airwaves, judge, are a public trust, at least as far as the broadcast networks are concerned,” he explained. “That’s why they’re regulated.

“There may have been a time when it didn’t make practical business sense to exclude the old, but not today,” Sack continued. “Americans over 50 make up the fastest growing market . . . The baby boomers, now all over 50, earn two trillion in annual income . . . We’ve got more money. We spend more money. We watch more television. We go to more movies. We buy more CDs than young people do. And yet, we’re the focus of less than ten percent of the advertising. All the networks want to do is skew younger. Kids shows for kids! The only show unafraid to have its stars over 50 is Bo . . .” (Here Sack pointed directly to the camera.)

“I can’t say it,” Sack sighed. “It would break the [fourth] wall!”

Brown roared again. “You can’t tell the networks what shows to make!” he cried.

“No, but you can order them not to discriminate!” Sack replied. “What they’re doing intentionally excludes a class of society. That’s bigotry! We should be able to turn on our damn televisions and see something other than reality shows aimed at fourth graders, game shows aimed at those slightly smarter than fifth graders and scripted shows with dimwitted, sex-crazed twenty-somethings running around in suits or doctors’ scrubs! Old people, the ones with intelligence, don’t want to watch that crap! We’re fed up! The networks might think we’re dead, but we’re not. We’re very much alive, with working brains! Give us something to watch, damn it!”

Fun stuff. The episode airs 10:30pm Monday on Seven with two more remaining.

Source: Post Gazette, jackmyers.com

14 Responses

  1. Boston Legal.. rocks… Shame Danny lost his marbles in the end… My favourite series was the “friends with benefits” not to mentioned the hot babes and Denny’s quirky crack on’s.. bring back the midget.. LOL… It will be missed…

    MrCrane… Nimmo Bay 🙂 Crane Denny Crane..!!!

  2. Best show on tv in a long time. But could someone tell me please what is going on re when it is shown? I seem to only catch it about half the time – can’t be around every monday, but waited for it tonight only to find it isn’t in the tv guide at all. Instead it’s footy. I cannot find anything on the net to tell me when the last two episodes will screen. Is it on again next week? The channel 7 site doesn’t even have it listed in its program list. What’s going on?????

  3. This episode really is quite amusing. There have been numerous digs at ABC in the show over the years, I’m amazed at how much they get away with.

    I still can’t believe ABC canned this show. To quote Brown, “Outrageous!” Season 1 had an average of 12.5 million viewers and season 5 had an average of 9.2 million viewers. Over the course of the show, that’s only a 3.3 million viewer drop (average, of course), and even then the show is still doing rather well compared to some other shows.

    I am aware of the cast of the show and how expensive they may be but… I dunno, I still can’t believe they did it.

    Having said that, the series finale really blew. Completely unbelievable and the second last shot was a hard slap in the face to the fans of the show.

  4. I’m 28 and I agree with the sentiment entirely. I also wish ABC had shown BL more love, but I’m glad they got these final 13 episodes to wrap things up. For all its occasional flaws – preachiness, periodic self-conscious quirkyness and a tendency to drop characters with no explanation – Boston Legal is still a great show, one of the true greats in fact. I’m going to miss it a lot.

  5. I love Boston Legal and im going to really miss it when it finishes. Last weeks episode was one of the best ever and im looking foward to tomorrow nights. I like it when Betty White appears.

  6. Awesome. Sounds a lot like the S.O.Bs (Save Our Bluth’s) episode of Arrested Development. Lots of pot shots at the networks and in jokes and gimmicks in that episode and its one of the best AD episode.

  7. Fun, but it’s really self-indulgent and comes across like a grumpy spilt child who’s been told that no, he cannot have another ice cream.

    Sorry, but Kelley lost the plot in the last couple of seaons of Boston Legal, and this, along with several other episodes of this final season (which some of us saw, err, ages ago) just serve to illustrate one simple truth: ABC didn’t can them because it was a drama with older people in it. They lost interest because, just like several of his previous shows, Kelley went off into a zone that only he finds amusing. Boston Legal was one of the best shows on TV until the man that created it broke it.

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