O Desafio

"The Practice" is the best television series of all time, hands down! It has brilliant writing, excellent directing, fantastic filming, and most of all: the best acting ensemble ever in a television series. Let's start by reviewing the actors one by one:

First and foremost, Dylan McDermott is Bobby Donnell, a young, ambitious, complex lawyer and senior partner in the firm Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt. McDermott portrays this part with pure excellence, and nothing can contradict this.

Steve Harris portrays Eugene Young, the ruthless, yet sensitive lawyer in the firm. He puts his clients before his believes of right and wrong. He has an 11'year old son, Kendil and an ex-wife Sharon (Aunjanue Ellis). Harris is absolutely incredible in his role and is the best performance ever by an actor in a television series.

Lindsey Dole is portrayed by the beautiful Kelli Williams, who gives everything she can to insure that only the best comes from her acting skills. Lindsey is a fighter, an expert at constitutional law. She isn't easily distracted by anything other than the love of her life, Bobby.

Camryn Manheim is brilliant. And not only that, she also makes an excellent statement for bigger women. Her performance deserved an Emmy, without a doubt. Her character, Ellenor, is a sensitive, yet strong person who will help her clients no matter what.

Lisa Gay Hamilton portrays Rebecca Washington, and does it very good indeed. "Beck" is a simple person, who fails to begin a social life because she is too caught up with her work. Rebecca enjoys her work, but pests wacko judges. She is a valuble addition to Donnell, Young, Dole And Frutt, and is the kind of lawyer you would like to have on your side if the need arose.

D.A. Helen Gamble is played beautifully by the excellent actress Lara Flynn Boyle. She is a lawyer who believes in doing what's right. Because of this she despises greatly of defense attorneys and the people they sometimes have to defend. Boyle perfectly portrays the heartless, and somewhat hate-filled person Helen is.

Michael Baddalucco is fantastic as Jimmy Berluti, the sweet, father-like lawyer of the firm. Berluti has no special knowledge of the law system, but his strength lies in the fact that he can come through to juries as a normal, regular guy. Baddalucco won an well deserved Emmy in his respect for his portrayal.

And last but not least, Marla Sokoloff plays Lucy Hatcher. She is the secretary of the firm, and is a quirky, fun person who can't keep her opinion to herself. This has created the firm some problems in the past, and will quite possibly continue to do so in the forseeable future. Sokoloff, although not yet a Hollywood veteran, handles the part as if she's played it for a long time.

The Practices' creator, David E. Kelley has once again created a masterpiece, and shows that he will make a success of whatever he does. None of his former productions can live up to this series. "Ally McBeal" is totally overshadowed by this exquisite television triumph. Guest appearances are top class, especially John Larroquette's excellent portrayal of Joey Heric. You will never, ever, in your entire life find another show like this one.

This show was a fine example of successfully mixing torts with the titillating with a good balance that has eluded so many other courtroom dramas over the years. The premise of the show is that Bobby Donnell is the head of a law firm that is barely managing to keep itself financially afloat due to the kinds of cases that the firm takes and the fact that they have trouble collecting their fees from more than a few of their clients. However, these lawyers are the kind of people you would always want on your side. They have a can-do attitude and seem to relish an uphill fight. In fact, at several points in the show, they remind one another that the reason they took on the uncertainty and lesser remuneration of starting their own law firm was so that they could choose their battles rather than work for a big firm where the price of financial safety would be representing big corporate clients, right or wrong. Although this show has a large sexual component, it has several average looking and even outright plain looking folk as regular castmembers. Furthermore, these average looking people, with more than their share of physical flaws, are actually given meaningful personal lives. Creator David E. Kelley actually wrote five of the first six episodes of the first season, and it shows in the performances. Unlike many shows where the characters struggle to figure out who they are, these actors and actresses have their personalities down pat with their opening lines.

The Practice is a high quality show that is filled with underdogs and losers, and that's the lawyers!!

The clients to be fair are pretty much the same. This win one for the little people element is what makes the show work along with some nice moments of quirkiness.

Very enjoyable series and a nice warm up for the more irreverent Boston Legal :)

The Practice is a magnificent triumph created by one the most ingenious masterminds of the nineties, David E. Kelley. The Practice features the most incredible cast that a law series could hope for. My first impression was: "There is no way that these people aren't real lawyers, I mean, it's just not possible!" Dylan McDermott is fantastic as Bobby Donnell, Steve Harris riveting as Eugene Young, The beautiful Kelli Williams is exquisite as Lindsey Dole, and the rest of the cast (leading and guest) doesn't fall far behind.

Overall, The Practice has not only created brilliant entertainment for every television-owning family in the world, it has also inspired me to become a criminal defense attorney.

If you're not watching the Practice yet, wake up!

Thank you, Mr. Kelley, you make Monday nights in South Africa a pleasure!

Along with "X-Files" and "E.R.", this is one of the very few TV series that has consistently been able to keep my attention for more than a couple of episodes. The combination of good acting, nice storylines and intriguing court cases makes this series very interesting to watch.

Basically, "The Practice" is a drama about an unlikely group of lawyers that run a small law firm. Most remarkable is that these lawyers aren't all played by the usual super-handsome actors, but by people that might actually pass for lawyers in real life. This group of lawyers undergoes the usual array of romances, personal setbacks, and quarrels like in any drama serie. Nothing special, but certainly entertaining, and more importantly, almost always believable (as opposed to soap opera's where the most implausible things happen to the most implausible people all the time)

The real meat of the series, however, are the court cases, of which there are usually two to three in one episode. These are almost always creative, believable (nothing like the nonsensical cases in "Ally McBeal") and intriguing and often really make me think: "what would I do if I were the lawyer, judge, or juror?". Any series or movie that makes me actually think about ethical dilemma's (or anything else, for that matter) scores bonus points in my book. OK, so maybe the small law firm wins a little too many cases, and maybe they take the "moral high ground" a bit too often, but this doesn't really detract from the enjoyment.

"The Practice" combines enjoyable drama elements with some well thought-out and intriguing court cases into a formula that doesn't get old fast. Splendid !