Television: "The Practice" does history
Published March 08, 2004
I complain about television as much as anyone. My prophylactic is to watch it sparingly. Most television, particularly network programs, has gone from vast wasteland to empty universe. But, when television is good, like the little girl in the ditty, it is very good. This week's episode of "The Practice" was very good. It was the remainder of a two-part series interrupted at least twice by other programming. So, one had to reacquaint oneself with what had happened previously to understand the plot. Alan Shore, "The Practice"'s current misanthropic trial lawyer, was defending a childhood friend in the murder of the man's mistress. That meant returning to his hometown in Massachusetts, Dedham. That small town has gone down in history as the place where Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted. Shore, like many a smart kid, is as much reviled as admired there. His friend, Paul Stewart (Patrick Dempsey) on the other hand, has overcome bias against those who do well to become a respected physician.
So far, so good. However, Shore is in even more trouble than usual. The defendant left blood, hair, and semen on the corpse. He was seen fleeing the woman's home near the time the murder occurred. He was running to his priest to confess . . . something. His wealthy mother has bribed the key witness not to testify — a promise she breaks. Shore, who faces mediocre classmates from the past as his adversaries, has to come up with something to offset the circumstantial evidence that will surely convict his client. He decides his trump card is the case that made Dedham infamous.
At 3:00 P.M. on April 15,1920, a paymaster and his guard were carrying a factory payroll of $15,776 through the main street of South Braintree, Massachusetts, a small industrial town south of Boston. Two men standing by a fence suddenly pulled out guns and fired on them. The gunmen snatched up the cash boxes dropped by the mortally wounded pair and jumped into a waiting automobile. The bandit gang, numbering four or five in all, sped away, eluding their pursuers. At first this brutal murder and robbery, not uncommon in post-World War I America, aroused only local interest.
Three weeks later, on the evening of May 5, 1920, two Italians, NicolaSacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, fell into a police trap that had been setfor a suspect in the Braintree crime. Although originally not undersuspicion, both men were carrying guns at the time of their arrest andwhen questioned by the authorities they lied. As a result they were heldand eventually indicted for the South Braintree crimes.
- Television: "The Practice" does history
- Published: March 08, 2004
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- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Drama, Video: Television
- Writer: Mac Diva
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Mac-
Minor point, but while the crime Sacco & Vanzetti were wrongly accused of took place in Braintree, they were tried and convicted in Dedham, where this three-episode arc was filmed. There's an excellent article by local historian Robert Hanson here.
Dedham is a cute little town just south of Boston, and I think David E. Kelley gave it a bit of a bad rap with this storyline. Class warfare in the Eastern Mass. suburbs is not nearly so vicious as it was portrayed here.
While I do agree that what used to be an ensemble drama has turned into a showcase for Spader, I can't argue with the results.
Yes, Alan Shore took a case that should have been easy to lose for both legal and extralegal reasons and triumphed. But. . . his client was guilty all along. Irony. A miscarriage of justice occurred in the opposite way of what happened with Sacco and Vanzetti.
I loved the co-stars. Betty White and Ed Asner were perfect in their roles. Way to go, David Kelley!
Thanks for the info, Scott. I thought Kelley was just using Dedham as a stand-in for Braintree. Now, I understand there were three small towns in the area involved.
While I did like the history connection, I really HATE when "The Practice" has multi-episode stories. I watch it each week for exciting courtroom and related legal drama, not to watch one story-line dragged out so long that you have wait *a month* before you get see the good trial action.
IMHO, "The Practice" is better served when they have story-lines contained in ONE episode, MAYBE two (like when the original cast went to LA).
I agree that is becoming the James Spader show, which is why they need to go back one episode story-lines and give us some "Eugene" legal drama, as that guy is powerful in the stage set courtroom.
Good suggestions, Pappy. I was put off by the interruption to. The first episode of the two-parter did a great job of building suspense. Then one had to wait, wait and wait to see what happened next.
Let me admit that I fell for the defendant's manipulation. He had me convinced he was not guilty, partly because Alan believed him.
LOL... I wrote about James Spader on my blog yesterday.
As much as some detest Spader's character and the emphasis put on Shore
over the course of the new season; it's no coincidence that the show has rebounded in ratings and enjoying renewed critical popularity. As someone who didn't care for the original cast, I can only imagine how the fans of the original cast must feel seeing
this new fellow wrangle all the screen time.
In my opinion, this is a breakthrough character that conventional
television is often too wary to rely on. (at least not since JR Ewing) He's an anti-hero and not someone you're supposed to like. He's mean, cold and calculating. Like a car crash, you simply have to look. He's one of those guys out of the Miles Trentel (30-Something) school of amoral charisma.
Everyone within the ensamble will get their due as the program enters it's swan song. The introduction of William Shatner as a top labor attorney feels like a genius stroke in casting. Something the Practice has always had a knack for..., The show had actually gained new viewers and sustaining old ones with the Alan Shore Show. I eagerly await the spin-off that brings Shore back into the Corporate arena.
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One of the reasons I'm a big fan of the Practice is that they do sometimes do things are a little more challenging to watchers than the usual network fare -- as a viewer I am led to think about issues and wrestle with questions, rather than just be amused.
The ending to this last episode, however, really depressed me. What I take from it is how vital it is to have a really good lawyer.