Television: "The Practice" does history
Published March 08, 2004
Vanzetti was also charged with an earlier holdup attempt that had taken place on December24, 1919, in the nearby town of Bridgewater. These events were to markthe beginning of twentieth-century America's most notorious politicaltrial.
My brows rose when I realized where the plot was going. Instead of keeping to the usual tenets of television shows about the law, the writers had decided to present a history lesson. That is a risky move. History, including relatively recent history, bores many Americans, who respond by not having a clue about most of it. For example, I am currently reading a blogger who apparently has never heard of the Southern Strategy — the political machinations that moved most Southern white voters from the Democratic Party to the GOP. People do not like to reminded of their ignorance. By bringing up a historical case, be it the Snopes trial, Brown v. Board or Sacco and Vanzetti, the producers of "The Practice" were practically inviting viewers to switch channels to less taxing fare. The show soldiered on.
On April 9, 1927, after all recourse in the Massachusetts courts had failed, Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. By then the dignity and the words of the two men had turned them into powerful symbols of social justice for many throughout the world. Public agitation on their behalf by radicals, workers, immigrants, and Italians had become international in scope, and many demonstrations in the world's great cities--Paris, London, Mexico City, Buenos Aires--protested the unfairness of their trial. This great public pressure, combined with influential behind-the-scenes interventions, finally persuaded the governor of Massachusetts, Alvan T. Fuller, to consider the question of executive clemency for the two men. He appointed an advisory committee, the "Lowell Committee," so-called because its most prominent member was A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University. The committee, in a decision that was notorious for its loose thinking, concluded that the trial and judicial process had been just "on the whole" and that clemency was not warranted. It only fueled controversy over the fate of the two men, and Harvard, because of Lowell's role, became stigmatized, in the words of one of its alumni, as "Hangman's House." "Not every wop has the switch to the electric chair thrown by the president of Harvard."
Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927, a date that became a watershed in twentieth-century American history. It became the last of a long train of events that had driven any sense of utopian vision out of American life. The workings of American democracy now seemed to many Americans as flawed and unjust as many of the older societies of the world, no longer embodying any bright ideal, but once again serving the interests of the rich and the powerful. American intellectuals were powerfully moved by the case.
- 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.