Ally McBeal - Critique Of A Prime Time Network Television Program

If there was one show in the last year almost everybody talked about, it was certainly Fox Network’s new series “Ally McBeal”. The show tells the story of a young woman working for a Boston law firm, trying to be successful in the courtroom as well as in her love life, succeeding in the former rather than the latter. On her first day in the new job for example she finds out that her ex-boyfriend Billy (Gil Bellows) works there as well as his new wife, the smart and beautiful Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith of “Melrose Place”). Since Ally (Calista Flockhart) still has feelings for Billy, treating him and Georgia as colleagues of course isn’t quite so easy and the three find themselves in a lot of awkward situations.

Trying to figure out what genre “Ally McBeal” belongs to, is not so easy. On the first look it might appear to be a courtroom drama due to its hour-long format and trials taking place in every episode. But there is also a comedy side to “Ally McBeal”. Her struggle with life is shown in a humorous (often even slapstick) way and other characteristics of a comedy, like “childish behavior of the protagonist” or “lack of experience with the other sex” (Kaminsky 1985, p. 137-139) can be found as well.

Although the show won two Golden Globes in the comedy categories in 1997, “Ally McBeal” should rather be labeled as a “dramedy” due to its mixture of humor and serious issues. The genre of “dramedy” is a combination of drama and comedy and had its (short) heyday during the 1980s when it was praised as a fresh recipe to address an upscale audience. ¹ “Ally McBeal” does a very good job in reviving this genre, making its audience laugh as well as reflect or even cry.

One reason for its amazing success might be the very good cast of “Ally McBeal”. Especially Calista Flockhart, who plays Ally, does an outstanding job in making her character very believable and sympathetic. Her confused look and the way she strokes her hair out of her face or nervously plays with her necklace have almost become her trademark. Apart from her Golden Globe Award she was also nominated for an Emmy as best actress in a comedy, which undermines her ability to bring a character to life.

¹ Although shows like “M*A*S*H” or “Hill Street Blues” mixed funny and sad moments before, the first shows that were labeled as “dramedies” were “Moonlighting”, NBC’s “The days and nights of Molly Dodd”, CBS’s “Frank’s Place” and ABC’s “Hooperman”. While hailed by the critics only a few of these shows stayed longer than one season.

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But also the other characters contribute to the overall success of the show. Each of the other lawyers is portrayed in a very special way and the group dynamics in the small firm (during meetings or at the bar downstairs were the colleagues hang out after work) are very interesting to observe. Each of the characters has got its own little oddities, its own body language and it own way to talk, a concept that could very easily be unnerving but that works very well with the well-chosen cast of “Ally McBeal”.

David E. Kelley, the producer of “Ally McBeal” was also responsible for shows like “Picket Fences”, “The Practice” or “Chicago Hope”. He has got a sure hand concerning the looks of a show and the editing, so it is no surprise that “Ally McBeal” is a piece of good craftsmanship. The Law firm might look a bit overdone (considering that it was just founded) but Ally’s apartment for example looks very realistic and much more down to earth than the ones you usually find in a series portraying young people ² . Another important factor in the performance of the show is the very appropriate and stylish use of music. Almost all of the songs appearing on the show are sung by the same artist (Vonda Shepard) and they are always chosen to fit the situation Ally finds herself in.

The way Ally dresses also became a major issue in several magazines and many (female) viewers were curious what labels the protagonist was wearing. This enthusiasm for Ally’s wardrobe even made Fox Network executives seriously think about launching a clothing line based on the show, what would make “Ally McBeal” the first TV show with an own fashion line.

The most important feature however might be the special effects, which Kelley uses to let the viewer take part in Ally’s thoughts, feelings and fantasies. As she finds out that Billy (whom she still loves) and Georgia might have a baby, we can see a cannonball fly right through her stomach before in a close-up of her face Ally assures with a weak smile: “Oh! That’s great!” In other situations we see her heart getting hit by arrows or imagining herself having sex in a large cappuccino cup. These means, although most of the times used to

² Shows like “Melrose Place” or “Beverly Hills 90210” in contrast make you wonder where these people get the money from to pay for their apartments and how they find the time to keep them shiny and clean at any given day.

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achieve comical effects, also help the viewer to better understand the protagonist and relate to her in a different way ³ .

There has been a lot of talk about the image of women that is transported with “Ally McBeal”, journalists of all kinds were arguing if the show was feminist, post-feminist or even anti-feminist. That is understandable since Ally herself says things like, “I am a strong working career girl who feels empty without a man - the National Organization of Women, they have a contract out on my head”. One of the main issues that carry on from episode to episode is the fact that although she is successful in her job, Ally still wants nothing more than to get married - a cliche that feminism tried to destroy for several decades. “I want to change the world. I just want to get married first” is another memorable quote, but accusing “Ally McBeal” of being retrograde and antifeminist would be too easy. The show features a lot of successful and powerful women (as lawyers, attorneys and judges) and in one episode Ally even chooses to go to jail instead of letting somebody tell her how to dress. “Ally is a heady, seductive brew of feminist and antifeminist ideas” (Heywood 1998, p. B9) sums it up pretty well - being controversial is maybe one of the factors that made “Ally McBeal” such a success. Most of the characters are white upperclass; issues like ethnicity or class however somewhat get superseded by the gender discussion and and the show hardly has them for theme.

The target audience of “Ally McBeal” is definitely a female one. There are even rumors, that Fox Entertainment asked the producer David E. Kelley to provide a show with a female protagonist for the time slot after “Melrose Place”, which attracts mainly young women. For this reason the chosen time slot (counterprogramming Monday Night Football) seems a clever move.

But “Ally McBeal” also has male viewers - approximately 6 million. That’s not as many as the 14 million women who regularly tune in but also a lot of young men can relate to the feeling of nervous expectation of what the future might hold for you. What decisions you might make and which might be the right and the wrong ones. These are the issues the

³ David E. Kelley probably got inspired by HBO’s show “Dream on” which features similar effects for similar reasons.

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