| L.A. Law | |
|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Genre | Legal drama |
| Created by | |
| Starring | (See entire cast list below) |
| Theme music composer | Mike Post |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 172(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Cinematography | Robert Seaman |
| Editor | Bonnie Koehler |
| Running time |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 15, 1986 (1986-9-15) – May 19, 1994 (1994-5-19) |
| Related | |
L.A. Law is an Americanlegal drama television series created bySteven Bochco andTerry Louise Fisher forNBC.[1] It ran for eight seasons and172 episodes from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994.[2]
The series centers on the partners, associates and staff of aLos Angeles law firm. The show contains many of Bochco's trademark features, including anensemble cast, large number of parallel story lines, social drama, and off-the-wall humor.[3] It reflects the social and cultural conflicts that were occurring when the show was produced in the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-button issues such ascapital punishment,abortion,racism,homophobia,sexual harassment,HIV/AIDS, anddomestic violence.[4][5][6] The series often also reflects social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff.
In addition to its main cast,L.A. Law was also well known for featuring then-relatively unknown actors and actresses in guest starring roles, who went on to greater success in film and television includingDon Cheadle,Jeffrey Tambor,Kathy Bates,David Schwimmer,Shelley Hack,Jay O. Sanders,James Avery,Gates McFadden,Bryan Cranston,CCH Pounder,Kevin Spacey,Richard Schiff,Carrie-Anne Moss,William H. Macy,Stephen Root,Christian Slater,Steve Buscemi, andLucy Liu. Several episodes of the show also included celebrities such asVanna White,Buddy Hackett, andMamie Van Doren appearing as themselves in cameo roles.
The show was a success with critics and audiences, ranking in the Nielsen Top 30 for its first six seasons and winning 15Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were forOutstanding Drama Series.
The series is set in and around the fictionalLos Angeles–based law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak (later McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, Kuzak, and Becker) and featured attorneys at the firm and various members of the support staff. The exteriors for the law firm were shot at theFourFortyFour South Flower building in downtown Los Angeles, which was known as the 444 Flower Building at the time. The opening credits sequence of every episode began with a close-up of a car trunk being slammed shut revealing a personalizedlicense plate reading "LA LAW". For the first seven seasons, the model car used was aJaguar XJ Series III; for the 8th and final season, the Jaguar was replaced with a 1993Bentley Continental R.[7] Both cars carried registration stickers indicating the year in which each season began. Two different musical openings for the show's theme were used: asaxophone riff for episodes that were lighter in tone; and an ominous synthesizer chord, for more serious story lines.
| Character | Actor | Seasons | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Reunion | ||
| Michael Kuzak | Harry Hamlin | Main | Main | |||||||
| Arnie Becker | Corbin Bernsen | Main | ||||||||
| Ann Kelsey | Jill Eikenberry | Main | ||||||||
| Douglas Brackman Jr. | Alan Rachins | Main | ||||||||
| Abby Perkins | Michele Greene | Main | Main | |||||||
| Victor Sifuentes | Jimmy Smits | Main | Guest | |||||||
| Stuart Markowitz | Michael Tucker | Main | ||||||||
| Roxanne Melman | Susan Ruttan | Main | Guest | Main | ||||||
| Leland McKenzie | Richard Dysart | Main | ||||||||
| Grace Van Owen | Susan Dey | Main[a] | Main | |||||||
| Jonathan Rollins | Blair Underwood | Main | ||||||||
| Benny Stulwicz | Larry Drake | Guest | Recurring | Main | ||||||
| C.J. Lamb | Amanda Donohoe | Main[b] | ||||||||
| Tommy Mullaney | John Spencer | Main[b] | ||||||||
| Zoey Clemmons | Cecil Hoffman | Main[c] | Recurring | |||||||
| Gwen Taylor | Sheila Kelley | Guest | Recurring | Main | ||||||
| Frank Kittredge | Michael Cumpsty | Main[d] | ||||||||
| Susan Bloom | Conchata Ferrell | Main[d] | ||||||||
| Daniel Morales | A Martinez | Main | ||||||||
| Melina Paros | Lisa Zane | Main[e] | ||||||||
| Eli Levinson | Alan Rosenberg | Main | Cameo | |||||||
| Denise Iannello | Debi Mazar | Main | ||||||||
| Jane Halliday | Alexandra Powers | Main | ||||||||
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 23 | September 15, 1986 (1986-9-15) | April 9, 1987 (1987-4-9) | |
| 2 | 20 | October 15, 1987 (1987-10-15) | May 5, 1988 (1988-5-5) | |
| 3 | 19 | November 3, 1988 (1988-11-3) | May 18, 1989 (1989-5-18) | |
| 4 | 22 | November 2, 1989 (1989-11-2) | May 17, 1990 (1990-5-17) | |
| 5 | 22 | October 18, 1990 (1990-10-18) | May 16, 1991 (1991-5-16) | |
| 6 | 22 | October 10, 1991 (1991-10-10) | May 21, 1992 (1992-5-21) | |
| 7 | 22 | October 22, 1992 (1992-10-22) | May 27, 1993 (1993-5-27) | |
| 8 | 22 | October 7, 1993 (1993-10-7) | May 19, 1994 (1994-5-19) | |
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L.A. Law's two-hour pilot movie aired on Monday, September 15, 1986. An encore aired in place ofSaturday Night Live on September 27, 1986, being a rare scripted rerun in that late-night slot.
The original time period was Friday, 10:00 p.m., followingMiami Vice, but after struggling there, it assumed NBC's prized Thursday, 10:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. Central) time slot in theMust See TV primetime block from another Bochco-produced show,Hill Street Blues (from which Bochco had been dismissed at the end of that show's fifth season by then-MTM President Arthur Price). The show was itself eventually replaced by another hit ensemble drama,ER.
Co-creatorTerry Louise Fisher was fired from the series in season 2 and filed a well-publicized lawsuit with Bochco and the studio. Bochco and Fisher had also co-created the 1987John Ritter seriesHooperman forABC.
The scene in season 5 where Leland McKenzie (Richard Dysart) was shown in bed with his enemy Rosalind Shays (Diana Muldaur) was ranked as the 38th greatest moment in television (the list originally appeared in an issue ofEGG Magazine). The episode "Good to the Last Drop" in which Rosalind met her demise—falling into an open elevator shaft—was ranked No. 91 onTV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[12] It was referenced inThe Star Trek Encyclopedia (prior toL.A. Law, Muldaur had playedDr. Katherine Pulaski during season 2 ofStar Trek: The Next Generation) in which Pulaski's biography says:"There is no truth to the rumor that an ancestor of Dr. Pulaski was killed falling down the elevator shaft at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm."
After co-writing the feature film,From the Hip, Boston attorneyDavid E. Kelley was hired by Bochco during the first season ofL.A. Law.[13] Kelley went on to critical and commercial success as show-runner of the series before leaving to createPicket Fences. While onL.A. Law, Kelley and Bochco co-createdDoogie Howser, M.D. as the first Steven Bochco Productions series for a major, ten-series deal with ABC. Shortly thereafter, Bochco was offered the job as President of ABC Entertainment, but he turned it down.
At the height of the show's popularity in the late-1980s, attention was focused upon a fictitioussex position named the "Venus Butterfly" in season 1. The only clue describing the technique was a vague reference to "ordering room service". Fans and interested persons flooded the show's producers with letters asking for more details about this mysterious technique.[14]
The show wonGLAAD's first Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1990, which it shared withHeartbeat.[15] The first lesbian kiss on television occurred on the show in 1991 ("He's a Crowd", Season 5, Episode 12), between the characters of C.J. Lamb (played byAmanda Donohoe) and Abby (Michele Greene).[16]
The show tied itself into the events of theLos Angeles riots of 1992, which were prompted by the acquittal of four white police officers who were put on trial for the videotaped beating of black motoristRodney King.[4] In a scene reminiscent of theAttack on Reginald Denny, tax attorney Stuart Markowitz is struck on the head by a rioter, and ends up having serious head injuries, causing a number of problems for him and his wife for several episodes as a result.[17] Partner Douglas Brackman is also arrested in the mayhem of the riots as he is on his way to get remarried.
After the fifth season, Kelley left the show.Patricia Green andRick Wallace were his replacements as executive producer. Green was the main creative force. Her character additions amid cast turnover were met with mixed reaction. She left the show in January 1992. Kelley and Bochco returned to write episodes and Bochco moved back to executive producer from consultant while Kelley stayed consultant. Bochco left the executive producer position after the sixth season and John Tinker and John Masius were brought in to run the seventh season. Kelley exited as consultant. Amid plummeting ratings during the seventh season, co-executive producersJohn Tinker &John Masius were fired midseason, and while the show went on hiatus,William M. Finkelstein was brought in to fix it. Tinker and Masius had brought a whimsical, soap-operatic tone to the series for which they had been known onSt. Elsewhere.Dan Castellaneta (the voice ofHomer Simpson) appeared in a Homer costume and hired the attorneys in the seventh-season premiere. That episode also reflected on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Finkelstein reined in the series, returning to the serious legal cases that made the series famous.
In the eighth and final season, the characters of Eli Levinson (Alan Rosenberg) and Denise Iannello (Debi Mazar) were transplanted from the canceled Bochco legal seriesCivil Wars.[18] Eli Levinson was revealed to be Stuart Markowitz's cousin. During the final season, the series went on hiatus in January 1994 to launch the second season ofHomicide: Life on the Street. When that series succeeded wildly with a guest appearance byRobin Williams, it was expected thatL.A. Law would conclude that May andHomicide: Life on the Street would succeed it on Thursdays in the fall. However,ER tested so well thatWarner Bros. executives campaigned network presidentWarren Littlefield to give that series the prized Thursday slot.
The series ended in 1994 with NBC not renewing the show for a ninth season at the last minute; ending the show without a proper finale or wrapping up story lines.[19] Bochco envisioned the show being repackaged into an occasional television film; a reunion show titledL.A. Law: The Movie would air in 2002 and featured most of the main cast from the series.[19][20]
On August 4, 2020, Hamlin, Dey, Smits, Bernsen, Rachins, Greene and Underwood reunited on theStars in the House video podcast to raise money forThe Actors Fund.[21] It was the first time Hamlin and Smits appeared together in 30 years. Some cast members had also reunited earlier that year virtually in June as part of aWizard World virtual experience.[22]
Reruns were shown onLifetime and later A&E during the 1990s and 2000s.[23][24] In the U.K. the show reaired onGranada Plus andITV 3.[25][26]
Any lawyer who doesn't watchL.A. Law the night before he's going to trial is a fool.
— A New York attorney, on the show's influence on juries[27]
Because of its popularity,L.A. Law had great influence on how Americans viewed the law and lawyers.The New York Times described it as "television's most serious attempt to date to portray American law and the people who practice it ...L.A. Law, perhaps more than any other force, has come to shape public perceptions about lawyers and the legal system". Attorneys reported that the show had affected how they dressed and spoke to juries (and, possibly, how those juries decided cases), and clients came to expect that cases could be tried and decided within a week. The number of applicants to law school rose because of how it glamourised the profession (including, as one law school dean stated, "the infinite possibilities for sex"), professors usedL.A. Law as a teaching aid to discuss with their students legal issues raised in episodes, and law journal articles analysed the meaning of its plotlines. The show reportedly taught future lawyers things law school did not, such as time management and how to negotiate,[27][28] and an attorney stated that the show accurately depicted life at a small law firm.[29]
One law professor wrote in theYale Law Journal thatL.A. Law "has conveyed more 'bytes' of information (truthful or not), more images about lawyers, than all the Legal Studies programs, all the op-ed pieces, all thePBS shows put together." The show was "a massive distortion of reality ... the lawyers ofL.A. Law are caricatures", he stated, but "caricatures are always caricaturesof something, and that has to be real".[30] Another wrote in the issue that the show "subtracts eighty to ninety-nine percent of lawyers' real work lives" and overemphasized the glamor of the rest. Unlike other works of legal fiction such asPerry Mason andPresumed Innocent, however, which are essentially mysteries that lawyers solve,L.A. Law's plots taught its tens of millions of viewers torts, ethics, and other basic legal ideas and dilemmas that comprise the first year of a legal education.[31]
Revelation Films has released all eight seasons ofLA Law on DVD in the UK (Region 2). This is the first time the show has been released on DVD anywhere in the world.[32][33][34][35][36]
On April 18, 2016, Revelation Films releasedL.A. Law – The Complete Collection on DVD in the UK. The 46-disc box set features all 171 episodes of the series in special collectors packaging.[37]
In Region 1,Shout! Factory has released the first three seasons on DVD.[38][39][40]
All episodes of the series are available to stream onHulu, as of November 3, 2023, in remastered HD format.[41] They were also previously available for periods of time onAmazon Prime Video[42][43] and the related free streaming service previously known asIMDB TV.[44]
| DVD name | Ep# | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | |||
| Season One | 22 | February 25, 2014 | January 23, 2012 | |
| Season Two | 20 | May 20, 2014 | June 4, 2012 | |
| Season Three | 19 | September 23, 2014 | September 17, 2012 | |
| Season Four | 22 | N/A | February 11, 2013 | |
| Season Five | 22 | N/A | August 19, 2013 | |
| Season Six | 22 | N/A | November 25, 2013 | |
| Season Seven | 22 | N/A | March 21, 2016 | |
| Season Eight | 22 | N/A | March 21, 2016 | |
| Complete Series | 171 | N/A | April 18, 2016 | |
In December 2020, it was reported that a sequel to the series was in development atABC.Blair Underwood was set to reprise his role as Rollins and would also have served as executive producer. The sequel would have been produced by Steve Bochco Productions and20th Television, with Bochco's widow Dayna and son Jesse co-executive producing.Marc Guggenheim and Ubah Mohamed were set to write andAnthony Hemingway direct.[45] In October 2021, the series was given a pilot order.[46] The same month,Corbin Bernsen joined the sequel series, reprising his role of Arnie Becker.[47] In January 2022,Toks Olagundoye,Hari Nef and Ian Duff joined the cast.[48] In February 2022,John Harlan Kim,Juliana Harkavy, andKacey Rohl joined the cast.[49][50][51] In May 2022, ABC announced that the sequel series would not be moving forward.[52]
The show won numerous awards, including 15 Emmy Awards. It won theEmmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991.[53][54][55] It was also nominated for the award in 1988 and 1992. Some of the actors, including Richard Dysart, Larry Drake and Jimmy Smits, also received Emmys for their performances. The series shares the Emmy Award record for most acting nominations by regular cast members (excluding the guest performer category) for a single series in one year withHill Street Blues,The West Wing andGame of Thrones
For the 1988–1989 season, nine cast members were nominated for Emmys. Larry Drake was the only one to win (for Supporting Actor). The others nominated were: Jimmy Smits and Richard Dysart (for Supporting Actor); Michael Tucker (for Lead Actor); Jill Eikenberry and Susan Dey (both for Lead Actress); and Amanda Donohoe, Susan Ruttan, and Michele Greene (all for Supporting Actress).
The series won a Latino Image Award.[56]
It was listed as number 42 onEntertainment Weekly's list of The New Classics in the July 4, 2008 issue.[57]
| Year | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Best Television Series – Drama | Won | |
| 1988 | Best Television Series – Drama | Won | |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama | Harry Hamlin | Nominated | |
| Michael Tucker | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama | Susan Dey | Won | |
| Jill Eikenberry | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Alan Rachins | Nominated | |
| 1989 | Best Television Series – Drama | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama | Harry Hamlin | Nominated | |
| Corbin Bernsen | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama | Susan Dey | Nominated | |
| Jill Eikenberry | Won | ||
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Larry Drake | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Susan Ruttan | Nominated | |
| 1990 | Best Television Series – Drama | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama | Harry Hamlin | Nominated | |
| Corbin Bernsen | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama | Susan Dey | Nominated | |
| Jill Eikenberry | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Larry Drake | Nominated | |
| Michael Tucker | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Susan Ruttan | Nominated | |
| 1991 | Best Television Series – Drama | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama | Susan Dey | Nominated | |
| Jill Eikenberry | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Jimmy Smits | Nominated | |
| Blair Underwood | Nominated | ||
| 1992 | Best Television Series – Drama | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama | Susan Dey | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Larry Drake | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Amanda Donohoe | Won |
