What is it? L.A. Law, Season 1, 22 hourlong episodes on six discs from Shout! Factory.
How much? $29.93
When? Tuesday
I think I know this one. Well, it was a big hit in its day, a 1980s Steven Bochco series that looked into the humorous, dramatic and, yes, soapy sides of law. It reveled in melodrama: people falling in and out of love (and down elevator shafts), stunning courtroom confessions and reversals, people being shot in the courthouse hallway, a wedding interrupted by a man in a gorilla costume.
The series centers around the high-priced Los Angeles firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak and the various people employed there under the watchful eyes of fatherly Leland McKenzie (Richard A. Dysart) and pompous Douglas Brackman Jr. (Alan Rachins).
They’re joined by the other partners, womanizing divorce lawyer Arnie Becker (Corbin Bernsen), hotshot litigator Michael Kuzak (Harry Hamlin), conscientious Ann Kelsey (Jill Eikenberry) and genial tax attorney Stuart Markowitz (Michael Tucker). Associates are rising star Victor Sifuentes (Jimmy Smits) and Abby Perkins (Michele Greene), a recent law school grad trying to escape a bad marriage.
There are various secretaries running around, but the only one we get to know is Arnie’s secretary, Roxanne (Susan Ruttan).
On the prosecutorial side of things, there’s Grace Van Owen (Susan Dey), a no-nonsense deputy district attorney who catches Kuzak’s eye.
In Season 1, they face a number of difficult cases, including Kuzak representing a woman who fired on police when her baby daughter was killed in a botched drug bust, Beckerpushing a troubled wife to fight for her share in a divorce case and Van Owen becoming a target when she prosecutes a gang member.
These folks aren’t Perry Mason. Sometimes they lose. Sometimes their clients really are guilty. And the cases and legal questions raised tend to be painted in shades of gray rather than in black and white. There’s quite a bit of focus on the legal, ethical and moral issues involved. The series avoids becoming preachy, though, by giving various sides ofarguments a voice.
But it isn’t all serious. For every gut-wrenching wrongful death suit, there’s a surprisingly comic bigamy scandal and a very unusual case of theft.
The characters’ personal ups and downs get almost equal screen time as their career troubles, with Perkins’ family woes, Kelsey and Markowitz’s budding romance and the rocky relationship of Van Owen and Kuzak getting quite a bit of attention.
Does it hold up? It does. Yes, much of it is dated, particularly the women’s wardrobes and the saxophone-heavy themesong, but it’s still moving, still smart, still frustrating (in a good way), still sexy and still quite funny when it wants to be.
Are there extras? Oh yes. The set is loaded with new interviews with most of the cast (minus Greene and Dysart) about their individual characters and interviews with the cast and Bochco about the creation, production, ending and legacy of the series. In all, more than two hours of bonus content.
New this week: Above Suspicion, Set 3; Adventure Time, Season 3; Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Season 1; Mama’s Family, Season 3; The Middle, Season 4; Monsters, Complete Series.
Next week: Ancient Aliens, Season 5, Volume 2; Rawhide, Season 7; Starsky and Hutch, Season 1; T.J. Hooker, Seasons 1 and 2.
Style, Pages 48 on 02/23/2014