Ally Mcbeal: A show ahead of its time
A quirky legal dramedy about a wistfully idealistic lawyer and her chaotic life at a Boston firm. The series takes us through the ups and down of Ally’s life through a lot of absurd and fantasy based situations. Before the Sex And City, Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids and all the shows with unlikeable female leads, there was David E Kelley’s Ally Mcbeal. When most people think of Ally McBeal, they think of short skirts and dancing babies and Vonda Shepherd singing in a bar. But that’s okay. Most of the entertainment critics have been male and they have been consistently dismissive of television shows and content being made for women.
Ally Mcbeal was a show in the 90s, but it was light years ahead of its time. Be it mental health issues, body positivity, body dysmorphia, same sex relationships, trans rights… show had it all. A lot of hate Ally Mcbeal received over the years was also from feminists who felt she had glamorised the way lawyers look and for wearing ‘short skirts’. She was repeatedly infantlised in columns, for not taking enough responsibility of her life, for pining over a lost lover and making some very questionable choices as an adult. While most of the movies and series had characters of women not having careers or jobs, Ally Mcbeal had a character who was focused on having a career of her own.
However, why do we hold so much accountability from our television show characters? Like all of us, Ally too wants love, wants sex, wants connection, and when those things seem impossible to get she looks elsewhere. Ally wasn’t perfect, she made mistakes, she took wrong decisions and she had unusual defence and coping mechanisms. But that is how even real life is.
Calista Flockhart was the star of the show. Peter MacNicol, Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Jane Krakowski, Vonda Shepard, Portia de Rossi, Lucy Liu, Regina Hall, Hayden Panettiere, Josh Hopkins, Julianne Nicholson, James Marsden also star in supporting roles. Peter Macnicol plays Ally’s close friend and confidante, John Cage, an eccentric lawyer who’s known for his fortitude and capabilities to offer closings to difficult court cases. It had notable cameos from some popular actors as well. Lucy Liu, Greg Germann and Jane Krakowski added to the zany and the quirky-ness of the show with their whimsical characters.
Before the demand for gender neutral toilets became mainstream, Ally Mcbeal creators already a gender neutral toilet in the law firm Ally worked for. Several issues that became contentious in 2020 were already discussed way back in Ally Mcbeal. A trans person losing their job, Ally struggling with mental health issues, organ donation, sexual harassment, these were issues discussed on the show as their various cases. Our heroine gets her happy ending, but in the most unconventional way as opposed to most of the romantic comedies of that time.
A compelling and a riveting show till Season 3, it began to lose stream by Season 4. A lot of popular characters left the show much to the dismay of the fans. A lot of quirky characters were introduced but, the makers decided to cancel the series by Season 5. It actually aspired me to take up law as a career, though I didn’t. Like many true fans I enjoyed it till Season 3 and the rest of the seasons just seemed to drag on. But nevertheless, it is one of my favourite shows.
