Boston Legal
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Boston Legal |
| Abbreviation(s): | BL |
| Creator: | David E. Kelley |
| Date(s): | 2004-2008 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | United States |
| External Links: | IMDB |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A spin-off of The Practice, Boston Legal is a dramedy about the fictional law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt. Denny Crane and Alan Shore, introduced during the final season of The Practice, are the primary characters, played by William Shatner and James Spader respectively. The third named partner, Shirley Schmidt, was introduced halfway through the first season; she was played by Candice Bergen.
Boston Legal aired on ABC in the United States.
The show wove its plots around the characters' lives and relationships, intermingled with different court cases every week. These were often "issue" cases, with different sides to current social issues big and small being presented as arguments in court or discussions among the staff at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, and ranged from opposition to the Iraq war to the unfairness of societal expectations that girls (not boys) smile. More explicitly political issues were focused on discussions between Denny, a conservative Republican, and Alan, a liberal Democrat.
Fandom
Despite having a canon so slashy that the subtext sometimes becomes text (for example, Denny and Alan get married in the series finale), this show has virtually no fandom to speak of. It still qualifies for Yuletide after five seasons. Much like Nip/Tuck, Boston Legal's lack of fanac is most likely caused by the canon's extensive explorations; there is very little left for fanwriters to do.
Another possibility, however, is ageism. While the show had a revolving cast of attractive young actors in secondary roles, its central focus was its older characters. Alan, in his 40s, was the youngest of the primary characters; the others ranged up through 50s, 60s, and even 70s, and were all presented as actively sexual, both desiring other people and being desired in turn. Fandom as a whole tends to gravitate toward characters in their teens through 30s.
LJ communities
- Mad Cow Love - a Denny/Alan community
- Boston Legal Fans - a general community
- Boston Legal Icons - an icon posting community
Mailing lists
- Boston Legal - general discussion list
- Boston Legal Slash - slash discussion and fic list
Fansites
Fanfiction
- Fanfiction.net page
- Yuletide page
- Delicious tag for "bostonlegal"
- Delicious tag for "boston.legal" (returns results for boston_legal and boston-legal as well)
- Fanfiction by lj user equals watergal
- Fanfiction by Farfalla
- Boston Legal category at slashfanfiction.com
Fanzines
- Denny Crane! (slash)
- Scenes From A Denny Crane Marriage (slash)
- Attendant Lords (slash)