David E. Kelley

2004 · 5 Seasons · ABC · Legal Drama / Comedy

The unlikely friendship between James Spader's morally flexible attorney and William Shatner's aging legend gave television one of its most entertaining double acts. Boston Legal used its courtroom setting as a platform for sharp political commentary, absurdist humor, and surprisingly moving character work, all held together by Spader and Shatner's electric chemistry. The cases could be uneven and the show's politics were never subtle, but those balcony scenes, with scotch and cigars and two men who truly needed each other, elevated the entire enterprise into something special.

2024 · 1 Season · Apple TV+ · Legal Thriller

Presumed Innocent is a polished, gripping legal thriller that succeeds largely because Jake Gyllenhaal makes you believe in a man who might be guilty of everything and might be guilty of nothing. David E. Kelley's adaptation of the classic novel keeps the tension wound tight across eight episodes, even if the show occasionally leans too heavily on genre conventions. The courtroom sequences are excellent, and the final twist will have you reconsidering everything you watched.

1997 · 5 Seasons · Fox · Comedy / Legal Drama

Ally McBeal was a genuine cultural phenomenon that captured the anxieties and romantic fantasies of late-1990s professional life through a lens no other show was attempting. Calista Flockhart's neurotic, daydream-prone lawyer divided audiences between those who found her endlessly relatable and those who found her insufferable, and the show's visual imagination, from dancing babies to musical fantasy sequences, made it unlike anything else on television. The first two seasons are sharp, inventive television. The last two seasons struggle to recapture that spark. As a time capsule and a stylistic trailblazer, it remains fascinating.