50 Fun Facts About Boston Legal

What does Denny Crane say, over and over, to punctuate his remarks?

His own name: 'Denny Crane!' In the pilot he explains what is at stake: 'I'm folklore in this town.'

In Boston Legal's pilot, named partner Edwin Poole is carted off after arriving at a staff meeting without what?

His trousers: he greets the room with 'Sorry I'm late, good people', Alan asks whether it is Casual Monday, and the next shot has Poole strapped to a gurney.

On which network did Boston Legal air from 2004 to 2008?

ABC ran it for five seasons, then called time; the writers bit back in the last episodes, when Denny says the two of them could be a TV series and Alan replies, 'On a new network.'

Which two things do Alan and Denny share on the balcony at the end of most episodes?

Cigars and scotch on the balcony close most episodes, as a liberal and a flag-waving conservative who agree on almost nothing talk the day over as best friends.

Under which working title, named for a Boston location, was Boston Legal first announced?

Fleet Street was the title until July 2004, when the network switched to Boston Legal; the tower filmed as the firm's office stands on another street altogether, at 500 Boylston.

Denny Crane blames his lapses on what illness, though he is really in the early stages of Alzheimer's?

Mad cow disease is his running excuse; the truth catches up with him in the finale, when Alan goes to the Supreme Court to win him an experimental Alzheimer's drug.

What do Denny and Alan do in Boston Legal's finale?

They get married because Denny, facing Alzheimer's, wants a spouse to make his medical decisions and inherit his money; Alan points out a living will would do, then says yes.

Which real Supreme Court justice officiates Shirley and Carl's finale wedding at Nimmo Bay?

Antonin Scalia, played by an actor, is found fishing at the lodge days after hearing Alan argue Denny's case, and grudgingly agrees to officiate so that he can get back to the river.

Which country's firm buys Crane, Poole & Schmidt as Boston Legal ends?

China: Paul Lewiston quietly negotiates the sale, Denny's first words on meeting the buyers are 'They're all Chinese', and the firm's name comes down before the finale ends.

Which birds do Alan and Denny call themselves, after their planned Halloween costumes?

Flamingos: Alan turned up in the costume in season two to find Denny dressed as a hunter instead, and the name stuck so well that a prosecutor later raised it in court.

Accepting his 2007 Emmy as Alan Shore, James Spader joked he had stolen money from whom?

The mob, 'and they're all sitting right over there': he had just beaten James Gandolfini, nominated for Tony Soprano's final season, to the lead-actor prize.

Which award did William Shatner win in January 2005 for playing Denny Crane, on top of his Emmys?

A Golden Globe came between Emmys for the same role on two series; taking the second, Shatner joked that a passing 'Hi!' was the longest talk he'd had with the show's creator in two years.

Which five-time Emmy winner joined Boston Legal midway through season one as named partner Shirley Schmidt?

Candice Bergen's Shirley, a founding partner, is coaxed back to bring order to the office and to keep an eye on Denny, with whom she shares a checkered past.

What nickname do the other lawyers give Jerry Espenson because of how he walks?

Hands is the office nickname for the way he walks, palms pressed flat to his thighs; after therapy he sets up his own firm and starts beating Alan in court.

What does Jerry Espenson put in his mouth to turn himself into a loud, confident courtroom persona?

A wooden cigarette: he takes it from a case, pops it in his mouth and at once starts calling Alan 'Al'; Alan warns him that chewing on it won't hide who he really is.

Which actor joined Boston Legal in season four as Carl Sack, a senior partner sent to help run the Boston office?

John Larroquette won four straight Emmys on Night Court, asked not to be considered again, then won a fifth as a murderous client on The Practice, Boston Legal's parent show.

What was the name of Betty White's character, Alan's church-going, gossip-loving assistant?

Catherine Piper followed Alan over from The Practice; sacked by Shirley, she came back delivering food to the office, and took to holding up convenience stores.

Leslie Jordan's character Bernard Ferrion hired Alan after killing his mother with what?

A frying pan, cast iron: 'I hit her on the head with a skillet,' he tells Alan, and when a neighbour turns out to have seen it, he reaches for the same pan again.

Alan Shore suffers from night terrors and a fear of what?

Clowns have frightened him since he was three, when his mother hung a hideous clown face in his room; in season two he freezes in court when a witness arrives in full costume.

Which creator of Boston Legal had himself practised law at a Boston firm?

David E. Kelley was a young Boston litigator when a legal thriller he wrote as a hobby was optioned; the script reached Steven Bochco, who hired him to write for L.A. Law.

Which British barrister and creator of Rumpole of the Bailey was hired as a consultant on Boston Legal?

John Mortimer knew the courtroom from the inside: at the bar he was a champion of free speech, and he fought the obscenity case over the title of a Sex Pistols album.

Which new hit took over Boston Legal's Sunday slot in spring 2005?

Grey's Anatomy was a midseason stand-in that did too well to move, so Boston Legal's last first-season episodes were held over and it came back on Tuesdays with a 27-episode run.

Boston Legal was noted for frequently doing what, unusual for a legal drama?

Breaking the fourth wall was routine: Denny opens one episode by calling 'Cue the music' to the audience, and in another he pines for his 'old time slot'.

Which prestigious broadcasting honour did Boston Legal win for its 2005 season?

A Peabody Award went to the show with a citation praising it 'for fearing neither silliness nor social commentary and for adroitly combining the two'.

René Auberjonois, who played Paul Lewiston, was famous for which Star Trek role?

Odo was Deep Space Nine's shape-shifting security chief for seven seasons; Boston Legal then put him opposite another Star Trek alumnus, William Shatner, and fans logged every in-joke.

Paul Lewiston has his meth-addicted daughter Rachel abducted and sent where?

A rehab centre, after he finds a crystal-meth kit in her bathroom; he takes custody of his granddaughter Fiona, and raising her gradually pulls him away from the firm.

Brad Chase often relies on his background in which military branch to intimidate people?

Marine Corps veteran Brad says he 'served my country proudly in the first Gulf war'; Mark Valley, who played him, really did serve in that war, but as an Army officer out of West Point.

Where are Brad Chase and Denise Bauer married on Boston Legal?

A hospital labour room: Denise goes into labour at the wedding, Brad panics that the child will be born out of wedlock, and a doddering judge marries them between contractions.

Who played senior associate Denise Bauer on Boston Legal?

Julie Bowen left after season three and went on to Modern Family, shooting its pilot while visibly pregnant with twins and winning two Emmys as Claire Dunphy.

After Michael J. Fox's Daniel Post dies, Denise travels to a haunted house to retrieve what?

His head: Daniel dies during a lung transplant in Brazil, his remains go missing, and the trail leads to a Halloween house in Salem said to use real cadavers.

Which TV star played Ivan Tiggs, Shirley Schmidt's womanising ex-husband?

Tom Selleck's Ivan asks Shirley to be best man at his wedding to a much younger sixth wife, then offers to call the whole thing off if she will take him back.

What is the name of Joanna Cassidy's character, whom Denny marries in season two?

Beverly Bridge has the firm worried she is after Denny's money, but he ends it himself: the marriage is over almost at once, after he cheats at their own wedding reception.

Which Texan lawyer, played by Christopher Rich, is Alan Shore's courtroom nemesis?

Melvin Palmer smothers every case in fake good-ol'-boy charm, which Alan cannot stand; in the last season he ends up defending Alan and Denny, and befriending Denny.

Judge Robert Sanders, played by Shelley Berman, mocks a sitting president by calling himself what?

The decider was how George W. Bush had described himself; the doddering judge borrows it to put pushy lawyers in their place: 'Silence! I am the decider.'

Gary Anthony Williams's shy character Clarence Bell has alter egos including Clarice, Clevant and whom?

Oprah brings the office to a standstill, with staff cheering her in reception; shy Clarence was hired as an assistant and turned out to be a qualified lawyer all along.

Saffron Burrows's season-four lawyer Lorraine Weller is secretly running what?

High-priced escort rings in three cities, as it turns out: she had been a society madam in London, and the secret unravels after Jerry falls for one of her employees.

Which future Empire star played litigator Whitney Rome in season four of Boston Legal?

Taraji P. Henson's Whitney was thrown in at the deep end: on arrival at the firm she was given a custody battle over a nine-year-old bullfighter.

Denny Crane believes gun control is for whom?

Communists, he tells a congressman who asks his view on gun control; Denny practises what he preaches, shooting a client in the knee and several other people as the series goes on.

With what does Denny shoot a homeless man in season two of Boston Legal, alarming the senior partners?

A paintball gun: Denny protests that the man hit him with a rock first, and Paul despairs that he plans to talk about it on Larry King, where his last shooting drew big ratings.

By what nickname was the ruthless attorney Marlene Stanger, played by Parker Posey, known at her old firm?

The Squid: a former colleague explains that 'in old mythology they say the squid is the only animal that can kill a shark', and within days she has stolen one of Denise's cases.

Betty White's character persuades Carl Sack to sue the TV networks for ignoring whom?

Viewers over fifty: 'the networks consider me irrelevant,' she complains, and Carl takes the case because, he says, 'I'm a little over fifty myself, and I want something to watch!'

Which 1990s teen-film star played Donny Crane, the young lawyer who believes he is Denny's son?

Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Donny greets Denny as 'Dad'; Denny admits to Alan that the mother later confessed he wasn't the father, but he liked the boy and kept paying for his education.

Which movie character's costume is Jeffrey Coho stuck inside as he leaves the firm for good?

Buzz Lightyear: Shirley finds him among the packing boxes in the suit, which he says he puts on when he feels low because 'it makes me feel really good', and now he can't get it off.

Jeffrey Coho, the grandiose defence attorney played by Craig Bierko, transferred from which CP&S branch?

New York City was his old office; he arrives with Claire Simms early in season three and resigns thirteen episodes later, telling Shirley he wants to be at a smaller firm.

Monica Potter played which junior partner in season one?

Lori Colson, a former prosecutor, files a sexual harassment claim against Denny in the first season and is gone soon after; Alan later says Shirley had 'ushered' her out.

Denny takes Alan fishing at Nimmo Bay, a lodge in which country?

Canada: the lodge is in British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, and Denny, who once talked of buying it, prescribes it for heartbreak: 'The only thing you can do is go fishing.'

Alan defends Jerry Espenson after Jerry fires an employee for belonging to which religion?

Scientology: 'He turned out to be a Scientologist, full-blown!' Jerry protests, and Alan has to remind him that 'we do have a little thing called freedom of religion'.

Which Nielsen distinction did Boston Legal hold in the 2006-07 season?

Richest viewing audience: no show had a higher concentration of 18-to-49-year-olds from homes earning over $100,000, and the network made that the boast of its renewal announcement.

Which condition is Jerry Espenson diagnosed with after he holds a knife to Shirley's throat?

Asperger's syndrome: Alan has a doctor review Jerry's file, then tells him Einstein and Jefferson may have had it too. 'It's a relief actually,' says Jerry.

Where does Betty White's character hide Bernard Ferrion's body?

In a basement freezer: 'I killed him,' she tells Shirley, and the lawyers go down to look before calling anyone. 'Why do they always put the dead bodies in the basement?' Shirley asks.