Ally McBeal - Critique Of A Prime Time Network Television Program

Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1 (A), Ohio University (School of Telecommunication), course: Broadcast & Cable Programming, language: English, abstract: If there was one show in the last year almost everybody talked about, it was certainly Fox Network's new series "Ally McBeal". The show tells the story of a young woman working for a Boston law firm, trying to be successful in the courtroom as well as in her love life, succeeding in the former rather than the latter. On her first day in the new job for example she finds out that her ex-boyfriend Billy (Gil Bellows) works there as well as his new wife, the smart and beautiful Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith of "Melrose Place"). Since Ally (Calista Flockhart) still has feelings for Billy, treating him and Georgia as colleagues of course isn't quite so easy and the three find themselves in a lot of awkward situations.
Trying to figure out what genre "Ally McBeal" belongs to, is not so easy. On the first look it might appear to be a courtroom drama due to its hour-long format and trials taking place in every episode. But there is also a comedy side to "Ally McBeal". Her struggle with life is shown in a humorous (often even slapstick) way and other characteristics of a comedy, like "childish behavior of the protagonist" or "lack of experience with the other sex" (Kaminsky 1985, p. 137-139) can be found as well.
Although the show won two Golden Globes in the comedy categories in 1997, "Ally McBeal" should rather be labeled as a "dramedy" due to its mixture of humor and serious issues. The genre of "dramedy" is a combination of drama and comedy and had its (short) heyday during the 1980s when it was praised as a fresh recipe to address an upscale audience. "Ally McBeal" does a very good job in reviving this genre, making its audience laugh as well as reflect or even cry.