David E. Kelley Productions and ABC Television own Boston Legal, its characters and related entities. This review and its photos relating to Boston Legal is not authorized by ABC Television. Photos copyright 2004-2006 ABC, Inc. / Photographer: Ron Tom, Carin Baer, Robert Trachtenberg & others.Fair Use Notice: This site contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit use on the web constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 177 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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Name of Series:
BOSTON LEGAL: "Breast of Show"
Our Rating:
Date of Show: February 7, 2006 - Season 2, Episode 14
Network: ABC Television
Director: Arlene Sanford
Awards: This episode won no awards although several web reviewers gave it an 8 out of 10 rating.
Series Awards: SAG and Golden Globe Awards for Spader, Shatner, and the series in 2005
Principal Actors: James Spader, William Shatner, Candice Bergan
Drama with Strong Comedy Undertones, 54 min, TV Rating: PG-13, Color, Series available on DVD
BOSTON LEGAL TV SHOW AIRS ROUSING
DEFENSE OF TOPLESS PROTESTERS
Boston Legal is another in a long line of quirky television shows about dysfunctional lawyers created by David Kelley (L.A. Law, The Practice, Allie McBeal). The Emmy-award winning show has a cast that includes James Spader (as smarmy Alan Shore), William Shatner (as morally-challenged Denny Crane), and Candice Bergan (as Shirley Schmidt, who keeps a vigilant eye on the eccentric Crane, whose behavior often causes the other partners to suspect he suffers from “mad cow” disease). The plots and clients are often over the top, which is what you would expect from Kelley. (Associate writers Phoebe Sutton and Michael Reisz wrote this one.)
The episode, Breast in Show, aired last February and its plot centered on Irma Levine (Lisa Vidal), an attractive acquaintance of attorney Shore’s, who gets arrested along with 200 other women for protesting political gerrymandering. The women were protesting topless (lots of backs showing on camera, see photo). The D.A. charges them with “open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior,” which means if Levine loses she will have to register as a sex offender. Shore eagerly takes the case, but he soon realizes he needs a woman at the defense table.
Thus this exchange in the law firm’s hallway: Alan: “Shirley, I need your boobs.” Shirley: “OK...but have them home by 11.”
In another, Crane complains to Shore that the television coverage of the protest is disappointing. “Why are they pixilated?” he laments. “This is cable. You can see breasts on cable!”
Much of the show is written this way. You get the idea.
What makes the show worth discussion here is the arguments spoken in the courtroom about the First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly and just how far those freedoms can be defined.
The closing argument for the defense, spoken by Atty. Shirley Schmidt (Bergen) is especially noteworthy:
“…This is a list of registered sex offenders. This is the list that the prosecutors think Ms Levine should be put on. This is the company they think she belongs in. Do you? Do any of you think that a woman who bared her breasts at a political rally poses the same risk to a community as rapists and child molesters? Of course you don’t. And I’ll let you in on a little secret – neither do they.
“You see they arrested Ms Levine and the other women before, and charged them all with disturbing the peace. When a woman is arrested for sunbathing topless in a public park, she either is charged with disturbing the peace or else, more likely, the cop says, ‘Hey lady put your shirt back on,’ and then he goes off to deal with real crime.
“So why is Ms Levine different? Because she was protesting redistricting. Now I know that may sound arcane and theoretical to you, but I assure you to the politicians in power, there is nothing more dear to their hearts.
“If Ms. Levine had written a scholarly article about redistricting for an obscure journal that nobody would ever have read, the district attorney would not have cared at all. But she and the other women made their argument topless. People paid attention because – let’s face it – when 200 women take their tops off, people are going to look. But after they gawk for a minute they might ask, “Why have they taken their tops off?” And then they might find out it’s because of redistricting. And then they might say, “Well, what is that?” And when they find out, they might say, “Oh my God, our politicians have hijacked our democracy.”
“Prosecutors charge Ms Levine for violating our community standards. This is Boston. Home of the tea party. Home of the people and the spirit of freedom that literally created this country. Our community standard is that we won’t be silenced by the King of England, much less the District Attorney. Our community standard is that we speak truth to power. And if those in power don’t like it, too bad.”
Of course, Ms. Levine wins the day, and Shore gets his personal thank you in the elevator from a very appreciative client. A Hollywood ending to be sure, because in the real world, despite those stirring words, she would probably have been found guilty. A trial similar to this fictional one is happening as we speak in Daytona, Florida, where several women, including AANR activist Shirley Mason, were arrested for appearing topless at a political protest rally. We hope shows such as Boston Legal continue to express express the message we need to get out to the public over and over again: nude is not lewd.
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