Boston Legal: Shatner, Mode, Continuity [Media Notes 7]

Shatner

I always thought that William Shatner was a bit wooden and clunky in Star Trek, but I really like him in Boston Legal, where he plays Denny Crane, one of the named partners in the law firm. Perhaps that’s because Crane is something of a buffoon and so Shatner is relieved of any sense of high seriousness–though I wouldn’t necessarily say that high seriousness (pretentiousness?) ruined his portrayal of Captain Kirk. Perhaps this older Shatner is simply a better actor than he was in his younger years. Maybe he’s just a better comic actor than dramatic. Whatever. In particular, his face is much more pliable and expressive.

Mode

The show’s Wikipedia entry describes it as “comedy-drama”. Yes. I’ve seen the word “dramady” used in connection with such shows. The genre seems to date from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Here’s what TV Tropes says about the form:

Note that a dramedy is not just “drama with some comedic elements” or “a comedy with some serious moments”. It must contain about equal parts drama and comedy. Elements of comic relief can appear in all but the very darkest dramas, and most stories have at least some serious elements. Because of this, expect to see them get lumped in with the sitcoms come award season (this can actually serve as a litmus test for if a show is dramedy or straight drama—can you imagine it being nominated in the same award category as a sitcom?)

While many stories contain both comedy and drama, a true Dramedy must belong to the genre of Drama- defined by stories focusing on character development, intense emotions and inner conflict as the primary source of plot. Just because it’s dark, doesn’t mean it’s a drama. Scifi, action-adventure stories, superhero stories and Shōnen adventures rarely qualify as Drama. Even if the comedy and drama are equally balanced with each other, if both are clearly subservient to the adventure story, it’s not a dramedy.

OK.

Note, however, that I’ve used the term “mode” to characterize this section. I have the term from Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism. Tragedy emphasizes the hero’s separation from society while comedy is about his integration into society. That’s Denny Crane. His incipient Alzheimer’s separates him from society while the way he plays it (i.e. referring to it as Mad Cow disease) integrates him into it. But then this IS a law firm, whose business is about separation from and integration into society.

Continuity

The show is basically episodic, but specific cases will continue across two or three episodes. But there doesn’t seem to be any longer arc such as we see in The Sopranos or The Wire.