L.A. Law : Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

Steven Bochco era Vs. David E. Kelley era.

Steven Bochco was the executive producer for seasons 1-3 and David E. Kelley took over for him in season 4 and continued to hold that spot through season 5.

As some know during the course of season 6 Steven Bochco resumed his role before stepping down again. I WON'T count season 6 in this post.

It seems to me most fans and critics favor the Kelley era and I'd be one of them however its a close battle. In my opinion under Bochco L.A. Law was a very good show with great episodes and under Kelley just a great show, but each has its strengths and really you could make a case for either era.

First we'll start with the episodes. Season 1-3 had some of my favorites of the series, but also had some of the weaker ones (though even a lesser episode was still solid). Under Kelley in 4-5 I felt episode by episode L.A. Law was more consistent, which is the main reason I give it the edge. Adding up season 4-5 it would be 44 episodes and almost all would be at least rated 4-stars with a few 4.5 and a couple 5. I could probably count on one hand how many 3.5 episodes and none for me would rate lower than that.

My ratings for the Bochco era there might actually be a couple more 4.5, but also way more 3.5 and 3. So for me the Kelley era was more consistent.

Story arcs.

This is a tough one as each had their fair share of great ones, but I'd probably favor the Kelley era if anything for the Rosalind Shays story arc.

Characters.

This one I have to give a little edge to Bochco as at some point of the season every character had their moments it just might take a while to get to them. Under Kelley characters like Abby and to some degree Kuzak didn't have the same impact. More so Abby who really didn't do much in season 4 and by season 5 she was just sort of there. Even though Kuzak had a big story arc in season 4 he didn't quite have the same impact as past seasons, but was given more to do in season 5. Even Brackman played a little bigger part under Bochco.

However Victor who was a great character in the Bochco era was a little stronger in the Kelley era. Season 4 should have been called L.A. Victor as he had the best story arcs and cases and it was very much his season.

Basically you really can't go wrong with either era. Characters perhaps were a little stronger under Bochco, but the cases under Kelley were stronger and as stated in my opinion the Kelley era a little more consistent episode by episode.

Re: Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

The first five seasons of LA Law were magnificent television, and I could never see any substantial drop in quality when Kelley took over running the show. Of those five great seasons, the fifth was probably (slightly) the least consistent, but it was still quality television. For that reason, I would favour Bochco's tenure on the show for the first three seasons because it never dropped the ball once, but Kelley gave us the Earl Williams/Margaret Flanagan arc which was excellent (the inspiration for "Murder One" in the 1990s?) and the whole Rosalind Shays arc was my favourite storyline of all.

Although you say Brackman was a bigger part under the Bochco years, I don't think Brackman was truly allowed to shine until season 5. Up until then he was always there for comic relief or to make the other lawyers seem more likeable by himself being detestable. Although the Vanna White story in season 5 was a little silly, once he stepped up to become managing partner, and then he won the transexual discrimination case in court, we started to see him in a whole other light. It's a shame that Kelley couldn't inject similar gusto into Abby that season, though it could be argued that her character had already peaked a couple of years earlier. She did, of course, take part in arguably the show's most famous scene with CJ Lamb that season, but it never seemed to amount to much. I've often wondered if that was due to the network getting cold feet or Michele Greene herself being reluctant to pursue it further. The fact that she left the show shortly afterwards suggests there may have been more to it.

I must admit, I never bought the Grace and Victor storyline in season 5 at all though. They seemed to be thrown together because they were both at a loose end more than anything else. Leland and Roz was pure television gold though.

Re: Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

I totally agree that the Grace and Victor storyline was really a bad idea. It never made sense. The chemistry that Grace and Micheael Kuzak had was so palpable and moving that they should have been the ones to end up together. I think that's one of the greatest TV couples I have ever seen.

I also think that the Arnie/Roxanne love relationship was totally a bad idea (even worse than Grace/Victor)

Re: Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

I disagree. I've just started watching and there was chemistry right from the start with Grace and Victor and I skipped ahead just to see how their relationship played out so I thought it was very effective.

Re: Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

Oh.

Re: Steven Bochco era vs David E. Kelley era

I went back and watched the rest of the episodes from where I left off, I just really liked them together lol.

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