Original subtitles

If war is too important to be left to the generals, surely justice is too

important to be left to the lawyers.

So said an esteemed legal scholar who probably watches TV every Thursday

along with 16 million L .A. law regulars. For one hour every week for

five years, justice has been left in the hands of actors, the members of the

firm McKenzie Brackman, where the line between what's real and what's just TV

sometimes gets blurred.

Make no mistake, it's a TV show, not a documentary, but it's a very good TV

show. 100 episodes and 12 Emmys later, there's plenty of evidence to support

that. Tonight, we'll go behind the scenes and meet the cast and creators of

.A. Law and sample some of the show's most memorable moments.

Welcome to L .A. Law's 100th episode celebration.

Lawyers and the law are hardly strangers to primetime television.

But the pilot of L .A. Law was different, very different, starting with

death of one of the firm's partners, Norman Chaney.

I didn't actually touch him, but I'm pretty sure he's dead.

If he is, I've got tips on his office.

Mr. Cheney would never be seen again, but his legacy is a classic example of L

.A. Law's off -center sense of humor.

This unceremonious exit was the introduction to L .A. Law's irreverent

a less than sentimental attitude toward the law.

Mr. Cheney's office.

Oh, no, I'm sorry. He's not available right now. A collection matter?

It's a little more complicated than that. Douglas Brackman, played by Alan

Rachin, set the record straight.

Mackenzie Brackman Chaney et al.

does not handle $750 collection cases.

Douglas Brackman may have seemed formidable at first, but it wasn't long

L .A. Law's creators were popping his pompous balloon.

Hey, Dougie, don't... So you stuck a splinky in your mouth?

I was using the flat edge.

You're in contempt.

Poor Douglas has been made to suffer a whole host of indignities week after

week. Can we count the ways?

Well, there have been quite a few. Beside being blown up in the toilet

there was a couple of humiliating battles with my wife, now ex -wife,

You're manufacturing this, Sheila.

I'm sick of it, Douglas.

I'm sick of you.

little affairs my affairs and who are you the virgin mary slowly turn onto

left side then there was a midlife crisis where i wore a hairpiece for a

to attract a very young aerobics instructor there was a developing

a case of um fainting spells when it came to sex that required me to see a

therapist

Oh, dear.

You know, the look of horror in your face, I understand. You know, they were

debilitating things.

Do you recite these with pride?

I recite these with a sense of humor.

L .A. Law's cast often seems as driven by libido as Love of the Law.

The character most held captive by his sex drive is Arnie Becker, played by

Corbin Bernson.

You are my prisoner.

I have...

Two lines that I really remember that stick out of the pilot that kind of set

the tone of what the show was going to be to some extent and certainly my

character. And one was there was an associate sitting behind me that I was

of coming on to and having a flirtatious little thing within the office at the

time. And I said, would you get me a sandwich, please?

Mrs. Tongue, honey, are you trying to tell me something?

When I wake up and I come in and I'm tired and whatever to find the

I'll walk into a corner and say, this is tongue, honey, you're trying to tell me

something. And I know the Becker character right away.

Look, we're all friends here, right? We're caring individuals who try to

each other with decency and mutual respect.

You are the lowest slime on earth. You have the sexual responsibility of a

warthog and the morals of a flea. You would screw your own grandmother and

tickets to it. And I only pray for one thing, that when someone finally does

murder you, there is a hell for you to rot in.

You were talking about decency and mutual respect.

I've always seen the faults in him. You know, he goes behind that closed door

and he just wants to cry. He doesn't know what it is.

And I think maybe that's why people like the character.

Because he, you know, women, the most common thing women say is if I had a

or a weekend or a month with him, I could change him.

He doesn't, you know, he thinks his armor is thick.

But you can just, and you can find a chink in it.

Shall I start saying my Hail Marys now for what it is I'm about to do? I have a

feeling you'd better as far as sin goes.

I think this is going to be a big one.

I think you know what's behind that smile?

It's kind of a... I'm stepping out on the plank here.

I'm going to offer a little bit of humor, a little bit of sexuality.

But God, I might fall in the water. I think that's in that smile.

I don't think the smile is all confidence.

I think the smile recognizes that there's a sea of sharks right below

step. I am nothing if not sensitive.

They all seem so at ease with themselves.

You thinking of running off and becoming a nudist?

What you see is what you get with Grace Van Owen's ex -flame, earnest criminal

attorney Michael Kuzak, played by Harry Hamlin. Their longtime romance produced

some of L .A. Law's most charming moments.

When in Rome, Mickey?

Grace.

Hey, it's a party.

Do you understand Michael Cusack's passion?

He's on a mission, the way he's written by the writers, a mission toward truth

and righteousness and all of that. And I often wonder, there was a cartoon that

I grew up with when I was knee -high to a grasshopper called Crusader Rabbit.

And Crusader Rabbit was dedicated to truth and righteousness and, you know, I

suppose the American way and all those things with Little Rabbit. He had a mutt

with him all the time.

I have always used Crusader Rabbit as a kind of a model. He seems to definitely

be dedicated to his mission of always, you know, making the right moral choice.

Cusack never donned Crusader Rabbit's bunny suit, but his gorilla -costumed

proposal to Grace Van Owen is an L .A. law classic.

I know this is the hell of a time to say this, but I'm in love with you.

Gracie, do you want me to throw this guy out of here?

I'm sorry, Kevin.

Kevin didn't stand a chance against Michael Cusack, the ape man.

It was the beginning of three seasons of passion and playful good time.

How about a snapshot of the bride and groom, huh?

Definitely.

There was a scene that Susan Day and I did.

I think it was in the second year or the third year where we walked out of the

house. She had some helium balloons with her. And I tried so hard and for so

long to be taken seriously.

And now that's the only way people take me.

Nothing wrong with being serious, Grace.

Oh, Mickey, I haven't done that since I was a kid. Give me.

I seriously love you, Mickey.

And I seriously love you, too, baby.

Ah,

the ways of love.

This season, Grace Van Owen got a very special Christmas present.

from Victor Cifuentes.

Are you jealous?

You know, I am a little bit jealous, I guess.

I hate to admit it, but I was walking on the soundstage a couple of months ago,

and they were shooting a little pickup shot between Susan and Jimmy where it

very hot. I mean, she was taking off his shirt, and the camera went down, and

you could see her undoing his belt. I mean, for TV, it was pretty risque. For

me... I was burning inside.

I thought, wait a minute, I'm the guy she used to do that to. That was my belt

two years ago she was undoing, you know.

But, I mean, call me crazy, I did feel a little bit jealous about that.

Markowitz?

One of the biggest romantic surprises of L .A. Law's first 100 episodes was the

complex, evolving relationship between Mackenzie Brackman partners Stuart

Markowitz and Ann Kelsey, played by real -life husband and wife Michael Tucker

and Jill Eikenberry.

I just want you to know that I admire you more than I can ever express.

For Tucker, it was an especially rare acting experience.

If you could put one scene in a time capsule, which one would it be?

We had a great time with the Venus butterfly scene.

I always felt that if it fell into the wrong hands, it could sexually enslave a

woman. When an unlikely polygamist shares the secret of the Venus

most seductive sexual technique, it leads to a scene that's a favorite among

.A. Law's creators and cast.

We had never done a bed scene together.

And here we go.

You know, you're wearing whatever the hell you're wearing, you know, for

modesty. And you get into bed with your wife in front of

80 people.

Have you been seeing another woman?

No, of course not.

Then where the hell did you learn that?

You mean the Venus butterfly?

Everything is so natural.

It's your wife.

And there she is, and there you are. And it makes perfect sense, except they're

filming it.

We could maybe do it again?

Yeah. Yeah, I'm up for it.

Maybe from a personal point of view, the scene that you should put in the time

capsule, though, is the one where there were personal overlaid on dramatic

stories and...

And I'm talking about when you asked Anne to move in with you.

It was a very difficult time in our life.

Jill had breast cancer.

No one knew it.

No one on the set knew it except Bochco.

And he kept it a secret.

Jill would work up until a certain hour every day and then go for her radiation

treatment. She had just had the operation. And we started shooting the

I was going to propose you move in because... because I love you.

And because you give my life meaning and joy.

And because the thought of waking up next to you is my profoundest happiness.

But I thought if I did that, I might scare you off.

It's a big step. Can I think about it?

Absolutely.

Okay, I thought about it.

Let's go home.

I am blessed in working with Jill that when I look into her eyes, I'm a

mess, I'm a puddle. She gets to me, she gets to me every time.

And it's very easy to play that moment.

Tucked away on the 20th Century Fox backlot, the production headquarters of

.A. Law are far from the upscale offices of Mackenzie Brackman. Here, a staff of

23, including five dogs and an occasional cat, put together 22 episodes

season, following the framework first set up by former attorney Terry Louise

Fisher and Hill Street Blues creator Stephen Bochco.

The workload is enormous on an hour show.

for ten months of the year, nine and a half months of the year, your back is up

against the wall.

And if you're going to work that hard, that intensely and

that intimately with a group of people, you've got to have a good time.

Today, L .A. Law is run by an ex -Boston attorney, David Kelly, and director

-producer Rick Wallace.

Before shooting a show, Kelly and Wallace meet with the production staff

director to make sure everyone's in agreement over the episode they're about

shoot.

I don't know. I think what you find is that a lot of people who come through

here, actors who are guest players,

um directors most of them have an unusually good experience and it seems

collaborative experience it's definitely an ensemble experience i'm still

questioning this business because it doesn't have an effect on who we cast

how we play it about whether we create an atmosphere where we sort of go beyond

doing good work we get into the realm of really trying to elevate it to a point

that it becomes special now we don't always proceed but If we succeed five

out of the year at doing something really special, I think we've done

David Kelly has had a writer's credit on 60 of L .A. Law's 100 episodes.

At the same time, he helped oversee series production.

Despite the occasional bribe, his dog Hogan is a loyal but less than reliable

assistant. End of business today on my desk.

Good boy.

It's very difficult for me to step out of the make -believe world of McKenzie,

Cusack, Cheney, Brackman, and Becker into the real world of Fox Studios and L

.A. Law.

Some days I do it better than others, but when I close my door in my office

I have to write, I'm hearing Cusack, I'm hearing Van Owen, I'm hearing

Sufuentes.

So what I end up doing is throwing out the real world and putting it in Rick's

hand, and I stay with all the make -believe characters who always say what

want them to say.

Most critics agree that exceptional writing is the foundation of L .A. law's

success.

In this scene, an attorney on the verge of suicide offers his last closing

argument, the writing of William Finkelstein.

And the acting of guest performer Thomas Ryan show L .A. Law at its best.

What I always thought Christmas was about is a kind of free pass.

A time of saying, hey, you don't have to earn it.

We'll consider you, the least of you, and we'll do it strictly on

faith.

But Christmas goes.

The audition continues.

And each one of us is sent back to hammer on his own personal anvil

with the idea that we will be hammering until our hearts stop.

From conception through editing, it takes seven weeks to put together an L

Law episode, including eight days of shooting on the set.

The conference room scene that usually opens the show may last only two to

minutes on the screen, but can take five hours to shoot.

The high production standards and the glossy look of L .A. Law can be traced

the early influence of director -producer Greg Hoblet.

In my mind, as I was brought into this, was the notion to make this show, to

make L .A. Law as uptown as Hill Street had been downtown, as elegant and sleek

and articulate and rich and beautiful as Hill Street had kind of been

ugly and inarticulate and bumpy.

And messy.

And to that end, how we would develop the film, what the sets would look like,

what the colors would be, what the wardrobe would be, and how it would look

sound and taste and smell and feel started to evolve.

It just was going to be fun to try something new.

Just a minute.

I've got an announcement.

The lawyers of L .A. Law are a team.

so are the actors that bring them to life.

Most have worked together since the first episode.

This season, Mackenzie Brackman has added two newcomers to the firm's little

family.

Amanda Donahoe plays C .J. Lamb.

I've watched L .A. Law as a viewer and really enjoyed the show myself.

And one thing that does come across, one thing that does permeate through is

that these people are actually rather nice.

They're nice people. They have good souls.

These are not evil, manipulative people.

And that's how I came to the set. I didn't expect any ego stuff to go down.

And there they were. They welcomed me with open arms. They were very, very

to me. Everybody.

Check by end of business today.

Let's go.

The other newcomer is Tommy Mullaney, played by John Spencer.

Mother of Mary and Joseph.

With me coming on the show, see, my character Tommy...

is going into Mackenzie Brackman, into the corporation, and he's not a

type. And I've never thought of myself necessarily as a nighttime episodic

And so I'm going on to the show, Tommy's going into the corporation, and life

was reflecting art and vice versa.

So in a way, I feel like I've had an easy time of it.

Every lawyer here stands... L .A. Law may be built around ensemble acting, but

at the head of the table at every partner's meeting is magisterial Leland

McKenzie, played by Richard Dysart.

Well, you aren't the star of the show, but you are the what?

I'm the glue.

Meaning? Well, Leland McKenzie sort of holds things together in

that he is his senior partner. He's things.

revolve in the office around him and go out from him and such as that.

The stars of the show are the scripts, not the actors. We're a

marvelous ensemble of people, a very fortunate, lucky group of people, but

scripts are the stars.

The burden is still on me to bring in the business.

I can't spend eight hours a day trying to build a client base and take out time

to serve your sense of democracy.

I know I've been cutting some administrative corners, but it is tough

rainmaker and office ambassador at the same time. So what are you saying?

I'm saying I'm going to set my priorities.

For the next six weeks, I'm going to completely concentrate on expanding our

client list.

When we first started, I thought, well, I've never done a series before.

And I was concerned about how I was going to view this myself, how I

was going to adapt to this.

And I thought, well, just think of it as a movie.

And now you've made 100 of them. Yeah, I think of it as one long movie.

It's still going.

Enjoy it.

Much of the appeal of L .A. Law can be traced to a deft mix of emotions and

moods. The men have their scenes, but the unusual depth and complexity of the

.A. Law women produces a special kind of dramatic moment.

What the hell is it with you? One of the show's most unforgettable characters is

Icy Rosalind Shays, played by Diana Mulder.

This isn't a country club, Leland, where you get to be the golf pro.

It's a tough business, and any firm, if it wants to get ahead, needs a strong

leader. She just horrifies me sometimes to such a degree that I wonder how I'm

going to ever say the words.

But I love...

The fact that she just simply does what she does.

I'm not stepping down.

You're only in power by my consent.

If you and I do battle, you couldn't possibly win. I'm not stepping down.

Then I'll have to break you.

You want a war, Leland?

Fine.

You've got one.

I think if a man had said the same thing, done the same thing...

you wouldn't have even seen her. She would have just come and gone, just like

that. I think the idea of it being a woman doing it that way is what

America. But then she does horrible things to people. I mean, she doesn't

the person. She's just there for the business.

Do you think you have advanced the cause of women in the workplace or set it

back?

Interestingly,

I have a lot of women fans who just think it's wonderful, and a lot of men

say, give it to them, Roz.

Jill Eikenberry plays Ann Kelsey.

It took courage, but Ann was one L .A. lawwoman who wasn't afraid to lay it on

the line with Rosalind Shays.

I need my chair. I need my desk. I need my office. Get off the phone. I admire

Ann a lot sometimes. You know, she's so direct.

I mean, she doesn't pull punches. She just says.

that she feels, and I often wish that I could do that.

Women who aren't lawyers might find reason to identify with some of Anne

Kelty's dilemmas in the workplace.

I think the whole idea of trying to balance a relationship and a job and

trying to balance the aggressiveness needed to be a female executive and the

softness needed to be...

part of a man's life and you know those kinds of compromises at the end the

compromises involved with children and all those things but in other words uh

you know that hackneyed phrase of a woman who wants it all stop that stop

nicer i'm gonna cry i've totally ruined this whole day for you you didn't ruin

it i did i wouldn't do anything till the last minute it's just your way it's

your way of dealing with what's really bothering you Which is how scary it is

be standing here doing the M word.

With other people, I always used to try and pretend that I was someone I wasn't.

And then I'd feel angry that no one really loved me for me.

But you do, Stuart.

You really love me for me.

And that is the most incredible gift.

And I just hope to God that I can make you half as happy as you made me.

I've never been so happy.

I love you so much, Stuart.

Let's not screw it up, okay?

Deal.

Deal. The thing that appeals to me about her is that she's constantly struggling

with it, and I think, and looking for the answer.

And that's a real, that's a human being, you know. That's not, if she solved it,

I don't think she would be as interesting.

Look, I would quit if I could afford to. I really would.

But I have a son.

and I am a six -year associate in a depressed market. I have nowhere else to

Conflict creates appealing characters.

Playing Abby Perkins is a personal challenge for actress Michelle Green.

Of course, your ego, you want to be like the great woman who has everything

together, who everybody admires and wants to be like you. No, you're playing

woman that's like... a woman who has very, very weak, weak self -esteem, you

know, very low level of it.

incredibly uncertain, victimized all the time by things in her life.

I have a missing child.

And if that little boy was my son, then how am I ever going to know?

I'm sorry.

You're sorry?

What for?

To you, they're just meat, aren't they?

Tag it?

Ship it?

What the hell? It's just another body, right?

Well, wrong, lady.

Because that little boy was somebody's child.

We're saved.

Oh, what's that?

Self -motivation pain?

Better. It's temptation.

What? One of my professors used to tell us that you just can't study anymore,

but you gotta keep going.

Dance! During the past five seasons, Abby Perkins has grown stronger and kept

going. This L .A. Law scene with Jonathan Rollins is a mix of humor and

but mostly it expresses an attitude of exuberance and hope.

In the end, the strength of L .A. Law's characters, especially the women, has

been their ability to mature and change.

The ability to mature and change has made Roxanne Melman, played by Susan

more than a match for her boss, Arnie Becker. When I ask for your help, I

you to give it. Don't snap at me.

Don't you snap at me. Hey, you snap at me, I snap back.

Has Roxanne changed or what?

She's changed incredibly.

She's become better and better. I'm really...

I'm really proud of the changes that she's made in life. I feel sort of like,

you know, I'm responsible for that. I've made changes in my own life and sort of

mirrored in hers.

Who went first? Did you change first or did she?

I gave up on bad men a long time before she did.

I lost weight before she did.

But she stood up. You know, she started therapy before I did.

I feel, you know, it's funny when I talk about it, I feel like I'm talking about

a person that I know very well, not a character.

In the first year when Roxanne demanded a raise and got it, a lot of people used

the words that she used, which is a credit to our writers.

I am finally starting to take responsibility for my life.

I can't be a doormat anymore.

I can't let you wipe your feet on me and then say, thank you, Arnie. Thank you

for letting me be your slave.

Thank you for letting me take your dirty shirts to the laundry. Rox, this is not

you talking. Yes, it is me.

With a little help from my therapist, maybe, but it's me.

You're unhappy?

Yes! Did it ever occur to you that if you weren't seeing this shrink, you

wouldn't need such a big pay raise?

What I do with my raise is my business.

Do I get it or not?

Let us...

Draw the distinction between a criminal and a criminal act.

Of all the L .A. law women, the character of Grace Van Owen often spans

widest range of moods and emotions, from playful sex to dramatic moments in the

courtroom. It's a challenging part for actress Susan Day.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to make her credible out there fighting these

cases and winning.

And I think it was through that, out of my fear, and yet my belief that all

attorneys are simply smart actors or actors who have studied law, that my

fear could be part of her fear.

The interesting thing is that in the beginning, Grace didn't lose any cases

all. She won all of them. I won them all, and rightfully so.

I said, I said, look, I know in my homework that I've lost cases.

I want everyone else to see me lose.

Some were harder than others, and one of the ones that was hard to lose was the

abused child.

What happens if I just take Lisa and we disappear?

Charlotte, he has custody rights. You'd be charged with kidnapping.

The lawyers of L .A. law are not superheroes in a black and white world.

They live in a gray realm of success, uncertainty, and failure.

In this scene, Grace Van Owen confronts the painfully blurred boundaries of her

life as a woman and an attorney.

As a district attorney, it would be inappropriate for me to encourage an

illegal act.

Give me another choice!

I can't let this happen to her again.

As a district attorney, it would be inappropriate for me to encourage an

act.

I hear you, Ms. Van Owen.

I hear you loud and clear.

Complex characterizations laced with ambiguity.

That's the essence of the L .A. Law women and the dramatic heart of L .A.

L .A. Law is in sharp focus in the courtroom.

Has the jury reached a verdict?

We have, Your Honor.

Although entertainment is their primary goal, the creators of the series try

hard to make the intricacies of the law as accurate as possible.

This has won them some fans and a few critics in the real world of law and

lawyers. Alan Dershowitz, lawyer and Harvard Law professor.

Well, I've become a sometimes skeptical fan. I watch it.

I get mad at it.

I love it.

But it sends mixed messages to me. It sends a message to me, first, that there

are fascinating legal issues out there. Second,

however, it sends a message that legal problems can be resolved before the

commercial.

Stephen Gillard teaches law at NYU.

Legal ethics teachers and I think evidence teachers also, but certainly

teachers around the country, are literally forced to use L .A. law as a

pedagogical technique because students watch it and the next day they come into

class and they say, last night on L .A. law, Arnie Becker did this. Can you do

that?

So in ways that textbooks cannot, LA law itself animates students' interest

in legal ethics and gives... teachers and students something to talk about.

Your Honor, the system isn't working.

Objection. Sustained.

Objection. Get a restraining order.

Voice identification is appropriate.

I'll allow it.

Objection. Past sexual history is not admissible. Mr. Becker reached his

fiduciary responsibility.

A concern for accuracy adds credibility to the drama of L .A. law.

The producers regularly consult legal authorities.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a little room for the unexpected.

I am scaling the walls of justice.

I demand the return of my client's limb, Your Honor. Shut up, jacket!

You're incontestable. Poor slut.

Let me lie face down in your dirty bath. That's it.

L .A. law takes the legal system seriously, but not too seriously.

The series' distinctive sense of humor is never far from the witness stand, but

it's always a logical outgrowth of the character or situation.

Mackenzie Brackman's youngest attorney is Jonathan Rollins, played by Blair

Underwood. Rollins is always ready to push the legal limit. You pay him $2

a day?

I fell in love with the character from the beginning because he came on like

gangbusters from the beginning, and he wasn't afraid to say what he felt or do

whatever the hell he wanted to do. And no matter who it is, Especially a senior

partner who had a different way of doing things, different tactics. He would

kind of do it his own way.

What do you consider your finest moment?

I think probably the case I enjoyed the most was my first season where I had a

chance to cross -examine a guy to death on the stand.

He had a heart attack on the stand. And that was, I think, a lot of what

Jonathan is all about, that aggressiveness and just kind of driving

he just kept going until this guy... Dropped dead? Dropped dead.

You're the one who's lying, Mr. Boland, and everybody here knows it. I am an

honest man, Mr. Boland. An honest man doesn't conceal his assets in hidden

accounts.

Objection! Objection! I will win all those suits!

Mr. Rawlins, you're a thief who should be in jail, Mr. Boland. You can't!

No!

Mr.

Boland? Mr. Bennett, call an ambulance.

Bobby!

Your Honor, this man has a life insurance policy leaving $2 million to

estate. In the event this man does in fact die, Your Honor, I'd like to attach

the proceeds of that policy. For God's sake, Mr. Rollins, this man is fighting

for his life. If he lives, judge your orders moot. If he dies, which it looks

like he's going to, judging from this purple color I see, then you maintain

status quo pending disposition.

Shut up!

When juries can ignore... Humor is vital to the L .A. law style, but so is an

underlying seriousness.

The Earl Williams case gave viewers an unusually complete view of the legal

process, from accusations, trials, and appeals to final verdict.

This evidence, as a matter of law, is insufficient to support a finding of

beyond a reasonable doubt.

The defendant is to be released from custody.

It's over.

I'm free.

L .A. law has explored a number of controversial legal issues, including

killing, date rape, age discrimination, and child abuse.

Many of the most demanding cases were handled by Victor Cifuentes, played by

Jimmy Smith.

Smith has his own image of the ideal lawyer.

Definitely in courtroom presentations, especially in the closing arguments,

someone who believes totally in whatever case they're doing. And even if it's a

case that he doesn't believe in, the whole thing about being a lawyer is to

that jury believe in whatever your point is.

You asked about the summations.

I guess that's one of the reasons why I really kind of like put more

of my energies towards the courtroom stuff.

Because lawyers perform.

Lawyers are actors.

That for me has been the most enjoyable part of working on the show.

It's not because there's more words, but it's just you and the jury and the

audience that's watching.

And so you were the first doctor to examine this patient?

Yes. Often the audience is the jury. The producers say they're not out to

preach, but to present evidence.

In this Emmy Award -winning episode, both Cifuentes and his opposing attorney

are allowed to present their strongest arguments.

There's no dispute about what happened here.

Dr. Diane refused to operate, and it cost Warren Perel his life. The real

question here... concerns the value of that life. Now, since the patient was

terminal with AIDS anyway, I guess you could easily ask, well, what's the big

loss? So he just died a little sooner, that's all.

What's three months?

Well, I'll tell you something, ladies and gentlemen.

To a dying man, three months is a lifetime.

The most horrific thing that Dr. Diane ever had to do in his career.

was to stand there that night and watch his patient die.

The thing about AIDS, we just don't know everything about it yet.

We don't know exactly how you get it or how you don't get it, but what we do

know is that once you do get it, you're going to die.

And if we start imposing a duty on physicians that they have to take this

of risk...

that they have to stick their hands into contaminated, deadly blood, then people

are going to stop becoming doctors.

Real lawyers sometimes find themselves arguing against their own convictions.

In L .A. law, Victor Cifuentes faced just such a personal dilemma when he

defended a job discrimination case filed by a plaintiff with elephant man's

disease.

Imagine my joy at being pitied by the guy who was hired to get me.

I don't pity you. Oh, Mr.

Sufrantes, we're talking about a symptom I'm quite expert at diagnosing.

You talk about being repulsed. Let me tell you what repulses me.

The idea that people feel sorry for me. The idea that people who don't even know

me can, with one glance, know enough to feel sorry for me. I don't want...

The only way I can win this trial is by getting 12 strangers in a jury box to

feel sorry for me.

Very real human dilemmas are the source of much of the fictional drama of L .A.

Law, but only with well -drawn characters does the drama pay off.

One of L .A. Law's most memorable characters is developmentally disabled

assistant Benny Stolwitz, played by Larry Drake.

As an actor, it strikes me that it would be maybe easy to play someone who

is less bright, if you will. You don't just do that.

You give Benny a tremendous dignity.

He oftentimes does the very right thing because he doesn't edit himself. He

doesn't justify himself. He goes right to the gut level. Simple version of

and it seems more honorable than all the layers we have pasted on.

Sophisticated adult.

Merry Christmas.

Benny?

The scene, I think, that struck home for me that was difficult to do,

and we succeeded, I think, and therefore the audience response was kind of

enormous, was the first season I was on and when Benny was arrested on rape

charges that he didn't commit.

And people slowly figured out he didn't commit it, and he didn't quite even know

what was going on in his life.

Benny?

Benny's trial for rape brought the lawyers of Mackenzie Brackman together

especially poignant episode.

Even Arnie Becker revealed a streak of compassion as the aloof abstractions of

the law became suddenly personal.

Benny, you told the police and you told us that you did something bad.

What did you mean by that?

I saw it. I saw sex. She was naked.

They arrested you because they think you grabbed a girl and forced her to touch

your penis.

I did not!

Man to man, Benny. Friend to friend.

Did you ever try to make a girl touch you or have sex with you that night?

No, Arnie, no!

Did the man speak quickly or slowly?

He spoke very fast.

Okay, Benny, read it as fast as you can.

Enjoy it.

Bitch, tell me that you love it. Your Honor, again, Benny, louder this time.

Enjoy it, bitch. Tell me that you love it. This is ridiculous grandstanding,

Judge, and I ask that it stop. Your Honor, the District Attorney is

with my cross -examination. Well, everyone just quiet down for a minute.

Mr. Cusack, please instruct your client. That's not him!

God, you told me you caught him. Your Honor, she's been so bad to you. That's

not him! The man who attacked me didn't talk like that. This man's retarded.

This case is dismissed.

The defendant is free to go.

This court is in recess until 2 o 'clock.

We did it, Benny. We won.

Do I have to go to jail?

No, Benny. You don't have to go to jail.

Benny's acquittal means more than another Mackenzie Brackman victory.

It represents the combination of character, emotion, and engaging issues

the lifeblood of L .A. Law.

There may be more to the secret of L .A. Law's five seasons of success, but the

series' best episodes find an artful balance between the entertainment of its

.A. side and an accurate portrayal of the law and lawyers.

As Harvard's Professor Dershowitz observed, there are more than legal

the law.

There are passions and prejudice. There is love and hate. There is even sex.

There is certainly a lot of that in L .A. law.

Legal scholars and armchair lawyers will be discussing the Venus butterfly for

years.

Meantime, 100 episodes later, the caseload at Mackenzie Brackman is full.

As sexy, serious, and off -center as ever.

I'm Jane Pauley. Good night.