L
L.A. Law
Identification Television drama series
Producers Steven Bochco (1943- ), David E.
Kelley (1956- ), and William M. Finkelstein
(1952- )
Date Aired from September 15, 1986, to May 19,
1994
Though inspired by the tradition of courtroom hits likeMat-
lock, this popular legal drama represented a new and in-
fluential television form that featured good-looking, slick,
well-educated professionals engaged in both heated legal de-
bates and passionate affairs, sometimes with one another.
Part of the long-standing National Broadcasting Com-
pany (NBC) tradition of a strong Thursday night
lineup,L.A. Lawdebuted in a two-hour pilot during
the fall of 1986 with dramatic theme music com-
posed by Mike Post and a cast of relatively unknown
but very attractive actors. Harry Hamlin played Mi-
chael Kuzak, a conscientious liberal attorney who
worked at a Los Angeles law firm headed by Leland
McKenzie (Richard Dysart), the wise old partner
who still had some youthful passion and humor.
Kuzak was joined by opportunistic divorce attor-
ney Arnold Becker (Corbin Bernsen), powerful lit-
igator Ann Kelsey (Jill Eikenberry), tax attorney
Stuart Markowitz (Michael Tucker), and Douglas
Brackman, Jr. (Alan Rachins), the son of an original
partner. Kuzak’s on-again, off-again sparring (and
bedroom) partner at the district attorney’s office
was Grace Van Owen (Susan Dey, in her first major
television role sinceThe Partridge Family). Jimmy
Smits joined the firm later in the first season as
junior partner Victor Sifuentes. Throughout the
show’s seasons on the air, other attorneys came to
the boardroom table, and the composition of the
firm changed frequently, especially after the exodus
of Hamlin, Smits, and Dey in 1991 and 1992.
Impact L.A. Lawwas Steven Bochco’s first success-
ful follow-up toHill Street Blues, and it established
that the innovative, ensemble-driven television drama
could succeed in more than one incarnation. Bochco
teamed with Terry Louise Fisher, the creator of
Cagney and Lacey, who brought a feminist sensibility to
the show’s depiction of women in the workplace. The
show was not necessarily innovative when compared
with its creators’ previous efforts, but by following in
their wake, it established that the changes wrought by
Bochco and Fisher would continue to shape prime-
time network television during the 1980’s.
Subsequent Events Producer and writer David E.
Kelley leftL.A. Lawin 1991 to pursue other projects.
By this time, Bochco and Fisher had already left as
well. These departures, along with the loss of the
three stars, took a major toll on the quality and ap-
peal of the show. Later seasons featured melodra-
matic plots and ridiculous characters, and the show
died with a relatively small and disappointed audi-
ence in 1994.
Further Reading
Brigham, John. “L.A. Law.” InPrime Time Law: Fic-
tional Television as Legal Narrative, edited by Rob-
ert M. Jarvis and Paul R. Joseph. Durham, N.C.:
Carolina Academic Press, 1998.
Brooks, Tim.The Complete Director y to Prime Time Net-
work and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present. 8th ed. New
York: Ballantine, 2003.
Schwartz, Tony. “Steven Bochco Goes fromHill Street
to the Taut Glitz ofL.A. Law.”New York, Septem-
ber 15, 1986, 62.
Thompson, Robert J.Television’s Second Golden Age:
From “Hill Street Blues” to “ER.”Syracuse, N.Y.: Syra-
cuse University Press, 1997.
Jennifer HellerSee also Cagney and Lacey;Hill Street Blues; Televi-
sion.