The King of Pop died on June 25 and by the end of the week, questions of mental instability and surgically altered pigmentation were of the hour.

It is commonplace for the mass media to seize the most titillating story available and exploit it. What was disturbing is the way the media threw aside all responsible news coverage to focus, almost solely, on the titillating.

It is difficult to pinpoint when this happened or even whether the values of broadcast journalists have altered over time. The networks have, however, a predominant profit motive that muzzles dissent.

Among the top rated television shows of the 2008-2009 season, excluding Sunday night football on NBC, were American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, CSI and Desperate Housewives. Meanwhile, television news has become dominated by pundits rather than anchors: Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Rachel Maddow, Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann.

Overall, American television is a reflection of a demographic marketplace; a cesspool of sitcom reruns, reality programs, crime dramas and biased news coverage. As such, it is an environment where creativity is stifled or marginalized.

Boston Legal, an ABC drama, was cancelled last year after the producer (David E. Kelley) was forced to beg for a 13-episode final season. David E. Kelley is an American television writer best known for producing hit legal dramas like The Practice, Ally McBeal, and L.A. Law. He is riotously prolific (at one point he was overseeing production on three regular series) and profoundly brilliant. Boston Legal in particular is somehow a captivating blend of genres—funny, dramatic, tragic and intellectually gratifying.

Kelley has a knack for character development. Alan Shore (played by James Spader) is a menacing and enticing character—an ethically challenged man who is somehow ethically credible. In one scene he may be a chauvinistic skirt-chaser, propositioning a weak woman grieving the loss of her fiancée. In another, he becomes a strident defender of the American Bill of Rights:

“Who does [take this seriously],” he sneers, defending a man wrongly imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, “the American public? The media—who would give it mention if only there weren’t so many starving actresses with drug problems to focus on.”

“ After 25 Emmy nominations and five wins, why did ABC pull the plug on this wildly smart and unconventional show?

Denny Crane, played brilliantly by the sardonic and arrogant William Shatner is the legendary Boston attorney whose mere name incites fear and awe. He has become a semi-senile Republican who is every bit a womanizer.

“I have nothing against Guantanamo by the Bay,” Crane claims, a subtle jab at remarks made by former vice president Dick Cheney, “I happen to like resorts.”

In a television marketplace that seems unable to break with convention, Boston Legal defied categorization and was deftly able to transcend character stereotypes. Television has for a long time been geared toward a youth-oriented market. Boston Legal starred three actors over 60—among them the beautifully composed and articulate Shirley Schmidt (played by Candice Bergen). The show treated age, disease and social ineptitude with reverence and respect even as it was poking fun. Denny Crane refers to his onset Alzheimer’s disease as “mad cow,” even as viewers lament watching greatness diminish. Eccentric characters, from a cross dresser to a legal genius with Asperger’s syndrome were treated with more humanity than generally befits prime time television.

As networks attempt to appeal to smaller niche markets news coverage has become unnervingly one-sided and partisan. Boston Legal–through closing arguments from the plaintiff and the defense on issues from the Sudanese genocide to pharmaceutical malpractice—was able to present warring sides on critical issues.

Shortly after the cancellation of Boston Legal David E Kelley commented that, “One of our writers was an ex-journalist and he used to get calls from his colleagues in the news business…saying they were envious. We got to tell stories they wanted to do but were not allowed to because it was not hot enough copy for the news.”

After 25 Emmy nominations and five wins, why did ABC pull the plug on this wildly smart and unconventional show?

20th Century Fox, as per a contract Kelley signed in 1995 and renegotiated in 2000, produced Boston Legal. As such, the ABC network did not own the show. ABC would rather keep a show with minimal ratings that they own. They did not own Boston Legal and as a result there wasn’t the same opportunity for profit. The end.

Ethan Cable is a University of Winnipeg student and will be taking on the role of Uniter beat reporter in the fall.

Published in Volume 63, Number 30 of The Uniter (August 13, 2009)