Academic

What is with David E. Kelley's shows not being released on DVD?

By Tung Yin

I'm teaching Professional Responsibility for the first time this semester, and as part of my class preparation, I've been dutifully watching episodes of "The Practice" while using the treadmill, looking for interesting scenes to trigger discussion of ethical issues.  (It's a hard job, but I'm happy to make the sacrifice.)  For some reason, however, the only set that has been released is titled "Volume 1," consisting of all six season 1 episodes and seven from season 2.

That's it, 13 episodes out of the 168 that aired over 8 seasons.  Moreover, this set was released a year and a half ago, and amazon.com has no information about upcoming releases.

At first, I wondered if this was something to do with the TV studio that produced the show, but then I noticed that David E. Kelley has released very few of his shows on DVD.  There's only one compilation of random "Ally McBeal" episodes available, none of "L.A. Law" (though that was created by Steven Bochco), and only one season of "Picket Fences."  For some reason, "Boston Legal" is the exception -- it's up to date to last season.

Full post as published by The Yin Blog on January 21, 2009 (boomark / email).