Ally McBeal

Name: Ally McBeal
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: 6.9
Cast: Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Greg Germann, Lisa Nicole Carson, Jane Krakowski

A series that dares to reveal what's most exciting about a woman's body... her mind.

Ally McBeal (1997-2002)

Seasons: 5, episodes: 112

Episode runtime: 43 min

Average rating: 6.9/10 41 799

—
no scores

6.5/10
372

6.9/10
39000

Rate the series:

Everything about the series

Video 1

Photo 60

Actors and characters

Video for the series Ally McBeal — Ally McBeal - Fox Life Trailer

0:40

Photo 60

Premiere

1997-09-08

Last episode

2002-05-20

Status

Ended

Country

United States

Network

FOX

Production

20th Century Fox Television, David E. Kelley Productions

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Creators

David E. Kelley

Actors

Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Greg Germann, Lisa Nicole Carson, Jane Krakowski, Regina Hall, Gil Bellows, Peter MacNicol, Vonda Shepard, Portia de Rossi
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

David E. Kelley, Roberto Benabib

Producer

Steve Robin, Pamela J. Wisne, Jack Philbrick, Kim Hamberg, Jonathan Pontell, Mike Listo, Kayla Alpert, David E. Kelley, Bill D'Elia

Camera operator

Billy Dickson

Composer

Danny Lux

Editing

Philip Carr Neel, Craig Bench, Mark C. Baldwin
Whole Team (84)

Short description

Ally McBeal is a young lawyer working at the Boston law firm Cage and Fish. Ally's lives and loves are eccentric, humorous, dramatic with an incredibly overactive imagination that's working overtime!

Seasons

Season	Episodes	Release date	Rating
Season 1 The first season of the television series Ally McBeal began airing in the United States on September 8, 1997, concluded on May 18, 1998, and consisted of 23 episodes. It tells the story of Ally McBeal, a young lawyer who found herself without a job after being sexually harassed by her boss, only …	23	1997-09-08	7.1
Season 2 The second season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on September 14, 1998, concluded on May 24, 1999, and consisted of 23 episodes. On March 22, 1999, Fox aired a special titled Life and Trials of Ally McBeal in which Bill Maher interviewed the cast after …	23	1998-09-14	7
Season 3 The third season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on October 25, 1999, concluded on May 22, 2000, and consisted of 21 episodes. The entire season originally aired Mondays at 9pm, just like the seasons before. A month before the premiere of the season, Fo…	21	1999-10-25	6.8
Season 4 The fourth season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on October 12, 2000, concluded on May 21, 2001, and consisted of 23 episodes. The entire season originally aired Mondays at 9pm, just like the seasons before. The fourth season had an average rating of 1…	23	2000-10-23	6.7
Season 5 The fifth and final season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on October 29, 2001, concluded on May 20, 2002, and consisted of 22 episodes. The entire season originally aired Mondays at 9pm, just like the seasons before. The fifth season had an average rat…	22	2001-10-29	6.6

What's left behind the scenes

Calista Flockhart was chosen for the lead role from 12,000 applicants.
In 1999, when the series reached the peak of its popularity, half-hour episodes of a spin-off project called "Ally" began airing in parallel. This version was created as a sitcom, featuring re-edited scenes from the main project mixed with previously unseen footage. The goal was to showcase the main plotlines of the series through a comedic lens. This companion version focused on the protagonist's personal life, omitting storylines related to her professional activities. Thirteen episodes of "Ally" were produced, but only ten were aired.
It was not initially intended for Lucy Liu to become a regular cast member. However, as a guest star, she impressed producer David E. Kelley so much that he and the writers made the necessary changes to the storyline to justify the character's continued presence on screen.
Jane Krakowski's character was not originally intended to sing, but producer David E. Kelley heard Krakowski singing on the radio and made singing a part of her character.
At the beginning of the fourth season, in hopes of boosting the show's ratings, Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Larry, the man for whom the main character has feelings. The season was planned to conclude with the wedding of Ally and Larry; however, the actor was arrested on drug possession charges. Downey Jr. was fired from the project despite the producers' objections, forcing David E. Kelley to change the season finale, remove Larry from the series, film a new ending for the preceding episode, and scrap the romance plotline entirely. The title of the episode preceding the finale remained "The Wedding".