The Practice is a TV Show that was on air from 1997 to 2004. It’s a Legal drama and centres around the good people of Boston working for a Law Firm. During its early years it’d win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, and it would go on to spawn a spin off series, Boston Legal, which ran from 2004 to 2008. Both of these shows would be the brainchild of David E. Kelley who was also responsible for bringing the other famous Boston Lawyer, Ally McBeal to our screens and the whole thing was a “shared universe” before they became popular.

While it was on air The Practice was well known for pulling in high profile guest stars, many of these guest slots would be awarded with a prestigious Emmy Award afterwards. You’ve got the likes of Sharon Stone, William Shatner, Viola Davis, Donnie Whalberg and Gina Gershon to name but a very few who’ve thrown their hats in The Practices ring.I won’t pretend to have watched it all, in fact any of it apart from the episodes featuring Virginia Madsen, it’s just not my type of show. Like CSI: Miami and Law and Order, these kinds of shows just don’t do anything for me.

Virginia Madsen would guest star in two episodes in 2001’s sixth season in a story called “The Candidate”. They’d form the first two episodes of the season and would first air at the end of September that year.

The story of The Candidate revolves around Senator Keith Ellison (Dylan Baker), he’s found by Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim) after he calls her to his home. He’s not in a good way, he’s covered in blood and stood near the body of a man. The Senator claims he was defending his wife, Marsha (Virginia Madsen) from an attack, but it soon turns out that the man in question was actually having an affair with Marsha.

The waters are muddied. Or, bloodied if you will.
Virginia Madsen does her thing in this as you’d almost expect. We’re not in Emmy territory here, but that’s not to say she’s dialling things in either. She does her earnest angry woman thing, and does it well. You can see her in eyes her true feelings throughout the episode. It’s a shame we don’t get to some more from her in this role, but it’s what the character needs to be.

I’ve already said this kind of thing isn’t for me, so hard for me to recommend as obviously there is an audience for this kind of show. I guess you’ll already know if it’s one for you or not.

Availabilty:

Hard to find on DVD, despite earlier, and later season being available. Hate it when they do that. It can be found on various streaming sites though like Apple and Plex so you can watch it that way at least.

Trailer:

Not for the actual episode…