Right up your 'Ally': Fox's smart, soapy 'McBeal' shines

Are you ready for some football? Monday Night Football, that is.

Although it may be a shock to many, including advertisers and network programmers, the answer to this question will not always be a resounding "Yes."

After years of being subjected to the likes of "Pauly" on Fox; long-dead "Murphy Brown" on CBS; a Wayans brother on the WB and something starring Meredith Baxter or Tori Spelling on NBC, one network has finally found a suitable alternative to the gridiron for those who know the last quarter of a game is most important.

REVIEW
	Ally McBeal Mondays at 9 p.m. Fox

That alternative is Fox's offbeat, promisinging new soapy comedic drama, "Ally McBeal," airing convienently opposite Monday Night Football from 9-10 p.m.

Starring Calista Flockhart of "The Birdcage" semi-fame as Ally, "McBeal" tells the story of witty, resourceful single gal Ally trying to make it as a big city lawyer.

I know what you're thinking - "That Girl" meets "L.A. Law." Maybe so, but "Ally McBeal" manages to rise above formula with one cheesy, though engaging, gimmick. Said gimmick is the appearance of Ally's Walter Mitty-like fantasies, quips and inner thoughts in the form of surreal and often hilarious effects-laden asides.

This feeling that the audience is in on all of Ally's secrets creates an immediate bond between protagonist and public - see Ally imagining sex in a giant coffee cup; Ally imagining arrows piercing her heart; and Ally imagining an egotistical secretary's head expanding.

This type of high-tech tom-foolery is meant to attract the viewer, just some hype created to boost ratings (which are seemingly irrelevant since Monday Night Football will kick Ally's butt until January), but it's up to the quality and chemistry of the show to keep the viewer's attention for an hour a week.

And "Ally McBeal" does that, mostly thanks to the Midas touch of TV drama whiz kid David E. Kelley, creator of "Picket Fences" and "The Practice" among others. The magic that Kelley has worked with "Ally" is to create one of the most original and engaging shows to come along since "Twin Peaks" or even last year's mercilessly cancelled nude-businessman-sleeping-in-a-box thriller "Profit."

The set-up of "Ally"'s plotline (also courtesy of Kelley) goes like this: Ally is a lawyer who never wanted to be a lawyer. She only went to Harvard law school to save her relationship with Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), only for Billy to dump her. Years later and now a successful but underappreciated lawyer in a huge firm, Ally is having problems with her male colleagues thinking her butt is quite firm.

Fired for having the nerve to file sexual harassment charges, Ally agrees to work for law school classmate Richard (Greg Germann) whose law philosophy is "money - piles and piles of it." She's in for more than she bargained for when the only other associate at Greg's firm is - you guessed it - master litigator Billy Thomas, who now happens to be married to a beautiful lawyer named Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith).

Presumably, the episodes following last week's series premiere will deal with Ally's wacky thoughts about trying to get over the man she never got over. Although "Ally" is best and sharpest when the focus is on Ally's general life observations ("Law is like love: Romantic in concept, but the practice can give you a yeast infection.") than observations about her life ("Why does he have to be so cute?").

Kelley would be best advised to make this a show less like the inner-demon-heavy and awful "Herman's Head" and more like an ensemble-heavy "L.A. Law" told from inside Grace VanOwen's mind.

Still, the success of "Ally McBeal" hasn't everything to do with Kelley, its creator. No, "Ally" succeeds on the strength of its creative and stellar supporting cast, led by Flockhart's strong-yet-self-conscious and self-effacing Ally, the alternately riveting and side-splitting cast includes the hilarious Greg Germann of "Ned & Stacey"; brooding lawyer-stud Gil Bellows; "Melrose Place" refugee Courtney Thorne-Smith; and "ER" regular Lisa Nicole Carson as the only cardboard cutout so far, stereotyped as the sassy roommate who gets many of the best lines.

So real yet so surreal, where else on TV but "Ally McBeal" would you find heavy issues including sexual harassment directly before the main character happily imagines her breasts growing so large that her bra strap snaps?

Not only is "Ally" the perfect alternative to Frank Gifford, it is the perfect companion piece to follow "Melrose Place": where "Melrose" is played out and predictable, "Ally" is fresh and pleasantly out-there; and when "Melrose" descends into soapy cliché (a catfight between Sydney and Jane, for example), "Ally" cleverly exploits soapy cliché (a catfight between Ally and Georgia consisting only of polite exchanges of "I really hate you," and "Do you really, because I hate you," or "Thanks. You're not just saying that?" that appropriately end with uproarious laughter).

Premiering last week to higher ratings than "Melrose," non-football fans everywhere seem to be embracing "Ally McBeal," and deservedly so.

But if interest in his smart and funny new show is ever to sag, Kelley should avoid Fox's pleas to bring Heather Locklear on to sex-up and save "Ally McBeal." For then, we will be truly ready for some football.

09-15-97