History YMMV / BostonLegal

* HarsherInHindsight: in the series 4 episode ''Attack of the Xenophobes'', Denny Crane says "I have nothing against the Chinese". Later in the series 5 finale, [[spoiler:his law firm of Crane Poole & Schmidt is bought out by a Chinese organisation, against his wishes; they ultimately fire Denny and remove his name from the firm]].

* MagnificentBastard: Alan Shore and Denny Crane are reprehensible, narcissistic, arrogant sons of bitches of the highest order, and yet are so darn charming and eloquent you'll find yourself agreeing with most of the arguments they pull out of their asses. It helps that their causes are usually righteous.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: More than once. A shining example has to be Brad [[spoiler:accidentally cutting off the hand of a priest with a fire axe -- while impersonating an FBI agent -- and then the priest's cat making off with one of the man's severed fingers, whilst a crowd of nuns scream in shock and horror, and when they find the missing finger, they use it to blackmail the priest before giving it back.]]
* {{Fanon}}: Because of James Spader's current role in ''Series/TheBlacklist'', many have painted Alan Shore as one of Red Remington's aliases.

* CrazyAwesome: Denny Crane in a nutshell. Come on, you know you like him.

* {{Fanon}}: Because of James Spader's current role in Series/TheBlacklist, many have painted Alan Shore as one of Red Remington's aliases.

** The pilot deals with a woman who sues casting directors after her African-American daughter was passed over for the title role in ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'', a part traditionally played by a white actress, culminating in an iconic moment in which the Reverend Al Sharpton bursts into the courtroom and demands "Give the world a black Little Orphan Annie!". Ten years later, the remake Film/Annie2014 was made, starring Quvenzhané Wallis, a black actress.

** "Dennnnnnnny...Dennnnnnnnnnny. Craaaannnnnnne."

* TheScrappy:
** [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery Jerry Espenson]], to IRL people with UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome. While Christian Clemenson is a fine actor, who plays an exceedingly likable character, the character, besides his absurd hopping, purring, and squealing tics, is also for the most part a little too normal in mannerism and speech pattern, which may or may not be especially ironic, since a few of us theorize that an autism spectrum person may have been right under the writers' noses, if you've ever watched any clips of the series' star speaking in real life.
** Judge Robert "Poopycock" Sanders. A large chunk of viewers, ''especially'' those with legal careers, found the concept of an irritable, likely senile judge who is not conscious of 90% of what goes on in his courtroom or capable of understanding metaphor to be ''horrifying'' rather than funny. Judge Sanders was clearly not fit to be a judge, and often handed down rulings without even understanding the case or even listening to the eloquently written closings, instead relying on one-sentence summaries usually given when he interjects that he doesn't understand the "jibber-jabber" or "poopycock" that is being spoken to him in plain English.
* {{Squick}}: "The Ass Fat Jungle" is about a plastic surgeon who injects his own ass fat in to women's lips.

* TearJerker: While normally a zany, wacky, funny show, when ''Series/BostonLegal'' decides to make you cry, you are damn well going to cry.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: You might find yourself wondering what, exactly, Denise sees in Brad, after he first tries to sue her for having an abortion after she told him she was considering her options re: her pregnancy (which she didn't end up having, as she'd decided on her own to have his child, and he would've known that if he'd bothered to ''talk'' to her about it), and then outright dismisses the idea that she'll return to work after maternity leave, despite her being very firm about wanting to keep her job. He even has the nerve to insist that no mother ''really'' wants to work. (Tellingly, when she reappears after her baby is born, she has returned to work.) Hell, even as they were ''getting married'', he makes an utter ass of himself, insisting they get married in the hospital room, while she's ''giving labor''... because if they don't, their baby will be born a bastard! (Never mind that Denise is clearly in pain, what with the whole giving labor thing, is in no mood to be dealing with anyone's nonsense, and also blatantly does not care if they're married before or after the kid is born.)

* MostWonderfulSound:

** Shirley [[spoiler: ending the life of her suffering father after a long court battle for the right to do so]] is one of the show's most iconic non-comedy scenes, and for good reason. Overlaps with a strange CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Shirley tells Alan that while she will inevitably have to fire him for ''something'', the way he fought for her in court will make it much harder.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The ''epic'' live performance of "War (What Is It Good For?)", remixed with "Over There", used as anti-war and pro-war testimony, respectively.
-->'''Malcolm:''' And this is why I went to law school.

** [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery Jerry Espenson]], to IRL people with Asperger's Syndrome. While Christian Clemenson is a fine actor, who plays an exceedingly likable character, the character, besides his absurd hopping, purring, and squealing tics, is also for the most part a little too normal in mannerism and speech pattern, which may or may not be especially ironic, since a few of us theorize that an autism spectrum person may have been right under the writers' noses, if you've ever watched any clips of the series' star speaking in real life.

** The pilot deals with a woman who sues casting directors after her African-American daughter was passed over for the title role in ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'', a part traditionally played by a white actress, culminating in an iconic moment in which the Reverend Al Sharpton bursts into the courtroom and demands "Give the world a black Little Orphan Annie!". Ten years later, and ''Annie'' is being remade starring Quvenzhané Wallis, a black actress.

** Katie's purrfect UsefulNotes/BritishAccent.

** Katie's purrfect BritishAccent.

* AuthorTract: Alan Shore's name might as well have been "Author Tract".
* ChubbyChaser: Marlene Stanger. Androgy-Woman Era Sally Heep. Judge Gloria Weldon. That weird middle-aged chick they called 'The Beav' for some reason. Most of the female audience members...season three on.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: More than once. A shining example has to be Brad [[spoiler:accidentally cutting off the hand of a priest with a fire axe -- while impersonating an FBI agent -- and then the priest's cat making off with one of the man's severed fingers, whilst a crowd of nuns scream in shock and horror.]]
** [[spoiler:and when they find the missing finger, they use it to blackmail the priest before giving it back.]]
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: After Denise manages to get a sympathetic client a better settlement than initially offered by bluffing that the amount offered by the other side is unacceptable and threatening to beat them in court for much more, she immediately assures the client that she would never have let that offer actually walk out the door had her bluff been called. It's a very genuine moment that establishes her as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and proves that, despite her cold exterior, she really does care about helping her clients and fighting for what's right.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The ''epic'' live performance of "War (What Is It Good For?)", remixed with "Over There", used as anti-war and pro-war testimony, respectively.
-->'''Malcolm''': And this is why I went to law school.

** The pilot deals with a woman who sues casting directors after her African-American daughter was passed over for the title role in ''{{Theatre/Annie}}'', a part traditionally played by a white actress, culminating in an iconic moment in which the Reverend Al Sharpton bursts into the courtroom and demands "Give the world a black Little Orphan Annie!". Ten years later, and ''Annie'' is being remade starring Quvenzhané Wallis, a black actress.

* HoYay: Lampshaded, subverted, inverted, etc... all by the same two characters. [[spoiler: Up until they got married...]]
** Alan and Denny have declared each other to be "partners" and "soulmates." When Denny asks why their significant others haven't come to get them out of jail (contempt of court), Alan reminds him, "Denny, we ''are'' our significant others." Nobody mentions the Ho Yay because it would be tantamount to pointing at water and saying, "That's wet."
*** They're ''[[InsistentTerminology flamingos]]''.

* TheScrappy: [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery Jerry Espenson]], to IRL people with Asperger's Syndrome. While Christian Clemenson is a fine actor, who plays an exceedingly likable character, the character, besides his absurd hopping, purring, and squealing tics, is also for the most part a little too normal in mannerism and speech pattern, which may or may not be especially ironic, since a few of us theorize that an autism spectrum person may have been right under the writers' noses, if you've ever watched any clips of the series' star speaking in real life.

* {{Squick}}: ''The Ass Fat Jungle'' is about a plastic surgeon who injects his own ass fat in to women's lips.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/JulieBowen, following the success she's had as one of the stars in ''ModernFamily''.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Julie Bowen, following the success she's had as one of the stars in ''ModernFamily''.

** Tara's voice. Holy hell, Rhona Mitra.

* HilariousInHindsight: The pilot deals with a woman who sues casting directors after her African-American daughter was passed over for the title role in ''{{Theatre/Annie}}'', a part traditionally played by a white actress, culminating in an iconic moment in which the Reverend Al Sharpton bursts into the courtroom and demands "Give the world a black Little Orphan Annie!". Ten years later, and ''Annie'' is being remade starring Quvenzhané Wallis, a black actress.

* TearJerker: While normally a zany, wacky, funny show, when ''BostonLegal'' decides to make you cry, you are damn well going to cry.

* TheScrappy: [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery Jerry Espenson]], to IRL people with Asperger's Syndrome.