History YMMV / ThePractice

* MagnificentBastard: Alan Shore, to such an extent that he functionally ''destroys the titular firm''. In the span of one season, he gets hired by Dole, Young and Frutt, proves to be exactly as ethically questionable as they are (yet displays far more moral character in protecting clients), is tossed out by said firm in a ''very'' questionable move by Eugene, and functionally takes them all to task in court, not only winning millions of dollars in a jury decision, but so thoroughly tarnishing Eugene, Jimmy and Ellenor's professional reputation that they're forced to seek other work in an attempt to repair their careers. Alan himself ends the series with the best circumstance out of any of the leads, working at a new law firm and with a budding relationship with Sally.

* CareerResurrection: While not completely dead, by early 2004, Creator/WilliamShatner was mostly doing TV commercials and films where he'd mock his Captain Kirk role. His turn as Denny Crane won his first-ever Emmy Award and led to a new wave of popularity that'd he'd build in the spin-off series and prove he would be remembered for more than just Captain Kirk.

* BrokenBase: The {{Retool}} in the final season caused this. While most seem to agree that it stemmed the declining plots that had marked the later seasons, there's still a lot of debate as to whether Alan Shore and the additional law firm was needed. Some enjoyed the fact that there were finally characters who embraced their roles as [[AmoralAttorney amoral attorneys]] and were fun to watch, while others thought Alan was a SmugSnake and didn't like the fact that the main cast were basically sidelined for the majority of it, in favor of Alan and Denny's antics.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases. The existence of this phenomenon has even been cited by some staff members in the eighth season (including James Spader himself, who has commented in interviews that he was expressly hired to "destroy" the show), which sees a character introduced who not only proves himself to be just as unethical as the main characters -- albeit in a far more nuanced fashion, and with many redeeming qualities -- but the entirety of the firm gets called out on their behavior when Alan tells a jury that it's pretty rich for a firm to claim ignorance and moral superiority when they've knowingly defended (and let free) rapists and murderers for years, repeatedly emphasizes this fact, and so thoroughly takes them to task that the firm is forced to disband (and its partners forced to seek other employment) in the hope of salvaging their reputations. It also helped that, unlike the other characters, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt Alan at least admits]] that he needs to be unethical to a degree (at least, in terms of everyday ethics as opposed to legal ethics) to effectively do his job.

* SeasonalRot: It's commonly agreed that the later seasons are this, as the moral righteousness of the main cast slowly deteriorated.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases. The existence of this phenomenon has even been cited by some staff members in the eighth season (including James Spader himself, who has commented in interviews that he was expressly hired to "destroy" the show), which sees a character introduced who not only proves himself to be just as unethical as the main characters -- albeit in a far more nuanced fashion, and with many redeeming qualities -- but the entirety of the firm gets called out on their behavior when Alan tells a jury that it's pretty rich for a firm to claim ignorance and moral superiority when they've knowingly defended (and let free) rapists and murderers for years, repeatedly emphasizes this fact, and so thoroughly takes them to task that the firm is forced to disband (and its partners forced to seek other employment) in the hope of salvaging their reputations. It also helped that, unlike the other characters, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt Alan at least admits]] that he needs to be unethical to a degree to effectively do his job.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases. The existence of this phenomenon has even been cited by some staff members in the eighth season (including James Spader himself, who has commented in interviews that he was expressly hired to "destroy" the show), which sees a character introduced who not only proves himself to be just as unethical as the main characters -- albeit in a far more nuanced fashion, and with many redeeming qualities -- but the entirety of the firm gets called out on their behavior when Alan tells a jury that it's pretty rich for a firm to claim ignorance and moral superiority when they've knowingly defended (and let free) rapists and murderers for years, repeatedly emphasizes this fact, and so thoroughly takes them to task that the firm is forced to disband (and its partners forced to seek other employment) in the hope of salvaging their reputations.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases. The existence of this phenomenon has even been cited by some staff members in the eighth season (including James Spader himself, who has commented in interviews that he was expressly hired to "destroy" the show), which sees a character introduced who not only proves himself to be just as unethical as the main characters -- albeit in a far more nuanced fashion, and with many redeeming qualities -- but the entirety of the firm gets called out on their behavior when Alan tells a jury that it's pretty rich for a firm to claim ignorance when they've knowingly defended (and let free) rapists and murderers for years, repeatedly emphasizes this fact, and so thoroughly takes them to task that the firm is forced to disband (and its partners forced to seek other employment) in the hope of salvaging their reputations.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases.

* CareerRessurection: While not completely dead, by early 2004, Creator/WilliamShatner was mostly doing TV commercials and films where he'd mock his Captain Kirk role. His turn as Denny Crane won his first-ever Emmy Award and led to a new wave of popularity that'd he'd build in the spin-off series and prove he would be remembered for more than just Captain Kirk.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases.

* SeasonalRot: It's commonly agreed that the later seasons are this, as the moral righteousness of the main cast slowly deteriorated and DarknessInducedAudienceApathy fully kicked in.

* TomHanksSyndrome: To comedienne Camryn Manheim.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Not at first, but as the moral integrity of the firm and all the characters degraded, it became clear that you wanted them to lose all their cases.

* MagnificentBastard: Joey Heric, hands down.

* DeaderThanDisco: The legal drama equivalent of ''NYPDBlue''. At its height it was a smartly written, well-acted show with tons of Emmy nominations and wins. Now, it's barely remembered as a footnote in James Spader's career (as well as being difficult to find on home media). It doesn't help that the final season was essentially a set-up for ''Series/BostonLegal'' (which was a bit more irreverent and fun).

* CompleteMonster: Gordon from season 2's "Hide And Seek" [[WouldHurtAChild rapes and murders two boys aged four and five respectively]], before [[ILoveTheDead having sex with their corpses]]. While running from the police, he takes a woman hostage. After his arrest, he agrees to help the cops find the bodies solely so that he can be given a chance at parole in the future, and takes joy in seeing the mother of the boys break down in tears upon seeing their bodies. He later [[ItsAllAboutMe reacts with rage after being denied a possibility of parole]].