Ally McBeal - Season 4 Part 1 [1998]

Other highlights include a quirky romance for John ("Reason to Belive"), a charity auction leading to an all male fan-club for John ("Love on Holiday") and a romantic connection for Mark--though the recipient of his affection may have hidden more than he bargained for. Unfortunately the series was outshone by the real-life drama of Calista Flockhart's and Downey's rocky relationship along with Downey's drugs convictions. Even though he won a Golden Globe for his performance, he ultimately had to be dropped from the series.

On the DVD: Not much on offer here for Ally's début into the DVD market. The individual episode menu does offer a language selection of French and English and the subtitles for the Netherlands and French. You also have the option to select chapters from the specific episodes, along with a "previously on Ally McBeal..." for that little reminder of whom Ally is dating now. Although standard for a TV DVD release, the 1.33:1 aspect ratio and 2.0 Dolby sound is disappointing for a television series which offers ground-breaking use of special effects. --Nikki Disney

Customer reviews:

The Best Series Of Ally McBeal EVER!!, 2003-01-29
This is by far the best series of Ally McBeal ever made. Robert Downey Jnr makes a welcome addition to the cast as Larry Paul. In fact, the series was axed shortly after Downey was dropped from the show, as ratings had fallen so dramatically.

The difference I found about this series, is that Ally has found her true love and for a while, though still thoroughly neurotic, manages to believe in herself and 'love'. She is serenaded on several occasions by the luscious Larry, who is, incidentally, a fantastic singer.

This is the best series ever, for several reasons. It has lots of cameo appearances, including Anastacia, Taye Diggs and Sting, who performs a fantastic duet with Robert Downey Jnr.

All in all, this is is definitely worth every penny and will be watched countless times. I defy anyone to try and watch this without a little tear trickling from their eye! If only Larry had stuck around.....

Do you believe in life after Billy?, 2002-07-15
Of course! Let's face it, Billy was boring and only really became fun when he developed a brain tumour - not much of a long-term storyline! Now that he's gone, however, it means his lovely wife Georgia has left too and the entire dynamics of life at Cage & Fish have shifted. Can the show retain its magic? The answer is a resounding yes, in a great season which has lots for just about everyone to do.

The big news I suppose is Ally and Larry. Ally's just the same as ever, and her hair continues its downward spiral from the second season. Larry, however, is an interesting new boyfriend, being decidedly less bland than his predecessors. At first he is to be despised simply for usurping the office of the wonderful and much-missed quack Dr. Tracy (although he seems to have retained her fondness for remote-controlled gadgets), but a few verbal badminton matches with Ally later and he's firmly in place as a member of the Cage & Fish family.

This is a big year for both John and Richard, our beloved senior partners, who have a great number of storylines in both this half of the season and the second part. The season in fact could be dubbed the Lives and Loves of John Cage, as he has not one, not two, not three, but four (if I remember correctly) relationships in this series! In this box set we meet his delightful friend Maureen, and (my personal favourites of all the show's guest characters) the inspired duo of Kimmy & Mommy Bishop. They are both tragic and hilarious - at first we laugh at them, but they soon endear themselves to us as well as John. (Don't forget - if you enojyed Kimmy here, she makes a small one-episode return next season! Woohoo!) In this half of the season, Cage also meets the woman who is possibly the love of his life: the Tourette's-ridden Melanie, a character who not only bounces wonderfully of John's own eccentricities, but provides ample scope for some of the show's very non-PC humour, especially from characters like Richard, Ling and Nelle. (Melanie: "He spanked you." Nelle: "Perhaps he ought to spank you, that way we'd know if you could take a licking and keep on [imitates Melanie's Tourretsian jerking] ticcing.")

Speaking of Ling and Nelle, there's very little for them to do in this season. Everyone seems to have forgiven our favourite blonde glacier for trying to bankrupt the firm last season, and so she's free to let her hair down and have a few one-episode storylines involving an unusual date and her equally unusual father, who makes one immediately understand why she was so forgiving of John's eccentric tendencies. Ling is left mostly hanging around this half of the season, which is bad enough; in the next half it gets worse as she gets a storyline with newcomer Jackson Duper which is beneath her character. No wonder Lucy Liu decided this would be her last complete year on the show.

Other characters like Elaine and Renee continue to entertain in the background, while last season's addition, Mark, finally gets a storyline--and what a storyline! His relationship with client Cindy (the actress who was the call girl on the first season of the West Wing - the looks this woman must get in the street!) is sweet, sad and full of comic potential for the other characters, particularly Richard, whose homophobia, introduced the previous year, escalates to new heights.

This season has some memorable routines, such as John's rock number at the bar, Elaine singing 'Tomorrow' from Annie (with a delighted Kimmy & Mommy in the audience - hilarious), Richard and Ling 'singing' a number at the bar and the second best unisex Barry White routine in the series, involving John, Jackson and Larry (though that's on the next box set).

The only criticisms I can make is of the poor treatment of Ling and the typically horrendous stereotyping of the English which soon becomes apparent in the character of Brian (in the first episode). He's English, so of course we all knew it wouldn't be too long before he manifested himself as dull, passionless and sexually inadequate. Nice, Mr. Kelley.

Apart from these minor grievances, this is another spectacular year at Cage & Fish. It's a bit of a come-down after the climax of the twin stories of Billy's illness and Nelle's deception at the end of last year, but it doesn't take long to get back into the way of day to day life at the firm. Enjoy!