How to Get Up to Speed on "The Practice"

Welcome to the other Boston law show. "The Practice" follows the cases and private lives of a group of criminal defense lawyers. Knowing who's who and how they all fit together makes it a lot easier to understand who's fighting which cases.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• VCR Tapes
• VCRs
• Televisions
• Internet Access

1. Meet Bobby (Dylan McDermott), the hard-hitting head of the firm. He is relentless in court, and after a few mishaps, is sorting out his private life. He is living with and engaged to law partner Lindsay.
2. Introduce yourself to Lindsay (Kelli Williams), another of the firm's hard-hitting lawyers. She used to room with assistant district attorney Hellen.
3. Follow the crazy ups and downs of Hellen (Lara Flynn Boyle). Not a member of the firm, but personally tied to a few of the associates there, she constantly faces them in court. She has the unfortunate task of having to take and win high-profile cases as a representative of the state. She has no qualms about not making friends in court and out of it.
4. Meet Hellen's roommate and another lawyer at the firm, Ellenor (Camryn Manheim). She's hard-hitting and doesn't take it from anyone, but will also support people to the bitter end if she believes in them. Sometimes this works against her. Last season had her successfully defending a man accused of cutting the head off a woman. Turns out he really did it.
5. Get to know the other members of the firm: Eugene, Jimmy and Rebecca. Eugene (Steve Harris) is an intense defender who prides himself on his record. Jimmy (Michael Badalucco) is a little more unsure of himself and is in transition from being a small-time lawyer to handling high-profile cases. Rebecca (LisaGay Hamilton) is slowly proving herself at the firm, where she started as a clerk - she went to law school at night, unbeknownst to anyone at the firm. She got her degree, passed the bar and has started trying cases.
6. Get to know Lucy (Mara Sokoloff), the sassy young receptionist, who spends a lot of time butting into the lives and business of everyone at the firm, and little time doing the filing.
7. Understand that although the characters and their personal storylines carry on from one episode to another, the cases addressed in each episode usually have a verdict delivered that hour. The pace of the show is fast and doesn't stay with one character or sequence long enough to become boring.
8. Watch "The Practice" on ABC, Sundays at 10 p.m.