Things got slightly juicier during the second day of Good Morning America’s Ally McBeal reunion after getting through the basics yesterday. Calista Flockhart addressing the “Is Feminism Dead?” Time magazine cover that put her face next to those of Gloria Steinem and Susan B. Anthony: “I think that the point they were trying to make that there wasn’t really a modern feminist woman to look towards. And it, in some way, it was oddly flattering that Ally McBeal was now who we are looking at. However, I also thought: This is a fictional television character, and to compare her with Susan B. Anthony is slightly ludicrous and not really a fair comparison.”
Creator/exec producer David E. Kelley, meanwhile, tackled taking on Robert Downey Jr. — at a time when he was a down-and-out punchline instead of a massive box office star — to in some ways replace the eventually-dead love of Ally’s life, Billy: “Uh, it was pretty difficult. One of the deficits of the great emotional connection between Billy and Ally is: After Billy, then what? And the ‘what’ didn’t come for quite some time until we finally found Robert.” Could’ve used a surprise visit from Downey Jr. to really liven things up, but, hey, we’ll take what we can get.
What did you think, PopWatchers? Did the reunion pique your interest in Ally McBeal again? (If so, you’re in luck! It’s — not so coincidentally — now out on DVD!) Anything you wish they’d covered but didn’t in this all-too-quick reunion?
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Maybe the cast of Ally McBeal could join Harrison Ford for another Indiana Jones sequel.
This was really “lite chat.” The TODAY show would have gone a little deeper. One of the problems was that Tom Bergeron is basically a game show host who shouldn’t do
chatfests. Meredith Viera is also a game show hostess but she is better at that.
The show pretty much ended when RDJr. left. He was perfect for the show. It was so sad when he broke his probation and had to be written out.
Larry NEVER would have left Ally. I’m still mad at Downey Jr. to this day for making Larry leave Ally.
I agree. The show turned to crap after he left – surely the writers could have come up with something better than they did, but still. Now that he’s a Big Star again (and of course the others might not be interested) it’s probably too late to hope for a reunion episode in which they right the atrocious wrongs of the fifth season (*shudder*) but I live in hope.
I’m a BIG fan of Robert Downey Jr’s brilliant film work, but I honestly believe the best work he’s ever done is his one season as Larry Paul.
Seeing Calista Flockhart on the clips they showed from Ally made me remember what a GREAT actress she is. Calista is woefully underused in Brothers & Sisters. While a great ensemble piece in it’s own right, Calista was a star on Ally. I miss seeing her in the limelight.
I missed the part 2 interview and I more concern with what happen to Lisa Nicole Carson and how she doing now?