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| The Practice News - April 2003 |
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Kelley
Preps for End of 'Practice'
TV Producer Kelley Splits with Talent Firm
"The Practice" may exit with "Goodbye"
Season finale written to double as a series finale.
'Goodbye' script not
good news for 'Practice' fans
David Kelley went onto the set of The Practice to explain to the cast
and crew that the script titled "Goodbye" might be the show's last
episode, the New York Post reports. Ratings have plunged since ABC moved
the drama from Sunday to Monday night, and network brass might ask Kelley
to accept a reduction at upcoming contract talks in how much it pays for
the show. "David Kelley wrote a script that could serve as both a season
and series finale -- if needed," his spokeswoman, Stacey Luchs, said.
"While it is true that David did in fact visit the set of The Practice
once the script was distributed, he did so to 'pre-empt' any concerns that
the cast and crew members might have, given the script's title, 'Goodbye.'
" Sources said the script has Bobby, the main character played by Dylan
McDermott, quitting the firm and leaving his wife.
***************
The Practice (Mondays, WKRN,
Channel 2, 8 p.m.) was once a critically acclaimed drama, one of the
few quality shows on the floundering ABC network. But the last two
seasons have been rough ones, and now the program is on the critical
list. Part of the problem in past seasons was that creator and main
writer David E. Kelley was dividing his time between this and other
shows such as Ally McBeal, but last year he pledged to devote
full attention to The Practice. ABC didn't help matters any
this year by shifting the program away from Sundays, where it had been
a ratings giant much of its tenure, to Mondays, where audience share
dwindled almost immediately.
Of course, any program in its seventh season has already exceeded all
expectations, particularly a legal drama. The Practice may
simply be running out of gas. It is syndicated on independent stations
and also runs daily on FX. ABC's latest stunt to save the show is
airing back-to-back episodes, including some that previously got
bumped due to war coverage. Whether it will survive to see an eighth
season is anybody's guess, but if it doesn't, The Practice will
live on in reruns for many, many years
Is this the end of The Practice?
Happy birthday to David E Kelley who celebrated his 47th birthday on
April 4th.
Producer David E. Kelley received a Peabody for a single episode of
"Boston Public" for its "highly charged exploration" of a racial
epithet in the classroom.
Kelley ankles rep company
Agencies angling for producer post-Endeavor
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Kelley
David E. Kelley is ankling Endeavor, his longtime home for TV and film
representation.
While Kelley has not signed with another agency yet, it's expected he
will do so in the near future. Several tenpercenteries have already
made overtures to the Kelley camp in the wake of widespread
speculation that Kelley would be exiting Endeavor.
Scribe/producer will continue to be managed by Marty Adelstein, his
former Endeavor agent, as well as attorney Michael Gendler. Adelstein
ankled the tenpercentery last year to head up Original with Neal
Moritz.
Relations between Adelstein and some key Endeavor partners have been
strained since Adelstein's exit, though it's unclear to what extent --
or even whether -- that played a role in Kelley's departure. Kelley is
said to maintain close personal relationships with several Endeavor
agents, and the parting appears to be amicable.
An Endeavor spokesman said Kelley's exit "was not an unexpected
occurrence."
"David has been a ... valued client since the beginning," the rep
said. "He is not only a great talent but a gentleman and loyal friend
as well."
Kelley's exit comes at a key time for the producer and his company,
David E. Kelley Prods. His ABC drama "The Practice" has not yet been
renewed for next season, though all indications are that the Alphabet
net is interested in picking the show up, albeit at a reduced license
fee to 20th Century Fox TV and David E. Kelley Prods. (Daily Variety,
Jan. 9).
In addition, Kelley's megabucks deal with 20th Century Fox TV is set
to expire within the next two years.
Kelley is now working on a CBS drama pilot about a family of brothers
living in New Hampshire. His last skein, the Fox hour "Girls Club,"
disappeared after a few weeks last fall.
Scribe's other current drama, Fox's "Boston Public," is likely to be
back next fall.
TV Producer Kelley Splits with Talent Firm
Mon Apr 14,10:13 AM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters TV to My Yahoo!
By Cynthia Littleton
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Endeavor lost one of its A-listers on
Friday when TV producer David E. Kelley ("The Practice") formally ended
his relationship with the agency after nearly eight years.
Kelley will continue to be managed by his longtime reps, Marty Adelstein
and attorney Michael Gendler. Adelstein declined to comment for this
story, but it's understood that Kelley plans to take his time in weighing
whether he needs to sign with a new agency.
Nonetheless, his departure from Endeavor is sure to set off a free-for-all
among Hollywood's top literary agents. Despite his recent struggles with
the short-lived Fox drama "girls club," Kelley remains one of the
small-screen's most prestigious and bankable stars.
Kelley's decision to leave Endeavor had been coming for some time, sources
said, and agency chiefs were not surprised by the news. Kelley's
production banner and 20th Century Fox TV are in the thick of negotiations
involving Kelley's Fox drama "Boston Public (news - Y! TV)" and ABC's "The
Practice," which has had a rocky run this season, and sources said Kelley
decided it was time to streamline his representation team.
"David has been a trusted friend and valued client of Endeavor since the
beginning. He is not only a great talent but a gentleman and a loyal
friend as well," the agency said in a statement. "We will continue to root
for his success."
Indeed, Kelley was one of the marquee clients that put Endeavor on the map
when it was formed in 1995. Kelley signed with the agency less than a year
after it was founded when Adelstein left CAA to become an Endeavor
partner. Kelley has been with Adelstein since 1986, when the one-time
Boston lawyer turned his attention to Hollywood and soon after got a job
as a writer on Steven Bochco's NBC drama "L.A. Law." Adelstein left
Endeavor in early 2002 to form the management-production partnership
dubbed Original with producer Neal Moritz.
In addition to "The Practice" and "Boston Public," Kelley is currently
working on a family ensemble drama pilot for CBS, "The Brotherhood of
Poland, N.H."
Reuters/VNU
ABC's law drama The Practice may not be coming
back next year. It's the show's first year on the bubble, though it's
in its seventh season. The show has seen a steady ratings slide this year,
and it is ABC's most expensive series at $6.5 million an episode. The
show's future depends partly on whether ABC can negotiate a new (and
probably cheaper) contract with producer David E. Kelley and 20th Century
Fox Television.
***
Producer of `Practice' unhappy
Monday night slot proves a tough one for the legal drama
LISA DE MORAES
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - There's a big fight going on between David E. Kelley and ABC
over the network's decision to move Kelley's drama series "The Practice"
to 9 p.m. Mondays, where it's tanking.
Kelley has penned an episode that will star thespian Leslie Moonves, who
when not playing Himself on various TV shows -- which he does about once a
year -- is the president of ABC's rival, CBS.
On Wednesday, ABC announced it had reshuffled episodes of "The Practice"
so as to broadcast the "Les is More" episode on April 7, which just
happens to be the night Moonves' network will air the
sure-to-be-highly-rated NCAA men's basketball championship game.
Last year's game averaged nearly 24 million viewers.
We wondered how Moonves felt about the fact that his very own network was
going to crush what will possibly be the best performance of Himself in
his career; we called him for comment.
Moonves was too busy, what with development season being in full throttle.
But we did hear from his spokesman.
"It's pretty shocking that an episode featuring an actor with the resume
of Mr. Moonves would be broadcast out of sweeps," he joked.
In case you were wondering -- we certainly were -- how a legal drama set
in Boston could handle a story line about the Los Angeles-based head of a
TV network being taken hostage by a deranged women who then tries to sell
the whole thing to CBS as a reality show ending with the possible
execution of Moonves, here's how: According to ABC, this troubled woman,
played by the stunning Andie MacDowell, hires the firm's Jimmy Berluti,
played by Michael Badalucco, "to handle a peculiar negotiation -- which
involves Les Moonves -- on her behalf."
ABC confirmed that Sandy Grushow, who oversees another ABC rival, the Fox
network, also has a cameo on the show. No sign of any suits from ABC on
the show or from NBC, despite previous reports that Kelley might offer NBC
Entertainment chief Jeff Zucker a role.
Kelley is pretty miffed with ABC for having moved "The Practice" from
Sunday nights to Monday, where it was crushed by Fox's reality hit "Joe
Millionaire."
We know this because not long after that move, Kelley suggested to trade
paper Variety that it would be folly "to try to guess what's in (ABC
execs') heads because that would start with the presumption that there's
something" in them.
Since "Joe" wrapped, "The Practice" is still limping along, wedged between
two low-rated freshman dramas, one of which ("Veritas") the network has
pulled.
A spokeswoman for Kelley recently insisted the "Les is More" episode had
no bearing on Kelley's relationship with ABC, or with CBS or Fox. Kelley
is doing his next series for Moonves at CBS, and Grushow, in addition to
overseeing Fox, also heads 20th Century Fox TV, where Kelley's company is
based.
The spokeswoman said that the episode is only about examining a topical
phenomenon -- which, she said, is entirely consistent with the history of
"The Practice."
That topical phenomenon is the proliferation of reality TV series, which
Kelley spoke about recently when he was feted by the Writers Guild of
America.
By the time the episode airs, much of the reality programming on ABC that
made Kelley nuts will be gone. "I'm a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!" has
wrapped, the network pulled "The Family" and "Profiles From the Front
Line," and it will dump the final two episodes of "Are You Hot?" on a
Saturday night next month.
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