Boston Legal: Desperately Seeking Shirley

(S03E03) Okay, after watching the first five minutes of this week's Boston Legal I have come to the conclusion that Jeffrey Coho is definitely the new Alan Shore, or at least his younger-looking identical twin. I came to this decision after the very first scene where he confronts Judge Brian Hooper, whose wife was shown murdered last episode. His inflections, his syntax, even his mannerisms all feel like Alan's. Not complaining, mind you, since Alan's tactics have, for lack of a better word, matured over the last three seasons. So, another maverick is welcome at Crane, Poole and Schmidt.

All right, let's move forward to murder, postnuptials, and The Badger.

Tom Selleck was back this week as Ivan Tigs, ex-husband of Shirley Schmidt. Selleck is both charming and sleazy at the same time. That being said, he's likable in a boyish sort of way. And, he and Candice have a connection on screen. This episode was no exception, as their on-again, off-again relationship finally came to a conclusion, which was that Shirley and Ivan would never be together again. I hope that this doesn't mean that Selleck can't return.

We also revisited Denny Crane's pending complaint from a jilted little person. This actually turned out differently than I thought it would as Bethany Horowitz, otherwise known as The Badger, agreed to settle her complaint only if she could use Crane's resources to settle her own case. In the end, Denny decided to assist The Badger in her trial. What really interested me is the fact that he was actually gracious to Horowitz, and even less disgusting than normal. It was good to see Shatner in this role, since the only time we usually hear him hold a conversation is at the end of the show. Granted, he made up for his graciousness during his weekly conversation with Alan, expressing interest on whether or not The Badger was really one in bed. In a running joke from last week, Horowitz heard everything said, but Denny didn't know until he looked down. Very amusing.

The on-going murder case actually took a back burner to other plot lines this week, but there was one important person introduced . . . Ethan Phillips as Scott Little's father. Now, while Ethan's role was small, it probably put Boston Legal in some kind of history book for the most former Star Trek actors on a first-run program. In addition to series regulars William Shatner (James Kirk from the original series) and Rene Auberjonois (Odo on Deep Space Nine), also appearing this week were Phillips (Neelix on Voyager) and Armin Shimerman (Quark on Deep Space Nine). For a geek this was wonderful.

One more thing to mention about this week's episode is the appearance of Curtis Armstrong, lovingly known as Booger from the Revenge of the Nerds movie series and Herb Viola on Moonlighting. If you didn't hear the voice you may not have recognized him. Gone is the chubby face and tussled hair we've all got to know. Here he was thin, had short hair, and was bearded. And, he plays a serious role as Scott Little's therapist.

That's all this time around. Next week: Odo and Quark, together again