I will be taping this, as it’s starting here, PST, at 9:30 and I don’t want to interrupt my viewing of House.
Auberjonois is gone, I believe, as are several others from previous seasons.
Otherwise, it’s the open road as far as I can recall. The adventures of the flamingoes continue.
Is it just me or is the new lawyer British? 
They got rid of the people I don’t like and added Dan Fielding. Things are looking up.
The new Lawyer, or the actress who plays her, appears to be from London, England.
I reached my TV limit with about 30 minutes left in the show, and Tivo was recording Damages, so if someone could say how it turned out, it’d be appreciated.
I’m guessing that Alan had one too many trysts in the elevator and got caught, that the husband did the murder, and that Sack (? Laroquette’s character) let Clarence do the contest but said he’d be fired if they didn’t win. I don’t really care how Shirley’s case turned out.
Loved Alan and Denny comparing their streams. And getting caught at it. I like the new British lawyer (especially that the actress left her nose alone! That bump is cute!). I also like that Brad’s not really gone.
dammit, I missed it. and, coupled w/the fact I missed the season finale, I’m really bummed. anyone give me a synopses of the finale please? and/or PM me w/the season opener info???/
I’m guessing that Alan had one too many trysts in the elevator and got caught,
Two, um, “encounters” in the elevator, no consequence as yet.
that the husband did the murder,
Case has not gone to trial yet.
and that Sack (? Laroquette’s character) let Clarence do the contest but said he’d be fired if they didn’t win.
Did let Clarence perform, and showed up for it. No consequences as yet.
I don’t really care how Shirley’s case turned out.
Alan’s rant, as usual, had almost nothing to do with the case and the judge found in favor of Shirley, as usual.
(I’ll add) Denny’s case
Alan’s pet judge told, very firmly, the prosecutor and undercover cop to drop it.
I like the new lady lawyer (as if a big firm would hire a just-out-of-school punk and put her on the main floor) and Jerry is wonderful as always. The balcony scene was disappointing. The whole episode was not one of the best, IMHO, but it’s great to have them back.
Shirley looks terrible. There are stroke rumors all over the 'net, which have been denied–the official story is that she spent a few days in the hospital for high blood pressure tests–maybe it’s just the medication.
I on the other hand was tivo-blocked during the first 30 minutes do to my desire to tivo two other shows and punish BL for pulling the 1.5 hour episode trick! Can anyone summarize how the episode started? I got the gist of the issue in Shirly’s case (big money influencing academia) but it wasn’t clear to me exactly what her involvement was. What happened to Clarence’s girlfriend lawyer? What happened to Brad’s baby momma? What happened to Odo? Why was Nightcourt guy brought in, and when did he start dating Shirely? Anything else I missed?
NoCoolUserName, thanks!
Jack, I was flipping back and worth between BL and The War (while the Tivo was doing Reaper), so I didn’t catch all of the first 30 minutes.
I don’t recall any mention of Claire (Clarence’s girlfriend), and I don’t remember under what circumstances she left. She’s been on Entourage as a rival of Ari’s.
I think Shirley’s involvement in the academia case was that she’d made a big pledge and wanted to rescind it.
Don’t know about Brad’s babymomma (Denise) but from last season, I’m remembering that she decided to be a stay-at-home mom for awhile.
Who’s Odo? Did you mean Jeffrey Coho? Or was that Rene A.'s character name? No clue.
Larroquette is there because it’s a new season. 
His character was explained as being head honcho of the New York branch of Crane Pool & Schmidt. Apparently he had a prior relationship with Shirley. And Denny. Not sure about Alan.
Odo is Rene A’s character name from a Star Trek franchise (I’m not enough of a geek to know which one, though, I hasten to point out)
damn coding
Odo was on Deep Space Nine.
Speaking of Trek…John Larroquette played a Klingon named Maltz, I believe, in ST3, TSFS.
I love that Christian Clemensen is now a regular on the show.
Saffron Burrows is the British woman.
I lost the last half hour because I pulled the plug absent-mindedly on the VCR when I went to bed. What happened ?
I feel the subtractions and additions to the cast will make the show more watchable. I don’t miss Denise, and Brad is OK in small doses so it will be fun to have him lose cases all the time as a prosecutor!
LOVE LOVE LOVE John Laroquette being added to the cast. He really can do no wrong in my book!
The British lawyer is OK so far, I just hope she develops another personality trait other than just “nice blonde girl”.
I liked Clarence standing up for himself…next in line will probably be Hands once he gets told he cannot hop anymore or something.
The scene with Denny and Shirley where he sang “You are my sunshine” brought tears to my eyes it was so sweet.
I just love this show, I’m so happy it is back!!
Saffron Burrows IS a British woman but she played the woman who was opposing council to Alan Shore (elevator lady).
The new British attorney at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt that is the council for the alleged rapist/murderer is played by Tara Summers
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I love this show and the season opener was great!
This is David Kelley at his best - and the cast is excellent. Glad to see they change out characters every so often, although I wish Betty White would come back and she was a kick in every scene.
Although I was surprised that James Spader won another Emmy for the show (and it looked like he was equally surprised), he is simply great in every scene.
Glad to see the new season start so well.
Oh, and AuntiePam, regarding the conflict with Damages (another great show) I solved it by taping the second airing of the show. At least here on the West Coast they show it twice, back to back, so I simply changed my DVR to record it during the second airing which starts at 11:00 PM out here.
See my spoilers above. Any other points? Did you want more detail?
I think he was surprised too. I read on a blog that the Sopranos crowd started clapping and rising when they heard James –
Aha! And I could move The Daily Show to one of the later airings. Yeah, that’d work. Thanks!
Nope, that will do. Thanks!
I must say that I found Sack’s calling Clarence “son” rather demeaning.
I did, too. But then I noticed the white hair and cut some slack. OTOH, Clarence can probably sue and win. But then, of course, he’d never get another job at any law firm.
I finally got to watch the show. I like Sack, I just kind of wish they could have had some fun with it and actually have John Laroquette actually be Dan Fielding 20 years later.
I liked most of the changes. The new female attorney looks like an interesting character. It should be interesting having Brad as a DA. John Larroquette is an inspired choice to head the firm, but I hope his character retains an edge and doesn’t become too nice.
However, these political subtext/rant plotlines have GOT to go. The global warming thing was painful. Alan has no evidence that any evidence has been suppressed or research tained. An expert witness says it isn’t. So he goes on a general rant about how all corporations are blooduckers raping the earth, and THAT wins the case? WTF? Politics aside, that was just weak.