Watch Order
0 / 2 watchedParent series then spinoff in airdate order.
About The Practice
David E. Kelley created The Practice around the Boston firm of Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt, later Young, Frutt and Berluti. It aired on ABC from March 4, 1997 to May 16, 2004 for 167 episodes across 8 seasons and won Outstanding Drama Series in 1998 and 1999. Season 8 reshaped the cast around James Spader as Alan Shore, with Rhona Mitra as Tara Wilson and William Shatner as Denny Crane.
Boston Legal picked up that trio at Crane, Poole and Schmidt and ran on ABC from October 3, 2004 to December 8, 2008 for 101 episodes across 5 seasons. Watch all of The Practice first, then Boston Legal straight through. The handoff happens at the end of season 8, so the spinoff assumes you know who Shore is and why he left.
Good to know
Release order and story order match, so no chronological reorder is needed. The only bridge to respect is the season 8 finale into the Boston Legal pilot, with Shore and Wilson hired by the new firm after Young, Frutt and Berluti dissolves. Tone shifts from grim procedural to lighter character comedy, but continuity stays linear. Skip around and the Shore arc loses its setup.
