There was a time, towards the end of the school, when I had half an idea of being a lawyer. The divorcee, to be accurate.
It seemed like a safe job. A profession accepted by the society and above all lucrative given the exponential number of separations!
But then the idea of studying Latin for other five years, discouraged me a bit, having seen a real civil trial, long, boring, absolutely different from the sparkling and adventurous image that the TV gave, it drove me to change direction.
The truth is that I had been highly influenced by the appearance, by the lustre that the profession has always had through the media, in which they are authoritarian, beautiful, very busy people, who deal with symbolic, important, difficult cases. No TV series has ever shown lawyers discuss the price of a repair in the condominium whatever. Even in that case you always discover something bigger behind, the condominium at least is the secret refuge of a gang of drug dealers …
A trial in fiction, between twists, surprise witnesses, corrupt judges … is always something captivating, but, in its bare reality, it is one of the most boring things I’ve ever seen. Hours and hours of words in bureaucrat, of questions, always the same ones asked indefinitely, and of confused, broken-up answers.
But who is it that actually remembers where he was and what he did on 8 October 1976 ???? Come on!
Unless they’re given like September 11, 2001, the statements are unlikely to be so perfect. I barely remember what I ate yesterday for dinner!
Let’s add that one of my favourite TV lawyers is completely crazy! So perhaps I already unconsciously knew quite well that the mediated profession and the real one did not match. Also, because if we were defended by the Cage & Fish studio we would not come out of our minds …. Between personal intrigues, visions, voices in the head and secrets, it is already a lot if they remember having a client.
Who am I talking about? Didn’t you really get it?
Well, of ALLY MCBEAL, of course!!!!
“The fact that everything that went through Ally’s head was shown on the screen (her own thoughts are expressed aloud) and non-sense comedy contributed significantly to the popularity of the series.” Says Wikipedia, but for me it’s not just that.
It’s that Ally is one of us!
Clumsy enough to make her delightful, loosened but not too much, eccentric but determined at work.
And then the soundtrack of Barry White *, the one that helped us to lovethis series!!!
*
Compared to all the other versions of television legal-drama, Ally McBeal has the tones of the real comedy, there is no morality as in Law & Order, nor a political vein as in The Good Wife, there are no intrigues as in HTGAWM, but the comic times of the Nineties, which make this TV series almost vintage now. Yet it remains one of my favourites, 
although watching it on TV has been a struggle with the constant movement of the channel, time, season! In Italy they have underestimated it at that time, while in America it is a true cult show and the maxims of the first actors are mentioned almost everywhere; in particular those of Richard, defined by Fishisms himself and those of Ally, called McBealisms. Robert Downey Jr. appeared in the series, replaced by Jon Bon Jovi for drug problems, Matthew Perry, Mariah Carey, Elton John and Sting who acted in small roles. Everyone wanted to be part of the show !!!
Since it is now possible to drink it in one breath like a coffe*e, I suggest you to prepare some tasty New York bagels **, lie on the sofa and do a binge-watching on the lazy mornings of spring Sundays, because Ally is absolutely a spring girl , with her imperfect loves, gaffes, daydreams, the enchanted and enchanting New York of the golden age (before the crisis!), the karaoke at the bar under the law firm, the gossip with Elaine!
Unfortunately, being a lawyer in reality is not so fun and I don’t think there is time for all these jokes and drinks between colleagues but seeing Ally McBeal always reminds me of my little parenthesis, I like it, it always gives me the idea of having a plan B … or at least the idea of writing myself a legal TV series, in its wake. Also because, unfortunately, the series was cancelled brusquely, therefore the ending, like many before this, is disappointing….
but don’t be discouraged because there are 5 wonderful seasons with which to laugh, laugh, and cry, and then laugh, laugh, laugh again …
** New York style bagel
(the recipe is taken from an Expo 2015 recipe book)
Ingredients for 5 bagels:
– 375g of flour 0
– 190ml of warm water
– 1/2 sachet of brewer’s yeast powder
– 1 tablespoon of potato starch
– 2 spoons of honey
– 2 tablespoons of olive oil
– black sesame seeds
– fine salt
For the stuffing:
– 200g of smoked salmon
– 160g of cream cheese
– dill
Method:
We mix the flour, baking powder and half a tablespoon of salt together, apart from mixing the water with the oil and 1 tablespoon of honey.
We combine the two compounds together and knead until a firm and homogeneous dough is obtained.
We divide the dough into five parts and give each the shape of a ball.
We make a sausage about 25cm long from each ball, then flatten one of the two ends.
We wrap the flattened end around the other end and seal the dough well until a closed donut is obtained.
We lay the bagels so obtained on a tray lined with parchment paper and let them rise at room temperature for about 1h, after having covered them with plastic wrap.
In a saucepan, boil 3l of water with a spoonful of honey, a spoonful of starch and two spoons of salt.
We dip the leavened bagels in boiling water two at a time and boil them for 1 ‘, then turn them on the other side and let them boil for 30 “.
Drain them with a slotted spoon and lay them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. We decorate each with black sesame seeds to taste. We turn on the oven at 225 ° C and put a saucepan full of water on the bottom.
When the oven reaches the temperature, we lower it to 210 ° C and bake the bagels for about 25 minutes or until they become golden on the surface.
We transfer the bagels to a wire rack and let them cool.
We work the cream cheese with a fork until it becomes very soft, after which we season it with chopped dill.
We cut the bagels in half: we spread both halves with the dill-flavored cheese and we will make each bagel with two slices of smoked salmon.
L’ha ripubblicato su Thr0ugh The Mirr0re ha commentato:
The truth is that I had been highly influenced by the appearance, by the lustre that the profession has always had through the media, in which they are authoritarian, beautiful, very busy people, who deal with symbolic, important, difficult cases. No TV series has ever shown lawyers discuss the price of a repair in the condominium whatever.
"Mi piace""Mi piace"