PERSPECTIVE: FLASHBACK BACKSTORY

I don't think I can convey how excited I am by the prospect of the 'Boston Legal' episode to be shown April 3rd. "Son Of The Defender" will incorporate scenes from the 1957 episode of 'Studio One' entitled "The Defender". That production served as a pilot for the series 'The Defenders' which starred EG Marshall and Robert Reed, although it was Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner in the original.

And now fifty years later, key scenes from that black and white presentation will serve as Denny Crane's flashbacks - with any mention of the characters' original names O'Bviously deleted to maintain the illusion that Shatner is Denny Crane, not Kenneth Preston.

This is not the first time the gimmick of using flashbacks from a past TV show has been used in another TV show. But it could be the first time where the original characters have been renamed to become other characters. (Kenneth Preston becomes Denny Crane; Lawrence Preston becomes the elder Crane.)

On 'Diagnosis Murder', Mike Connors returned to his archetypal gumshoe Joe Mannix to bring full closure to an old 'Mannix' case ("Little Girl Lost"). Also in the "Hard-Boiled Murder" episode were Pernell Roberts and Julie Adams from the original, playing the same roles they did years earlier.

'Murder, She Wrote' went the same route for an episode, but drew instead from a more off-beat production - an example of film noir called "Strange Bargain". In "The Days Dwindle Down", Jessica Fletcher got to interact with three of the actors from that movie reprising their original roles: Jeffrey Lynn, Martha Scott, and the legendary Harry Morgan.

(According to the IMDb.com, about one third of the footage from this episode came from the movie!)

This was yet another post about this upcoming episode of 'Boston Legal'. Between now and April 3rd, I wouldn't be surprised if I have at least two more "Inner Toob" entries about it.

Definitely there will be more once the episode airs!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby