You know, I gave up watching lawyer shows on TV some time ago. I think it was "Ally McBeal" that really did it to me. Now it's another David Kelley show, "Boston Legal." I happened to catch an episode [TIVO's playing it back as I blog], and it is so insulting for lawyers, as well as the poor audience that might actually think lawyers act this way, that I'm just disgusted.

Now, I didn't see the whole episode, but apparently a four year old got kidnapped, so two associates of this fictional firm masquerade as FBI agents, abduct a person with knowledge about the kidnapping, truss him up, threaten torture, violate every constitutional right the guy might have had, and get information from him. Then -- if that's not bad enough -- they go to a suspect's priest, and in an effort to get him to violate his confessional confidentiality, misrepresent themselves as federal officers, threaten him with a fraudulently fake search warrant, threaten to knock down the priest's door with an axe, and when the priest puts his hand up to stop them, they cut off three of the priest's fingers! Still with me? THEN, they blackmail him at the hospital by refusing to give him back one of his severed fingers until he breaks his vow of confidentiality. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the firm's managing partner knew what these two lawyers were up to, and turned a blind eye to it.

Oh. My. God.

This insult to my intelligence was like a law school ethics question -- how many ways to get not only disbarred, but hell, arrested and prosecuted for multiple felonies? I suppose I should laugh about it like I did with "The Verdict," but I just can't. People believe this crap. I know they want it controversial, but can't they do it without making the lawyers look like the biggest bunch of lawbreakers, crooks, and generally bad people since Jesse James?

UPDATE: OK, here's a wild contrast: on AMC is "To Kill A Mockingbird." Atticus is very cool