L.A. Law

Overview

L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994.

Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff.

The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.

Episodes

Pilot

S01E01 Pilot

September 15, 1986 7.3 120 min
Becker begins the day dealing with some irate clients and finds himself at the wrong end of a gun; Melman discovers a dead partner; Kuzak finds a creative way to see that justice is done...
Those Lips, That Eye

S01E02 Those Lips, That Eye

October 3, 1986
Kuzak pursues a very attractive deputy district attorney, Grace Van Owen, even though she's engaged to marry the man managing her campaign for a seat on the bench; Perkins is beaten by her drunken husband...
The House of the Rising Flan

S01E03 The House of the Rising Flan

October 10, 1986
Sifuentes is outraged when he learns that the motive behind an invitation to dinner at the Brackman house was to enlist his aid in perpetrating an immigration fraud; Kuzak continues to pursue Van Owen; Perkins...
The Princess and the Wiener King

S01E04 The Princess and the Wiener King

October 17, 1986
McKenzie's disappointment in the greedy law school students whose class he addresses leads him to offer a clerkship to a student who appears to be more socially responsible; in defending a young teenager who murdered...
Simian Chanted Evening

S01E05 Simian Chanted Evening

October 24, 1986
Kuzak fights for his terminally ill client's right to be cryogenically preserved after death; Becker whets his appetite for entertainment law when he brokers an extremely favorable divorce settlement for his movie producer client; Markowitz...
Slum Enchanted Evening

S01E06 Slum Enchanted Evening

October 31, 1986
Van Owen faces hairy jokes from her colleagues and the anger of her ex-fiance after bailing out on her wedding; Kuzak represents a television news anchor suing for sex discrimination and wrongful termination when her...
Raiders of the Lost Bark

S01E07 Raiders of the Lost Bark

November 7, 1986
Kuzak slyly sticks Sifuentes with a dog of a case, but it's Sifuentes who's sitting pretty after he discovers the teeth in the matter, and pulls out an unexpected win; Abby rebuffs an admirer; Becker's...
Gibbon Take

S01E08 Gibbon Take

November 14, 1986
Van Owen's ex-fiance gets his revenge by humiliating her during a campaign appearance, thus sabotaging her race for the bench; when Kelsey shakes a trust's money tree to benefit the homeless, she also creates a...
The Venus Butterfly

S01E09 The Venus Butterfly

November 21, 1986
Becker, Markowitz and Kelsey bicker over who will inherit Chaney's office; Van Owen prosecutes a man charged with the mercy killing of his terminally ill lover; to Kelsey's undying gratitude, Markowitz learns the secret of...
Fry Me to the Moon

S01E10 Fry Me to the Moon

December 4, 1986
Kuzak gets nightmares over handling an appeal for a man sentenced to death; Van Owen helps Gilliam get a reprieve for Appleton; Melman comforts Becker when his parents try to put him in the middle...
El Sid

S01E11 El Sid

December 11, 1986
An increasingly unstable Hershberg asks Kuzak to take over the case of a woman who shot a police officer; Rogoff reassigns Van Owen to night court as punishment for helping Appleton; Perkins makes a deal...
Sidney, the Dead-Nosed Reindeer

S01E12 Sidney, the Dead-Nosed Reindeer

December 18, 1986 8.0
La Rosa digs up the ammunition Kelsey needs to succeed in representing an inventor in a contract dispute over patent royalties; Kuzak is horrified as he witnesses a severely depressed Hershberg commit suicide in court;...
Prince Kuzak in a Can

S01E13 Prince Kuzak in a Can

January 8, 1987
Overburdened with Hershberg's caseload, and haunted with guilt over his death, Kuzak snaps at his colleagues, pays a heavy price for the way he handles a manslaughter case, and ruins Van Owen's plans for the...
The Douglas Fur Ball

S01E14 The Douglas Fur Ball

January 15, 1987 48 min
McKenzie gets Kuzak sprung from jail; after Brackman's wife discovers his infidelity and serves him with divorce papers, he begs her to take him back when he discovers that she's represented by Lisa Weston, who...
December Bribe

S01E15 December Bribe

January 22, 1987
The partners consider whether they should merge with a large New York firm; Kuzak and Van Owen bemoan the scheduling difficulties that keep them apart; McKenzie negotiates a sweetheart deal for Hood with the district...
Beef Jerky

S01E16 Beef Jerky

February 5, 1987
Van Owen prosecutes a case of seminal importance; Becker comes to regret pushing a client beyond her limits after confronting her with her husband's infidelity despite her protests; in civil court, Sifuentes and Perkins represent...
Becker on the Rox

S01E17 Becker on the Rox

February 12, 1987
When a pharmaceutical firm employs a jury consulting firm to assist him in a product liability suit, Kuzak becomes engaged in a contest of style over substance until he enlists Sifuentes's help in showing the...
Fifty Ways to Floss Your Lover

S01E18 Fifty Ways to Floss Your Lover

February 19, 1987
Becker is enthralled by the beautiful, but somewhat incompetent, secretary who's temping while Melman is on jury duty until he discovers that their relationship will never be anything but professional; Van Owen contemplates buying a...
The Grace of Wrath

S01E19 The Grace of Wrath

February 26, 1987 10.0
Sifuentes tries to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat by responding to the advances made by an attractive juror after his elderly pot smoker client is found guilty, but soon comes to realize...
Sparky Brackman, R.I.P.

S01E20 Sparky Brackman, R.I.P.

March 26, 1987
Kuzak faces a tough opponent in civil court when he represents a college student suing for damages after being raped; the ongoing conflict between Brackman and his litigious neighbor escalates after Perkins successfully represents Brackman...
Oy Vey! Wilderness!

S01E21 Oy Vey! Wilderness!

April 2, 1987
Markowitz and Kuzak join forces to help a fisherman when the IRS confiscates his boat in a tax dispute; Sifuentes convinces Feldman to drop criminal assault charges against Brackman, but Kerris chokes on the deal;...
Pigmalion

S01E22 Pigmalion

April 9, 1987
Becker represents the wife of a children's television show host who sues her husband for divorce after catching him in bed with an unlikely partner; Brackman and Kerris finally settle their differences; Sifuentes begins to...

Cast

Corbin Bernsen
Corbin Bernsen
Arnie Becker
Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry
Ann Kelsey
Alan Rachins
Alan Rachins
Douglas Brackman
Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker
Stuart Markowitz
Richard Dysart
Richard Dysart
Leland McKenzie
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood
Jonathan Rollins
Larry Drake
Larry Drake
Benny Stulwicz
John Spencer
John Spencer
Tommy Mullaney
A Martinez
A Martinez
Daniel Morales
Alexandra Powers
Alexandra Powers
Jane Halliday
Debi Mazar
Debi Mazar
Denise Iannello

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