I’ve been working today on a little project that’s led to me rediscover some music from deep in my CD collection that I’ve not listened to in a very long while. One of those albums is Songs from Ally McBeal, a soundtrack comprising mostly covers of 1960s pop tunes, with a few original tracks, all performed by the lovely Vonda Shepard. I’m finding that I still enjoy this music as much, if not a little more, than I did when it was current; Vonda has a warm and powerful voice, and her arrangements of old chestnuts are interestingly different from the familiar versions. Also, the whole album has a kind of pleasantly melancholy feel that’s very agreeable to me as I putter around the house.
But here’s the weird thing: I cannot for the life of me recall any specifics about the TV show these songs are from. I used to watch Ally McBeal pretty regularly, too, and it seems like I was as emotionally invested in it as in any program I follow. But I’ll be damned if I can summon up the plot of a single episode, or any character names beyond Ally herself, or much of anything really, aside from a few faces and that spooky CG baby that popped up from time to time. How is it possible that I still remember specific scenes and even lines of dialogue from shows I saw once when I was 12, but a series that’s only 10 years or so old has become a complete blank for me? And does this phenomenon say more about my mental state or the series itself?
Peter McNichol as John Cage was the character that kept me interested in Ally. I can’t remember any plotlines either, though, and I’m pretty sure I watched every single episode.
The head lawyer was named “Fish,” and his partner was that little guy from Chicago Hope (who’s name I never remember). Also, Lucy Liu and Portia DeRossi, before they went on to Charlie’s Angels and Ellen DeGeneres’ life partner, respectively. The woman from 30 Rock who isn’t Tina Fey (why can’t I remember her name right now?) who played a promiscuous blonde who would often sing & dance on the show. And then there was the whole Bon Jovi thing for a while…
I remember vague story lines (Ally suing a guy who was rude to her on the street, a guy divorcing a woman who turned out to be a man, etc.), but mostly, the lawsuits were the backdrop and it was all about the character quirks (the partner’s private bathroom stall with the remote control flusher, Fish’s obsession with womens’ necks (their “waddle”), Ally’s hopeless efforts to find love, etc..)
The show often ended up in the bar in the office building lobby, where Vonda Shepard was at the piano. Interestingly, her version of The Rainbow Connection made such an impression on me that to this day, everytime I sit down at the piano and think of that song, I spend a little while trying to recreate her sound (Kermit’s is easy…), but eventually fail & move on, frustrated.
I don’t have the CD, but I wonder if that album is on iTunes…
Thanks for the memory…
Thank you, Brian – you just brought back more memories of that show than a whole afternoon of listening to the music (I actually have two of the four soundtrack/Vonda Shepard albums they put out). Now that you mention it, I recall the waddle thing and the unisex bathrooms… didn’t Fish have an affair with Candace Bergen or some other older actress? And I recall John Cage (Fish’s partner, the “little guy”) had a pet tree frog that he let crawl around on his face. And that they played the “Wicked Witch” theme whenever Lucy Liu entered a scene.
I still can’t bring up any actual plotlines, though. I still think it’s weird that a show I watched so regularly has so thoroughly evaporated from my mind.
Incidentally, you’ve probably already checked, but it looks like the only Ally-related album on iTunes is the Christmas collection. They’re probably out of print; soundtracks seem to come and go quickly. I’d be happy to copy my CDs for you, if you really want them… just let me know. I think my folks have the third one, too; I can check on that.