I found Boston Legal, a spinoff of The Practice, to be far more jump-in-able than the Blacklist. I never watched BL but I do feel like The Practice was something that was always on, that I sort of retained through pure cultural osmosis. Plus, you know, Boston and all that.

This is one of those shows where, sort of like ER, there’s a larger through line but each episode focuses on its own characters so you’re never really lost. And the guest stars, oh the guest stars!!! My beloved Sharon Lawrence (aka Sipowicz’s wife, Sylvia)! Jan from the Office!! Elizabeth Mitchell (aka Gia‘s girlfriend!)!!! I was simply agog with delight.

Unlike The Blacklist, I probably will go back to this show. In the tiny snippet I saw, Spader’s character Alan Shore defended a little Black girl who wanted the lead role in Annie, extorted a shitty dad to give up custody of his kids, and was stalked by his crazy ex that he got out of the loony bin. And that’s just his character!

Thus ends the three night television Spader run, and now we approach what I’m referring to as the dregs: random shit with no real theme or purpose in an effort to get to October. I’m neck deep in Beyond Fest and I’m tired. Very tired. I don’t expect the last few Spader September entries to be winners. But don’t worry, in October I’ll be recapping something new.

Not on Tubi. I watched it on Hulu.