Ally McBeal, a show well ahead of its time, turns 20

The Guardian

Feminism, toxic masculinity, gender identity, diversity — all of today’s hot topics were explored on Fox’s groundbreaking David E. Kelley legal dramedy that debuted on Sept. 8, 1997. “In almost all ways, Ally McBeal was ahead of its time: stylistically, thematically and in what we would now call the ‘diversity’ of its cast and subjects,” says Hannah Jane Parkinson. “…This was a show that had black characters and Asian-American characters whose presence had nothing to do with the fact that they were black or Asian-American, as is too often the case. It had a genderless bathroom and featured two trans characters: the first, Stephanie, appearing in a recurring role in the first season (1997) and the next, Cindy, in 2000. The writers didn’t shy away from holding up a mirror to society’s structures and discriminations through its many case plots.”

PLUS: David E. Kelley remembers being “caught off guard” by the 1998 Time cover asking “Is Feminism Dead?,” Ally McBeal was an anomaly — defined by the talk it stirred up as much as what happened in its own heightened reality, and Ally McBeal would’ve failed miserably had the Bechdel test been around back then.