Now that Lara Flynn Boyle is gone (which she was barely there last season) I have no intention to even tune in.

It seems that Chyler Leigh just can't catch a successful break in tv land. First That '80s Show, then Girls Club and now the Practice. Poor child.

Time for her to do a pilot called Not Another Teen TV Show.

Hey, my thread's back from the dead!

That is a major shocker announcement. Maybe EW now wants to take the picture of Dylan McDermott off of this week's "Winner of the Week" TV feature.

I don't know why they would want to do that. I remember when ABC renewed "Murder One" on the condition that they fire the lead, but even then, they kept most of the cast (I went to a cast and crew lacture the next year and Steven Bochco wouldn't talk about that firing, it must have been very hard). The prognosis for The Practice is even grimmer now.

BTW: I read at MSNBC entertainment news that Les Moonves was considering having CBS pick up the show if ABC passed this year. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that he happened to be prominently featured on a recent episode.

Exactly right!..This has to do with salary cuts plain and simple.. How can you get rid of your two lead actors and say this is good for the show??..

Why prolong the inevtiable ABC obviously didn't have the balls to cancel this show because of Kelley. That's how much power he has..

People will tune in the first few weeks to check out the new cast members but that will be it..

I must admit that i'm shocked by the cast changes (mostly there being so many of them). After thinking about them it's becoming a little more clear to me.

The past couple seasons the character of Bobby has become boring! Honestly can you say that he's been interesting at all this past season? If his character had been the type of bedrock (think Sipowitz, Dr.Carter) then I can see how the different characters could bounce off against him. Maybe they've done all they can with Bobby personally and professionally? As far as Lindsey is concerned, they really butchered her character this year! In watching the show I said to myself "what the heck is going on with Lindsey"? I truly think the writers back themselves into a corner and couldn't get out of it. Without Bobby negates the need for Rebecca as those two are intertwined together. I wouldn't have expected her to stay around with Bobby's exit. As for Lucy, her character was great the first season she appeared but they strangely tamed her character thus negating the need for her. Claire? Well without Lindsey there's no need for Claire!

What surprises me most is the exit of Helen's character!! I think that the show improved most when they added her character the second season! A strong DA character provides a perfect counterpoint to firm and I really wonder how well they'll do in replacing her character (if the have a DA at all)! I personally am still missing Richard Bey!

As for the remaining cast I think they can survive but not without a few concerns! I do think that Eugene can make an effective leader of the firm. I think his character has been a very effective one (if not under appreciated one). I see great potential in exploiting Eugene's character! Jamie I really like!! I think there's a lot you can do with her character!! We only scratched the surface of her this season and we should discover lots more. Eleanor, I wonder about? This character has basically been ignored since she had her child. I really wonder if she hasn't run her course? Jimmy too!! Have we exploited all the "Jimmy the Grunt" stories? We'll have to see!

Personally i'm in favor of cast changes! As a long time LAW & ORDER fan i'm used to them and can honestly say that they've helped keep the show fresh and interesting! I think that shows like L&O, NYPD BLUE and ER have proved that the audience will continue to tune in if presented with fresh, interesting characters. However, I do think this is too much of an overhaul! This reminds me of Kelley's purge on CHICAGO HOPE! Though that show has some interesting adds (Carla Gugino's character and James Garner's recurring role) they kept the most boring character (Dr. Shutt) and lost a great character in Dr. Austin to bring back Geiger!! Overall that purge didn't work and I'm wondering if it will be the same this year?

I'll definitely tune in the first few episodes out of curiosity but will quickly disappear if it heads south!! Hopefully it will right itself as the show quickly!!

The one change I was happy about was axing Rebecca. How long can one person go on acting indignant? That's all she ever did. I certainly think they could have brought Chrysler Leigh over as a junior associate. She couldn't have cost much to retain.

Once Bobby left the firm, I imagine it would be easy to go on without him and Lindsey is such a characture by now, I doubt she'll be missed. I'm with davcole, though about Helen. She was an interesting, complex character. The one decent, honorable employee of the DA office. I hope her exit is better explained than Ron Livingston's (what the heck happened to him, anyway?).

In...my...dreams! A long time L&O fan, I have not watched the show since the first episode with her in it. Just unwatchable.

I still watch but the 2nd halves of each episode are painful.

I think this show has passed the point of salvage. Of course all the new faces coming aboard gives Kelley that many more lawyers to commit murder and then rehabilitate when we find the prosecution has unfairly tainted the jury by actually trying for a conviction.

Hey, that's not fair, not all the lawyers will be murderers. I'm sure half of them will be stalked or stabbed by a serial killer who has become obsessed with them or blown up by a bomb delivered to the office or planted in their car by a disgruntled client.

I really have loved the show over the years. Even tho its not as good I still watched it. I will probably give it a chance to see what they do with it. I see it as its last season tho.

Oh yeah, in 5 years, DA Helen Gamble has probably won like 3 cases against the people in "the Practice." Yet, she still has her job. In her spare time, she enjoys helping the defense with their cases, sleeping with Bobby and being roommates with Lindsay for a while.

Yup, she was a very realistic District Attorney.


I say end this crap already so we can have the reunion show of all the bachelorette rejects or whatever else ABC wants to destroy their network with.

That is funny. I thought I was the only one that thought about that. The prosecutors win maybe 1% of the cases.

Eugene and Jimmy were always my favorite characters. Can they carry the show though? No.

I stopped watching when they switched nights. Not to mention, there was TOO Much drama. I mean personal drama. Just do the cases. Why do they have to send nutjob after nutjob after lindsey? I think all the personal crisises brought the show down. Week after week it was a downer. So long to a show that had so much promise.

Accordint to tvguide.com James Spader is the first new cast member.

Damn. Now I'm going to have to bother with watching the last two episodes on my TiVo, and think about giving it a shot.

On Entertainment Tonight they said DEK is in talks with Sharon Stone about joining the cast.

If he gets her signed on that pretty much destroys his excuse of financial issues for getting rid just about the entire cast.

Sharon Stone's current asking price is what Lara Flynn Boyle's lunch money is for one month...

Stone is not planning on joining the cast, she's just making a guest appearance which will probably last three episodes. They plan to have her guest spot occur early in the season to try and draw back their audience.

Just when I was thinking of giving up. . .since James Spader has joined, I will be there for every second.

Now they just need to hire Maggie Gyllenhaal to fill the role of the office secretary.