The protagonist in general and the whole of the first season in particular are almost insufferably corny, and the badly outdated 90s and clearly male pseudo-understanding of what is feminism makes me cringe several times an episode. But these sharp edges quickly get sanded off across the show's run, and the quirky, lovable and genuinely kind sense of whimsy that saturate virtually every major character in the series start taking the spotlight. "Ally McBeal", in spite of its name, shines the most when it becomes an ensamble show about friendship and stops being a bad romcom of a single woman's struggles with dating. The buy-in, as stated, is grating and long, but once the characters come into their own there are episodes in this series which never fails to make me cry, and moments that never fail to make me laugh.

Though it should be said, my wife, while allowing it improves drastically over the years, never got over how bad it was in the beginning, and would not be as kind should she write a review. ( )