The FOX television series Ally McBeal premiered in 1997 and ran until 2002. During the late 1990s, it gathered a strong audience of mostly young professional female viewers. Starring Calista Flockhart (1964–) in the title role, the show was set in the Boston, Massachusetts, law firm of Cage and Fish. Ally McBeal was among a team of dynamic young lawyers taking on cases too risky or too controversial for other firms to touch. Nevertheless, the real subject of the show was Ally and her worries about work, men, motherhood, and growing old. Ally McBeal enjoyed money, status, and designer clothes, but she longed for the simplicity of childhood.

Ally McBeal was created by David E. Kelley (1956–), the producer responsible for hospital drama Chicago Hope (1994–2000) and the darker legal serial The Practice (1997–). Ally McBeal quickly became well known for its up-to-date take on young working women and the problems they...