COMMENT:
Can Robert Downey Jr. help `Ally' rebound?
By MIKI TURNER - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Date: 11/19/00 22:15
With the ratings down, critics bashing nearly every episode and its once-appealing title character gone way over the top, "Ally McBeal" creator David E. Kelley knew he needed something or someone to freshen up his 4-year-old series.
It was beginning to stink.
One solution? Robert Downey Jr. The 35-year-old actor, once nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "Chaplin," inked an eight-episode deal with the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series just a week after his August release from a California prison after serving time for violating drug-conviction-related probation. He signed on to play attorney Larry Paul, a potential love interest for the perpetually unlucky-in-love Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart).
Kelley told Entertainment Weekly that something about this pairing "just smelled right."
And so far, so good. The doe-eyed duo's chemistry is irresistibly wacky. His character instinctively knows how to push all of Ally's buttons, and that helps make her appear a little less neurotic.
Not convinced you care enough about Downey to make the Monday night move back to "Ally"?
Here are 10 reasons to watch.
10. Downey cares deeply about fashion. "David (Kelley) is a genius, Calista's awesome and, once again, I have a choice of shirt colors," Downey told the Hollywood Reporter.
9. When he was 5, he played a puppy in a film produced by his father, the senior Robert Downey. How sweet.
8. This isn't his first TV gig. He was one of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1985-86 season. His other television credits include two completely forgettable movies of the week -- "Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree" and "Mussolini: The Untold Story." You can impress your friends with your mastery of this small-screen trivia while you're waiting for one of Ally's interminable slumber parties to end.
7. He was sent to prison for substance abuse in 1998, has had recurring "issues" with his Malibu neighbors during his "free" time and is currently residing in a drug rehab facility. A steady television gig just might keep Downey out of trouble.
6. He's trying to stay out of trouble. He was involved in two films -- "Black and White" and "Wonder Boys" during his 12-month prison holiday and will star in Mel Gibson's stage production of "Hamlet" later this year in New York.
5. Downey is no stranger to courtrooms, so he'll probably appear right at home on "Ally" sets.
4. Ally McBeal needs at least one character with no discernible on-screen dysfunction.
3. He could make Ally forget about the dearly departed, whiny Billy and that guy with the funky accent and the father-and-son duo she's currently juggling.
2. He's -- and forgive us for being superficial -- hot, hot, hot.
1. And, as Kelley said, Downey simply smells good.
