The Practice
The Pursuit of Dignity
TV Flash files “The Pursuit of Dignity” as hour 20 of 167 in the TV Flash guide — The Practice (1997–2004) on ABC, season 2, episode 14, aired 1998-01-03, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E14: listed hour 20 of 167 in the The Practice guide, hour 14 of 28 in season 2. It aired 1998-01-03 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Civil Right” (S02E13). Next is “Line of Duty” (S02E15).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Bobby reconnects with an old girlfriend who needs his help after she is arrested for prostitution. Ellenor and Rebecca fight to keep a 12-year old girl with Tourette's Syndrome in school. Lindsay defends a woman who is suing her doctor for sewing live maggots into her leg to prevent post-surgical infection.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Pursuit of Dignity sit in the The Practice guide?
S02E14 is listed hour 20 of 167 — hour 14 of 28 in season 2, season 2 episode 14.
When did The Practice S02E14 air?
The Pursuit of Dignity aired 1998-01-03 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is it the same show as Ally McBeal?
Same Kelley Boston-legal universe, opposite temperature. The Practice is the bruise; Ally is the jukebox. Crossovers exist.
In the series
Why this series still plays
David E. Kelley’s Boston firm prefers a bruise to a closing argument. Lawyers win ugly, lose ethically, and still have to face the morning. The Practice made network prestige out of fluorescent offices and moral hangovers — the grimy sibling of Ally McBeal, and the one that actually hurts.
So about the grimy sibling. David E. Kelley's Boston firm prefers a bruise to a closing argument: lawyers win ugly, lose ethically, and still have to face the morning. ABC, 1997–2004. Fluorescent offices, moral hangovers, network prestige that actually hurts. Dylan McDermott, Camryn Manheim, Steve Harris, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Badalucco, Kelli Williams. Shared-universe crossovers with Ally McBeal — the watercooler never stopped filing the gossip. (I said spoiler-free. The ethics are the spoiler.) Multiple…
Filed against
- Dylan McDermott as Bobby Donnell
Dylan McDermott anchored The Practice as Bobby Donnell — David E. Kelley's Boston firm, fluorescent offices, and lawyers who win ugly then face the morning. Network prestige out of moral hangovers, the grimy sibling of Ally McBeal. TV…
- Camryn Manheim as Ellenor Frutt
Camryn Manheim's Ellenor Frutt preferred a bruise to a closing argument on The Practice — David E. Kelley's Boston firm where lawyers win ugly, lose ethically, and still face the morning. Fluorescent offices, moral hangovers, the grimy…
- Steve Harris as Eugene Young
Steve Harris bruised The Practice as Eugene Young — David E. Kelley's Boston firm that prefers a bruise to a closing argument, lawyers who win ugly and still have to face the morning. Fluorescent offices, moral hangovers. TV Flash files…
- Lara Flynn Boyle as Helen Gamble
Lara Flynn Boyle’s Donna Hayward is Twin Peaks’ homecoming-adjacent pulse — cherry pie, dream logic, a town that performs grief like a pageant. ABC’s 1990 art-house soap, Cooper’s sweetness, Laura Palmer as the door. On TV Flash she is…
- Michael Badalucco as Jimmy Berluti
Michael Badalucco’s Jimmy Berluti bruised his way through The Practice’s Boston firm — David E. Kelley lawyers who prefer a stain to a closing argument, 1990s network prestige in fluorescent offices, moral hangovers by morning. TV Flash…
- Kelli Williams as Lindsay Dole
Kelli Williams's Lindsay Dole worked The Practice — David E. Kelley's Boston firm that preferred a moral hangover to a closing argument, fluorescent offices as network prestige. Lawyers winning ugly. TV Flash files her as 1990s legal…