Bye bye to Ally ... sob, sob

By FRANCES GRANT

Take a neurotic, sentimental woman whose great wish was to "be rich and successful and have three great kids and a husband to tickle my feet" and things were bound to end in tears.

And so they do in tonight's finale of Ally McBeal, the show which sparked the dramedy genre, made a feature of playing out its heroine's fantasies literally on the screen (and spawned a thousand pale imitations), and which made a fetish of the musical interlude.

It is fitting that Ally's story should end in tears and more than a few whimpers. This was a woman who was nervy, childlike and self-indulgent and at the same time, improbably, a sharp and successful lawyer.

She was a heroine who struck a chord, however, whether you saw her as an affront to the achievement of feminists of the past decades or hailed her as a strikingly on-the-button portrayal of the post-feminist woman who wants to have it all.

At its best, Ally McBeal was much more than its melancholy and visibly shrinking heroine.

Richard Fish, the shamelessly greedy lawyer and unreconstructed sexist, got the best lines and always stole the show. Again, it's fitting that tonight's finale should bear the title of his famous dismissal for all sticky moments, "bygones".

The show was on top of its form when the female quartet of Ally, ice queen Nell, the fire-breathing dragon lady Ling (best line: "I only come to work to show off my outfits") and the unashamedly promiscuous and attention-seeking PA Elaine were in full swing.

But in the past two series the show has got tired, its quirks more irritating, its once outrageous court cases too try-hard (one of the show's more enjoyable features was its take on the extraordinarily litigious nature of life in the US and its deflation of the politically correct).

Desperation has seen such ill-fitting storylines as Ally discovering she had a daughter and the introduction of such acting-challenged guest stars as Jon Bon Jovi and Dame Edna Everage.

Still, a finale is a good excuse for a reunion and staunch Ally supporters will be pleased to see several key characters reappear. Renee and Elaine jostle for one last time on the stage.

Billy returns to remind us just how featureless he was - the blank screen on which Ally projected her marriage fantasy - and Courtney Thorne-Smith obviously gets time off from being married to Jim Belushi to return to play sweet Georgia for one last time.

Unfortunately, Ling appears to be too busy being a judge (yeah, right) to strut one of those outfits for the last time.

And for all those who actually enjoyed all that stuff about characters' theme songs, there's an appearance from the real Barry White.

Happily, the finale is fairly light on flashbacks from the show, but expect a welter of long, teary goodbyes.

Souls who cannot get by without a fix of creator David E. Kelley's trademark take on the American legal profession, may be mollified to know he has another drama in the pipeline, about three female lawyers in San Francisco.

* Ally McBeal finale, TV2, 9.35pm