A quarter century ago, Happy Days fans probably bugged out when their beloved Henry Winkler played a dentist with a cockroach fetish in a September 1999 episode of ABC’s The Practice.
But good luck finding that episode now. David E. Kelley’s hit legal drama, the finale of which turned 20 this year, isn’t streaming anywhere — after Hulu dropped it last September — meaning viewers can’t revisit that case or any of the other bizarre plot lines below.
Here are our picks for The Practice’s wildest cases — and we’ve given each a title that might sound familiar!
Monkey Business
In Season 2’s “Sex, Lies and Monkeys,” Jimmy (Michael Badalucco) defends a man who was fired because his body hair reminded his boss of a primate’s. Example dialogue: “It was hard for me to get other work ’cause of what he said. Hard for me to even go on interviews, ’cause every time I look in the mirror now, I see it. … A monkey. A big monkey.”
The Honeymooners
After a honeymoon gone awry, Ellenor’s (Camryn Manheim) cousin and the cousin’s new husband seek to sue their travel agent in Season 2’s “The Means”: Example dialogue: “What about my emotional stress and physical hardship? On the first day, Myra tripped on an inflatable seahorse. That’s how she pulled the hamstring. … We never even got to consummate our marriage.”
The Exorcist
In Season 2’s “Race With the Devil,” Bobby (Dylan McDermott) must defend his priest, Father Patrick Martin (Robert Prosky), after a woman dies mid-exorcism. Example dialogue: “I was praying aggressively and demanding in the name of God that Satan rid himself of her body, and she started to jerk a little … and she started screaming obscenities.”
Flushed Away
In Season 2’s “In Deep,” Lindsay (Kelli Williams) takes the case of one Kyle Peabody (Jack Kehler), who has 11 multiple citations because his toilet breaks the 1.6-gallon-per flush legislation. Example dialogue: “However, if a person were required to flush three times in order to empty the bowl of all… remains, the statutory intent of the legislation would clearly be undermined.”
So I Married an Axe Murderer
In Season 2’s “Axe Murderer” — part of a crossover with Ally McBeal — Bobby teams up with Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) and Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows) to defend Maria Hanson (Donna Murphy), a woman accused of axing her husband to death… and whose hypnotherapist offers an explanation from one of Maria’s past lives. Example dialogue: “She was talking about stuff from the 1800s with meticulous detail … Finally, I asked her her name. … I know it sounds crazy, but she told me she was Lizzie Borden.”
TV Guide/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Dream Lover
In Season 3’s “Judge and Jury,” Judge Roberta Kittleson (Holland Taylor) pulls Bobby into her chambers to inform him she’s thinking of recusing herself from his case since she just had a sex dream about him. Example dialogue: “About six weeks ago, I had what I would consider to be an extremely erotic dream… and you were in it. I won’t go into the details except to say that you were quite well represented.”
A Bug’s Life
Season 4 kicks off with the premiere “Free Dental,” in which Dr. Henry Olson (Winkler) is accused of murdering one of his dental patients — and has to reveal that he has a sexual fetish involving the squashing of cockroaches. Example dialogue: “She proposed that she would do this for me in exchange for free teeth cleanings.”
Superman Returns
After Bill Munce (Kevin Dunn), one of Jimmy’s old friends, drops from the window of a mental health institute and kills someone below on impact, his wife tells Jimmy that Bill believes he’s a certain Kryptonian superhero in Season 6’s “Man and Superman.” Example dialogue: “I don’t think he fell out that window. I think he was trying to fly.”
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Hannibal Rising
Cannibalistic serial killer Lawrence O’Malley (Christopher Shyer) believes he’s Hannibal Lecter in Season 6’s “Eat and Run” — and, worse, he starts calling Lindsay “Clarice.” Example dialogue: “What happened to his other lawyer? There was a conflict. Your client bit off his nose.”
The Flash
In Season 7’s “Of Thee I Sing,” the firm takes on the case of Terry Pender (Jon Cryer) a flasher who claims he’s delivering messages of political protest with messages printed on… himself. Example dialogue: “It’s no secret sex sells. I mean, advertisers use it all the time. I just figured the best way to put my message across was to put it on my penis.”
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