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Episode Summary

"Ivan the Incorrigible" / Season 2 Episode 22
Broadcast: April 18, 2006

Shirley Schmidt begins an affair with her ex-husband, Ivan Tiggs (Tom Selleck), believing that he has left his new wife, Missy (Meredith Patterson). Then Missy -- who is still with Ivan -- suspects her husband is cheating on her and asks for Schmidt's help. Meanwhile, Alan Shore agrees to be co-counsel on an attempted murder case with Jerry Espenson (Christian Clemenson), who has been in therapy since holding a cake knife to Schmidt's throat.

Episode Credits

Directed by .... Bob Yannetti
Written by .... Phoef Sutton & Andrew Kreisberg

Tom Selleck .... Ivan Tiggs
Adam Arkin .... A.D.A. Douglas Kupfer
Meredith Patterson .... Missy
Christian Clemenson .... Jerry Espenson
Allan Louis .... Ande Mkeba
Howard Hesseman .... Judge Robert Thompson
Lauren Stamile .... Audrey
Michael Raymond-James .... Kevin Armus
Takayo Fischer .... court clerk

>> More information on the guest stars in our forum

 

Episode Dialogue


Alan Shore: Mr Mkeba, Jerry is an excellent attorney. You are in very good hands.
__

Missy Tiggs: We live in such a horrible, jaded world these days. No one at all believes in the happy ending anymore. But a big part of me believes that love can be forever. That’s why I love musicals. That’s why I love you. I can’t imagine ever breaking your heart. And I think if you broke my heart my life would be over. But you would never do that to me, would you, Ivan?
Ivan Tiggs: Not in a million years.
Missy Tiggs: *With a big smile* And you’re not getting my Phantom Mask, Mister!
__

Audrey Pugliese: You guys talk about your “equipment” all the time!
Brad Chase: First of all, I don’t. Second of all, we have many clever names for it.





Did You Know... ?

Parallel Universe: Trek in the Courtroom
Ivan the Incorrigible borrowed from themes rampant in Star Trek. Debb, our comparative seriesologist, has compiled details, quotes and images to present her thesis. Be sure to listen to her talk about these themes - and play sound bites from Star Trek - during her segment in the Ivan podcast.

Themes
“Not exactly Emily Post” On Manners and Mannerisms
The Bard Sayeth: Shakespeare references - "First, kill all the lawyers."
Star Trek Alumni
>> see details and images of all of Debb's Trek in the Courtroom comparisons [pdf]


Six Degrees of the Guest Star

Howard Hesseman as Judge Robert Thompson - Hesseman is a legendary TV/film personality whose career began in the 60s in the improvisational comedy group "The Committee". He went on to have guest appearances on such popular 70s comedies as Rhoda, Sanford and Son and The Bob Newhart Show. This work and his recurring role on the offbeat comedy Soap led to his memorable turn as DJ 'Dr. Johnny Fever' on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82), a role which garnered him two Emmy nominations. Hesseman followed that success with roles in two more popular sitcoms - One Day at a Time (1982-84) and Head of the Class (1986-1990). Since then, he has remained busy on TV and in films, in both comedic and dramatic roles. His numerous guest credits include the role of 'Judge Williams' in Season 3 of The Practice (1999). Most recently, he appeared as a man in need of a heart transplant in a January episode of House.


Meredith Patterson as Missy Tiggs - The multi-talented Patterson returns in her second appearance, after Missy's wedding to Ivan in 2x16 ("Live Big"). A native of California, Patterson's lifelong dream (according to www.meredithpatterson.com ) was not to star in movies, but to be a star on Broadway. She moved to New York right after high school to pursue that goal and achieved it in 2001, when she earned the starring role in 42nd Street. Patterson continued working on Broadway for several more years before returning to LA. While continuing to work in theater, she's also appeared in films such as The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) and Broken Flowers (2005). Besides acting, she is also a singer/songwriter who recently released her first collection, "MerieNYC", portions of which can be heard at her myspace site.


Christian Clemenson as Jerry 'Hands' Espenson - Clemenson makes his fourth appearance in the role of 'Hands', after BL2x10 ("Legal Deficits"), BL2x11 ("The Cancer Man Can"), and BL2x12 ("Helping Hands"). One of his first TV roles was in a 1985 episode of Golden Girls, with Betty White. In 1990, he was on the cast of short-lived drama Capital News (with Daniel Roebuck). His guest roles have included parts on LA Law (1986), The Practice (1998), and Ally McBeal (2002). Clemenson and James Spader have known each other since their early acting days, and the two appeared together in the film Bad Influence (1990). Clemenson's other film credits include supporting roles in Apollo 13 (1995) and The Big Lebowski (1998). He should feature prominently in the about-to-be-released United 93, in which he plays one of the ill-fated plane's heroic passengers.


Directed by Bob Yannetti - Yannetti previously directed episode 2x15 ("Smile"). He's also done directing work for David E. Kelley on LA Law, Ally McBeal and Boston Public. After trying his hand at acting in a couple of 1980 TV roles, Yannetti was accepted into the elite Director's Guild of America assistant director training program and got his first experience working on the 1983 films Doctor Detroit and Scarface.


Thanks to Sue for this research. For more acting Six Degrees for every guest star in this episode, see our forum episode page

Episode Reviews


 | 2.22 'Ivan the Incorrigible'





Episode News


Ratings  [101 by Nielsen]

April 18, 2006 "Ivan the Incorrigible"
Households: 6.3/10, 8.79 million viewers, a series low. A18-49: 2.1/5 for the night [last episode's Word Salad Day: 9.64 mil, 7/11, #2 and 2.9/8 for 18-49]. The show was not aired in New York on WABC due to local news coverage and this likely had a big impact on the ratings.  Lead-in: Return premiere of "Less Than Perfect" at 9:30p brought in a 3.4/5, 4.7 mil. "Jim" and "Hope and Faith" were 3.3/5, 3.1/5 & 3.9/6, respectively, so BL substantially increased the share. ABC came in 4th for the night. At 10p, ABC was #2 while CBS with a Criminal Minds repeat and NBC with a Law & Order: SVU repeat tied for first at 3.3/9 each. The previous series low was for "Live Big" on Feb. 21 with 6.3/10, 9.5 mil, 2.8 in 18-49. That was Tom Sellecks initial appearance and played opposite the Olympics.

>> More ratings information in our Forum

New York misses Ivan
Boston Legal was not broadcast in New York City due to "Breaking News: Tram Rescue"! This affected upstate NY as well as some of NJ and PA. WABC apparently time shifted the episode to 2:05am Wednesday morning. Since one of the most important Nielsen regions were shut out, this site plans on providing two video segments from "Ivan the Incorrigible" sometime Wednesday. These will be windows media streaming only - no downloads in keeping with this sites decision not to 'distribute' copyrighted material. By the way, last I heard, no one was seriously hurt in the NY tram incident.


 

Episode Forum
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Episode Video

Watch selected clips from "Ivan the Incorrigible"
(21:13) wm stream; no downloads
Due to New York City and surrounding areas not being able to see the episode "Ivan the Incorrigible" due to preemption for local news, this site is providing some extended clips. Our season two guideline has been to not stream extended clips of the show to respect copyright, but this is an exception.


Watch the preview for "Ivan the Incorrigible", Pt.2 (:15)
Airdate: April 18, 2006


Watch the preview for "Ivan the Incorrigible" (:30)

Boston Illegal Radio

"Word Salad Day" podcast
Special guest co-hosts  Adrian LaTourelle and Tessa Auberjonois, co-stars in the episode as Evette Richardson and Chris Mott.
Part 1 of 2 mp3 [82 min; 28mb]
Part 2 of 2 mp3 [53 min.; 18mb]

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Episode Images
Memorable scenes  >> go

Transcript
Read the episode, transcribed by Imamess: [pdf]  Transcript

Episode Ratings
April 18, 2006:
Households: 6.3/10, 8.79 million viewers, a series low. A18-49: 2.1/5 for the night [last episode's Word Salad Day: 9.64 mil, 7/11, #2 and 2.9/8 for 18-49]. The show was not aired in New York on WABC due to local news coverage and this likely had a big impact on the ratings. Lead-in: Return premiere of "Less Than Perfect" at 9:30p brought in a 3.4/5, 4.7 mil. "Jim" and "Hope and Faith" were 3.3/5, 3.1/5 & 3.9/6, respectively, so BL substantially increased the share. ABC came in 4th for the night. At 10p, ABC was #2 while CBS with a Criminal Minds repeat and NBC with a Law & Order: SVU repeat tied for first at 3.3/9 each. The previous series low was for "Live Big" on Feb. 21 with 6.3/10, 9.5 mil, 2.8 in 18-49. That was Tom Sellecks initial appearance and played opposite the Olympics.