The first season of Ally McBeal centers around Allys (Calista Flockhart) introduction to a law firm as full of eccentric characters as it is legal files. Not only must Ally adjust to her former high-school sweethearts choice to marry another, but she also has to learn how to cope with having both him and his wife as co-workers. This season was a highly successful test of Ally McBeals unique format, which emphasized musical numbers and special effect-laden flights of fancy. Despite initial low expectations from the network, Ally McBeal became a sleeper hit, owing much of its success to its originality, incorporation of truly unique characters, and its expert combination of modern issues of political-correctness with age-old matters of the heart. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide