'Legal' maneuvers

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Last season, ABC took "Boston Legal" off its Sunday night schedule to give "Grey's Anatomy" a six-week tryout.

But "Grey" was a surprise hit and held onto the post-"Desperate Housewives" slot, while "Legal" was in limbo.

Which, not surprisingly, didn't exactly thrill executive producer David E. Kelley.

"We weren't very pleased about it," Kelley said. "It was tough. But it's the reality that we're dealing with and we're going to make a go of it in our new time slot."

Tonight, "Boston Legal" moves to Tuesdays at 9 p.m., opposite "Law & Order: SVU" and Jerry Bruckheimer's new show "Close to Home." Which is also something Kelley isn't too thrilled about.

"It's up against obviously, tough competition," Kelley said. "It's against 'Law & Order' — one of them — and Jerry Bruckheimer's show — one of them. They both are formidable franchises. Last year on Sunday we had a pretty cushy and protected time slot, so we're going to have to earn it."

And "Boston Legal" isn't going to be exactly the same show it was last season. "We started off as a more conventional drama. . . . This show, as it sort of found itself . . . really wanted to be more of a comedy," Kelley said. "Will there be dramatic storylines? Absolutely. But if 'dramady' is the right word, that might be the right word. But we may be more of a comedy — you could call it, I don't know, a 'comma.' "

And the cast, which evolved in the course of the 17 episodes that aired, has evolved even more during the extended hiatus. Lake Bell (who played Sally Heep) was written out; Candice Bergen (Shirley Schmidt) was written in.

When new episodes begin in September, Monica Potter and her character, Lori Colson, and Rhona Mitra (who, like James Spader and William Shatner, segued from "The Practice" to "Boston Legal") and her character, Tara Wilson, will be gone; Julie Bowen ("Ed") comes aboard as a senior associate at the law firm and Justin Mentell and Ryan Michelle Bathe will play new junior associates.

"Casting is a very inexact process," Kelley said. "You're looking for characters to tell particular stories and then on top of that, you're looking for a populace that you can achieve an interaction with — that gives rise to a franchise that's fertile for storytelling week after week."

He's looking for office politics between senior partners, senior associates and junior associates.