DATE: Monday, September 8, 1997             TAG: 9709050145
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: By Larry Bonko, Television Columnist

                                            LENGTH:   24 lines

TONIGHT'S TV PREMIERE: ``ALLY MCBEAL''

``Ally McBeal''

Network, time: Fox, 9 p.m. Mondays.

Cast: Calista Flockhart, Gil Bellows, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Jane Krakowski, Lisa Nicole Carson and Greg Germann.

Premise: Young lawyer (McBeal) joins Boston law firm dedicated to making ``piles and piles of money.'' Her ex-boyfriend works there. McBeal, who says she's a victim of her own choices, shares life's experiences (yeast infections, butt-grabbing senior partners, getting fired for looking fabulous) with viewers by way of fantasy sequences and flashbacks.

Mini-review: This is a smart, sophisticated, witty ``dramedy'' from the man (David E. Kelley) who created ``Picket Fences.'' Flockhart in the title role is Audrey Hepburn playing Molly Dodd. She's terrific. Of the season's new shows, none is better than ``Ally McBeal.'' Women will fall in love with the series, and stick with it after ``Melrose Place.'' Men will fall in love with Flockhart. **** (Out of five).

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