there’s one thing David E. Kelley does well it’s write a good legal television series.<Boston Legal is no exception. The show got off to a rocky and mediocre start last season with so-so ratings and unoriginal plots. It was replaced by the exceptional Grey’s Anatomy, but was still brought back for a second season, this time following the new series Commander in Chief. As CinC’s ratings plummeted, BL’s have remained steady and improved over it’s lead-in. In my opinion, this creative and ratings improvement is due in no small part to the show’s willingness to take on hot-button issues. It is unabashedly liberal in its viewpoint, so conservative will hate it. Case in point, last night’s episode featured a rape victim suing a Catholic hospital for not giving her information about emergency contraception. Every time one of these cases comes up, some member of the cast gets on his or her soapbox to preach some liberal viewpoint — and I love it! So many television shows pander to Red States and are afraid to piss anyone off. I don’t know if Disney-owned ABC is unaware of what they’re airing or just don’t care, but good for them. Most other networks would have been sweating bullets about some conservative group starting up a letter-writing campaign or threatening a boycott. That may still happen since the Catholic League is totally pissed at Kelley. They are also pissed at NBC for not spending time talking about the Shroud of Turin during their Olympics coverage.

I’ve never been much of a country music fan, but there are few performers out there I like:  Dolly, Reba, Faith Hill, Johnny Cash, Tim McGraw, and Willie Nelson are a few.  Willie Nelson is almost always a lot of fun to see live because he’s the antithesis the modern country star with their rah-rah, God Bless America, GOP-loving selves.  He drinks, he smokes pot, and like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw he’s a Democrat.  Well, Willie has done it again.  He’s recorded a gay-themed cowboy love song called "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other."  That’s an overly long song title and the the song itself is nothing much, but it’s the fact that Nelson would record a song like this that’s interesting.  What’s more, Nelson seems to be doing it for all the right reasons.  It’s takes some guts, especially in the country music world, to do something like this.  Then again, Nelson really has nothing to lose by doing this.