Blast from the past: 'L.A. Law' out on DVD

The groundbreaking "L.A. Law" had a large, versatile and diverse cast. At the show's start in 1986, perhaps the most visible actor was Harry Hamlin, who played Michael Kuzak. He was even People's Sexiest Man Alive in 1987.

Hamlin left the show in 1991. Now 62, his credits include the TV series "Ink," "Veronica Mars," "Mad Men" and "Shameless." He and his wife, Lisa Rinna, have been married since 1997 and starred in a TVLand series together.

Susan Dey first became famous as a teenager on "The Partridge Family." More than a decade later, "L.A. Law" helped her break free from Lori Partridge as Grace Van Owen, who worked for the D.A.'s office.

Dey, now 61, left "L.A. Law" in 1992 and went on to guest on several TV series, most recently on a 2004 episode of "Third Watch." She's seen here with her husband, producer Bernard Sofronski.

Jimmy Smits played Victor Sifuentes, an idealistic Hispanic attorney at McKenzie Brackman. Smits was on "L.A. Law" from its debut in 1986 until 1992.

Smits, now 58, has been extremely active since leaving "L.A. Law." He followed that show up with another high-profile Steven Bochco show, "NYPD Blue," in which he played Bobby Simone. He played Matthew Santos on "The West Wing," becoming President in the final episode. He's currently on "Sons of Anarchy," as Nero Padilla. And he was also in two "Star Wars" movies.

Blair Underwood played attorney Jonathan Rollins joined the cast of "L.A. Law" in the second season. Before that show came along, he had a major role in a series, "Downtown," as well as small parts in "The Cosby Show" and "21 Jump Street."

Underwood's also been extremely active since leaving the show. His movies include "Set It Off," "Deep Impact" and "Gattaca," and he was one of Cynthia Nixon's boyfriends on "Sex and the City." He also led the cast in the reboot of "Ironside" in 2013. Now 49, he's scheduled to appear in a new version of "The Trip to Bountiful" later this year, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Before he got the part as Douglas Brackman Jr. in "L.A. Law," Alan Rachins had spent most of the previous decade as a writer for such shows as "The Fall Guy," "Knight Rider" and "Hart to Hart." The actor played Brackman, frequently a figure of fun, for "L.A. Law's" entire run.

After "L.A. Law," Rachins did a 180 from the buttoned-down Brackman, starring as Dharma's hippie dad Larry on "Dharma and Greg." Now 71, he's appeared in several TV movies and series, including recent spots on "Happy Endings" (seen here, with Caroline Aaron), "Rizzoli & Isles" and "The Crazy Ones."

Michele Greene played the young -- and sometimes naive -- attorney Abby Perkins on "L.A. Law." Perhaps her most famous moment came in 1991 when she shared, with Amanda Donohoe, what may have been prime-time TV's first lesbian kiss. She left the show in 1991.

Greene, now 52, has continued acting -- she's had guest spots on TV shows including "CSI," "Six Feet Under," "The Unit" and "Bones" -- but her focus has also turned to music and writing. She's released two Latin music albums and a book for young adult readers.

Corbin Bernsen played "L.A. Law's" sometimes conniving divorce attorney Arnie Becker for the entire run of the show. While "L.A. Law" was on the air, he also starred in the sports movie comedy "Major League" as infielder Roger Dorn.

Bernsen, now 59, has spent the last several years playing Henry Spencer on "Psych." His roles also include spots on "JAG," "Nash Bridges" and "Criminal Minds" -- not to mention runs on "The Young and the Restless" and "General Hospital."

Michael Tucker, who played attorney Stuart Markowitz, got to appear opposite his real-life wife, Jill Eikenberry, on "L.A. Law." In 1987, a year after the show debuted, he had notable roles in the movies "Tin Men" and "Radio Days."

Tucker has continued acting, but he's also been an energetic cook and author. The 68-year-old has written a novel, three books about food and maintains a blog, "Notes from the Culinary Wasteland."

Tucker's wife, Jill Eikenberry, played Ann Kelsey on "L.A. Law." (Colleague Alan Rachins calls the pair the "TuckerBerrys.") The two were involved in a famous "Law" storyline involving the "Venus Buttterfly," a sexual technique that helped Markowitz win Kelsey's heart.

Eikenberry, 67, has kept a more active acting career than her husband of late. She was in the film "Young Adult" and appeared in the TV shows "Law & Order," "Numb3rs" and "Judging Amy."

Susan Ruttan played Arnie Becker's long-suffering secretary, Roxanne Melman, on "L.A. Law." For 22 episodes, her husband was played by Dann Florek, later of "Law & Order" and its spinoff, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Since the show's run, Ruttan has worked steadily. The actress, now 65, has guested on "Grey's Anatomy," "Boston Legal," "CSI: NY," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Gilmore Girls."

Richard Dysart played Leland McKenzie, one of the namesake partners of McKenzie Brackman, on "L.A. Law." Before the show, he had supporting roles in films such as "The Hospital," "The Day of the Locust" and "Being There," as well as many TV guest spots.

After the show's run ended, Dysart, 84, took few roles -- indeed, perhaps his most noted performance came in the 2002 "L.A. Law" reunion movie. He looked chipper in a photograph, purportedly from 2006, on his Wikipedia page.

Alan Rachins observes that many people asked if Larry Drake, who played the developmentally disabled messenger Benny Stulwicz, was actually developmentally disabled himself. He's not, but was so convincing he won two Emmys for his performance.

During "Law's" run, Drake received raves for his performance as the villainous Robert Durant in Sam Raimi's 1990 film "Darkman." Since the show, Drake, 64, has had a number of guest roles on TV shows. He's also provided the voice for "Star Wars" character Kazdan Paratus in two video games.

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• The first season of "L.A. Law" is out on DVD


• "L.A. Law" was groundbreaking in 1980s, taking on issues other shows wouldn't touch


• Jimmy Smits: Law school applications went up during show's run


• Alan Rachins: All the characters were served, and we had great camaraderie

(CNN) -- "L.A. Law" had buzz right from the moment it premiered in 1986.

Co-created by Steven Bochco, hot off his success with "Hill Street Blues," the series was set at the high-priced Los Angeles law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak.

The cast was glossy and diverse, including Jimmy Smits, Blair Underwood, Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, Susan Dey, Richard Dysart, Alan Rachins and Corbin Bernsen.

Most of all, it pushed the boundaries of the legal show the way "Hill Street" did with cop shows.

"L.A. Law's" principals argued cases involving rape, capital punishment, big business, child molestation, AIDS and medical malpractice at a time when such subjects were seldom mentioned on prime-time television, and certainly not in such detail. This was no "Perry Mason," or even "The Defenders."

Bochco being Bochco, the hard stuff was paired with moments of silly humor and steamy sex (or silly sex and steamy humor), making for a high-wire balance of drama and comedy.

One first-season episode got people talking about a fictional sex act called the "Venus Butterfly"; later, the show actually killed off a character by dropping her down an elevator shaft.

The big hair and big-shouldered suits of the '80s may be gone, but the show remains influential. David E. Kelley, a real-life lawyer who later created "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal," got his television start as a writer on "L.A. Law."

The show's first season is finally out on DVD, with the second expected to follow in a few months. CNN spoke to Smits, now a star of "Sons of Anarchy" who played idealistic Hispanic attorney Victor Sifuentes, and Alan Rachins, who played bottom-line-oriented partner Douglas Brackman Jr. and later starred on "Dharma and Greg," about the show and its impact.

The following is a condensed version of the interviews, which were done separately:

CNN: How did you get the part?

Jimmy Smits: I was actually working in Boston at the time doing a "Spenser: For Hire," and a manager sent me the (description) and said it was the guys from "Hill Street Blues," and would I like to go and meet on this? I went to New York to meet some executives, and they threw a bunch of legalese at (me to perform). I'm a slow, kind of methodical study, so I didn't really do very well. I was so depressed.

One of my friends in California said, "You didn't meet this Bochco guy. You met some lady who was weeding people out! Get on a People Express flight and stay with me and try to get in and set up another appointment."

I borrowed money, came out here -- and eventually got an audition with Steven Bochco and (director) Gregory Hoblit. I met with Steven and he has all this sports memorabilia and he was swinging a baseball bat, and I said, if it doesn't go well, do I get one of those over my head? But it went well.

Alan Rachins: I'm married to Bochco's sister (Joanna Frank, who later played Brackman's wife, Sheila, on "L.A. Law"), which is how we were able to invite him to the L.A. film festival to see Henry Jaglom's film "Always." It was right at the time when (Bochco) was developing "L.A. Law." What I did in that particular Jaglom film was the spark that brought Brackman to me.

CNN: I understand the portrait of Brackman's father was of your actual dad?

Rachins: That was my dad. Considering they made a point in the pilot that Douglas was the son of one of the co-founders and that Douglas didn't quite measure up to the great man his father was, my father's picture had a certain amount of charisma to it and I thought it was really apt.

My relatives were thrilled and delighted that he was there. When there was an episode where my father's picture did not get on screen, I'd get a call from one of my relatives saying, "Alan! No picture! What happened?"

CNN: When did you know you were a hit?

Smits: At the end of the second or third season, I was on a plane going back to New York a lot, and there was a person I was sitting next to who worked in admissions in colleges. And they were going to some convention and they were talking about how the number of law school applications had skyrocketed since the show had aired. That's when I knew we were making an impact.

Rachins: Lawyers liked the show. They often wrote the writers to ask for a particular summation on a case they were working for that they saw on the show, so they could incorporate it into their own summation. And every once in awhile, a guy would come up to me and say, "I'm the Brackman" -- he's the business guy in his law firm.

CNN: Tell us about the camaraderie.

Smits: The conference room scenes took a long time to shoot because it was a circular table and you had to shoot it a particular way. But it was such a great time we had during those conference room scenes because we were all together and we were always talking about the work. It felt like we were part of a theater ensemble.

Rachins: One of the things that made it such a happy set was how everyone's character was served through the years, so that no one ran away from the show. It was an ensemble that had everyone making terrific contributions.

CNN: What were some of your favorite moments?

Smits: I remember James Earl Jones working on a case, and he's kind of an idol of mine, and it was Susan (Dey)'s case with him, but I do remember coming in one or two days just to see how he'd handle closing arguments.

Rachins: My character had some interesting adventures with women, including my wife, so when I had some battles with my wife (on the show), that was fun. And the affairs I had -- one with my father's former mistress, and another with a sex therapist, were particularly adventurous and fun.

CNN: What are you up to now?

Rachins: I'm looking for that third TV series. I loved my first two -- I got to work with Steve Bochco, one of the best ever, and Chuck Lorre, one of the best ever. I have an independent film and guest spots here and there. Fingers crossed, I'm looking for that third series.

Smits: I think the ("Sons of Anarchy") writers room gets together in late March, beginning of April. We start (shooting) in May. (So) I'm trying to look for jobs, man. You're always doing "Death of a Salesman." It's always Willy Loman, knocking on doors.