Denny Crane and Alan Shore

Tagged: Denny Crane, Alan Shore, David E. Kelley, Boston Legal, ABC TV, male bonding,

I'm a sucker for a good old-fashioned love story. From Romeo and Juliet , to Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and even Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Guinevere and Lancelot, to King Edward VIII and Wallis Warfield Simpson and the list goes on.

Love, it's said, makes the world go 'round. Love is a many splendored thing as the movie of the same name so beautifully illustrates. Lara and Dr. Zhivago's doomed love affair still makes me weep. But there are other love affairs that many people would not understand.

Wait! Before you get ahead of me, I'm not referring to love between two gay men or two lesbians, although as Jerry Seinfeld's character on the hilarious Seinfeld TV show proclaimed, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." And indeed there isn't.

No, I'm referring to a fictional love affair between two heterosexual men, namely Denny Crane and Alan Shore as played by the enormously talented actors, William Shatner and James Spader, of the defunct TV show (dammit!) Boston Legal.

I've discussed this TV relationship with many people and have been quite surprised by the amount of negativity and downright disgust uttered by them over a beautiful heterosexual male bonding.

Ok, so it's just a TV show about two fictitious characters but let's stop to examine it in a little more depth. Their relationship is about love. Isn't this how we were brought up? To love one another? So what if it's two notorious womanizers? They are equal opportunity lovers. And they also love each other, without shame or embarrassment.

To see people unblushingly proclaim their love for each other gives me hope that one day the human race will become civilized. We are certainly a long way from attaining that goal, given all the war and strife in the world. The Beatles sang "All You Need is Love." That says it all.

People since time immemorial have been extolling the virtues of love. So why should we put restraints on people professing their love for each other just because their love doesn't fit into our own narrow concept of what love should be?

David E. Kelley, the creator of Boston Legal, among many other wonderful shows, is to be commended for his outstanding writing, in addition to his enormous courage in creating these two lovable characters - Denny Crain and Alan Shore.

Watching these two characters dancing on the balcony with each other, sharing cigars, a drink, charming stories, and showing their deep affection for each other kindles a warm glow within my heart and a hope for our future.

Yes, it's fiction indeed. But it needn't be. It's unabashed love for a fellow human without all the macho, phony butt slapping camaraderie that some men feel they must engage in to show their affection, lest they be mistaken for being gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis is the author of the books I Am Your Disease (The Many Faces of Addiction), Slaying the Addiction Monster - An All-Inclusive Look at Drug Addiction in America Today, and her first children's book, The Addiction Monster and the Square Cat. This book is consistently on Amazon.com's Best Sellers List in Substance Abuse. All 3 books are available for purchase at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders online and other sites in addition to the author's website, http://www.theaddictionmonster.com

Sheryl is a retired medical transcriptionist and radio DJ who also did voiceovers for TV. Married, with one living son, having lost her youngest son Scott, who was a paramedic and an RN to the disease of addiction. Happily married for 42 years to Jack, a retired 8th grade science teacher. Her oldest son Dale is a graduate student in Environmental Sciences and has his own band, New Gravity.

Sheryl and family live in Palm Bay, Florida. Sheryl is originally from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and is a citizen of both Australia and the US. The McGinnis family is owned by one beautiful big black lab and four spoiled rotten cats.