TCA THE BUZZ FROM THE TV PRESS TOUR THE RISE, FALL AND RISE OF 'THE PRACTICE'.

Byline: David Kronke

David E. Kelley remembers the moment he realized his ABC legal drama ``The Practice'' was virtually doomed - when he switched on Fox's ``Joe Millionaire,'' which was airing in the Monday time slot to which his series had just been consigned after years of success on Sunday night.

``I wanted to see what it was,'' Kelley relates, saying he turned on the show while his wife, actress Michele Pfeiffer, sat beside him on their sofa reading a book. ``After 10 minutes, my wife looked up and asked'' - and here, he assumed a disgusted tone - `` 'What are you watching?' '' Ten minutes after that, I reached for the remote to change the channel, and she said, 'Wait, wait wait wait wait wait!' I knew then it was a monster.''

After bombing on Mondays, it surprised some in the industry that ABC even renewed ``The Practice'' for next season and shocked them even more when more than half the cast received pink slips - two days after they had flown to New York to appear before advertisers to trumpet the fact that they, and the series, were returning.

Kelley describes the day he delivered the bad news as ``the toughest day I can remember, career-wise, including days when I found out my shows were canceled.

``It shouldn't be as hard to lose half a show as it is to lose a whole one, but that was the case,'' Kelley told the journalists assembled at the Television Critics Association's semi-annual press tour in Hollywood.

Six regulars, including series star Dylan McDermott, were scratched from the 7-year-old series. ``Practice'' veterans (Emmy winners all) Steve Harris, Michael Badalucco and Camryn Manheim were retained, along with recent cast addition Jessica Capshaw. Kelley then turned around and hired indie-film star James Spader to join the cast, playing an ``ethically challenged'' attorney, and is close to signing Sharon Stone for a story arc that will last at least three episodes.

``It was very quiet on the other end'' of the phone conversations Kelley had to make, he admits. ``Dylan was the most upset, which was legitimate - he was brought to New York and put on stage only to hear he was not coming back. I understood.'' McDermott's salary was the highest among the cast, and an obvious starting point when the network reduced its licensing fee for the series from approximately $6.5 million per episode to a reported $3.5 million.

Though Kelley initially blasted ABC for moving the series - its subsequent performance was, he concedes, ``disastrous'' - he admitted, ``We wondered, why isn't our audience passionate enough to follow us to Mondays? ... Perhaps it was because we weren't compelling enough for them to follow us. I hear that. That's the challenge - to make it compelling again for viewers.''

For his part, Spader cops to not understanding what kind of controversy he was stumbling into. Admitting he has never seen the show, he adds, ``I was blissfully ignorant of almost everything you guys are talking about.''

THE ANTI-HYPE

Reluctant Kennedy

A reporter approached Jamie Kennedy, star of the WB's ambush comedy series ``The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,'' at the network's press-tour party and asked him a question about the hidden-camera show genre. Kennedy bolted for refuge in his personal publicist, who informed said reporter that the performer was there ``to have fun'' and not to interact with the press. At, we repeat, an event staged for the benefit of the press. Seems Kennedy only likes approaching strangers uninvited and giving them a hard time when he's the one doing it.

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

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