Scott Bakula's on the Case at Boston Legal

• Feb 12, 2008 03:00 AM ET
• by N.F. Mendoza

Fifteen years after their Murphy Brown characters rocked a romance, Candice Bergen and Scott Bakula renew their chemistry on Boston Legal (Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET, ABC). An avowed "huge fan" of Legal, Bakula plays Jack, Shirley's brash law-school love. We caught up with Bakula in between live theater gigs.

TV Guide: Was the idea here to hark back to Peter and Murphy?
Scott Bakula: I was dying to know, but there were no writers — therefore no rewrites — so I don't know! It was oddly coincidental, since Jack [like Peter] plays piano and sings. I'm very curious. He's energy and zaniness — very high-powered, in everyone's face. The first time I meet Alan [James Spader] I tell him, "Get me coffee." Then, "Did you hear me?"

TV Guide: How was it to work with Candice again?
Bakula: Wonderful. She's so gracious, welcoming and generous and she's just the same as she was [then].

TV Guide: Do fans more remember you as Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap) or Capt. Archer (Enterprise)?
Bakula: [Laughs] Both. Sci-fi fans are very devoted and continue to be. I'll be going to the 20th-anniversary convention for Quantum.

TV Guide: Want to go back to series TV?
Bakula: I'm ready. In a perfect world, I'd like to do an old-fashioned three-camera show.

TV Guide: Loved "Papa Jeff" on The New Adventures of Old Christine — will you be back?
Bakula: I don't think so. It was a one-ended storyline. It would be awkward to keep hanging around with my daughter, her boyfriend and his ex-wife. But I'd love to go back.

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