Editing Ally McBeal (section)

==Feminist criticism==
''Ally McBeal'' received some criticism from TV critics and feminists who found the title character annoying and demeaning to women (specifically regarding professional women<ref>Hammers, Michelle L. "Cautionary Tales of Liberation and Female Professionalism: The Case Against ''Ally McBeal''" ''Western Journal of Communication'' '''69''' 2, April (2005): 168. "The ease with which ''McBeal''{{'s}} depictions of women are reincorporated into dominant masculinist discourses ... is particularly problematic for professional women. The increased danger that co-optation poses for professional women is due to the complex ways in which the discursive sedimentation that surrounds the female body, particularly as it has been traditionally sexualized and linked to emotionality, operates as a barrier to women's full and effective participation in professional spheres. Thus, ''McBeal'' operates as a cautionary tale about the dangers presented by the co-optation of postfeminist and third-wave feminist discourses as they relate to current professional discourses surrounding the female body."</ref>) because of her perceived flightiness, lack of demonstrated legal knowledge, short skirts,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988616,00.html|title=Is Feminism Dead? (Chat Transcript – Phyllis Chesler) |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=June 29, 1998}}</ref> and emotional instability. Perhaps the most notorious example of the debate sparked by the show was the June 29, 1998, cover story of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, which juxtaposed the character of Ally McBeal with three real-life pioneering feminists ([[Susan B. Anthony]], [[Betty Friedan]], [[Gloria Steinem]]) and asked "Is Feminism Dead?"<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19980629,00.html|title=Is Feminism Dead? |date=June 29, 1998 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |language=en-us|access-date=February 24, 2018}}</ref> In the January 18, 1999 ''Ally McBeal'' episode, "Love Unlimited", Ally talks to her co-worker John Cage about a dream she had, saying "You know, I had a dream that they put my face on the cover of ''Time'' magazine as 'the face of feminism'."<ref name=McBeal>{{Cite episode |title=[[Ally McBeal (season 2)#ep35|Love Unlimited]] |series=Ally McBeal |publisher=David E. Kelley Productions and [[20th Century Fox Television]] |network=[[Fox Broadcasting Company]] |season=2 |number=12 |date=1999-01-18 |first=David E. |last=Kelley |author-link=David E. Kelley}}</ref>