Ally McBeal season 4
season of television series
The fourth season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on October 23, 2000, concluded on May 21, 2001, and consisted of 23 episodes. The entire season originally aired Mondays at 9pm, just like the seasons before.
It was released on DVD as a six disc boxed set under the title of Ally McBeal: Season Four on February 10, 2002, and this was the very first season of Ally McBeal to be released on DVD.
The fourth season had an average rating of 12.0 million viewers in the United States and was ranked #40 on the complete ranking sheet of all the year's shows. This was the third highest rated season of Ally McBeal.
On the 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards, the show won its final two Emmys in the categories of Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series for the work of Nikki Valko and Ken Miller, and in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, for Peter MacNicol's portrayal of John Cage. On the 58th Golden Globe Awards, Robert Downey Jr. won an award for his portrayal of Larry Paul and got a standing ovation as he approached the stage.
Crew
The season was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and David E. Kelley Productions. The executive producers were Bill D'Elia and the creator David E. Kelley, who also wrote all 23 episodes just like the seasons before. Staff writers Alicia Martin, Barb Mackintosh, Melissa Rosenberg, Kerry Lenhart and John J. Sakmar each co-wrote one episode with Kelley.
The public source identifies “Ally McBeal season 4” as season of television series. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ally, McBeal and season.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ally McBeal season 4”, the useful work is to connect “season of television series” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3727559. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ally McBeal season 4”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ally McBeal season 4 primary sources, Ally McBeal season 4 archive and Ally research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ally McBeal season 4”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ally McBeal season 4” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.