The WORST episodes of Ally McBeal

Every episode of Ally McBeal ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Ally McBeal!

Ally McBeal is a young attorney who joins a prestigious law firm with a highly sexual environment and whose staff includes Ally's ex-boyfriend. The series contains fantasy sequences, flashbacks and voiceovers to reveal what Ally is really thinking. Many episodes contain an appearance by singer Vonda Shepard, who performed the show's theme song.

Last Updated: 11/3/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
Sideshow
star
6.35
305 votes

#1 - Sideshow

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/22/1999

Ally consults Tracy for advice now that she and Billy have kissed.

Directors: Alex Graves
The Affair
star
6.61
422 votes

#2 - The Affair

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/29/1997

The widow of Ally's former law professor asks Ally to speak at his funeral, not knowing she once had an affair with him.

Directors: Arlene Sanford
Troubled Water
star
6.78
297 votes

#3 - Troubled Water

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/22/1999

Ally's Thanksgiving turns into a debacle when she invites her colleagues and her parents to her apartment for dinner.

Directors: Joanna Kerns
Seeing Green
star
6.79
299 votes

#4 - Seeing Green

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/8/1999

A psychiatrist prescribes Ally medication in an effort to end her Al Green hallucinations; Cage and Nelle represent a student who was suspended from school after he kissed a co-ed; Billy attends a male sensitivity class.

Directors: Peter MacNicol
Heat Wave
star
6.80
265 votes

#5 - Heat Wave

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/15/1999

Risa Helms sues Ally for inflicting emotion distress; Georgia expresses outrage when Billy hires a sexy twenty-year-old as his new assistant; Ling tells Fish that she has been faking in bed.

Directors: Alex Graves
Changes
star
6.80
298 votes

#6 - Changes

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/29/1999

Billy and Cage represent a woman who claims her employees sexually harassed her after she slept with her boss and, despite her lack of experience, became editor-in-chief of a magazine.

Directors: Arlene Sanford
The Green Monster
star
6.89
272 votes

#7 - The Green Monster

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/10/1999

Ally hires a male escort in hopes of making Greg jealous; Fish and Cage represent a woman who destroyed her husband's most cherished possessions after she discovered he was having an affair; Billy objects to Georgia's revealing attire.

Directors: Michael Schultz
One Hundred Tears Away
star
6.95
365 votes

#8 - One Hundred Tears Away

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1997

Ally is arrested for tripping a woman in a supermarket, then faces a Bar Association hearing on her emotional competence to practice law.

Directors: Sandy Smolan
The Blame Game
star
7.01
369 votes

#9 - The Blame Game

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/19/1998

As Ally, Cage and Georgia try a case about liability in an airplane crash, Ally is reunited with male model Glenn, her recent one-night-stand, who makes her feel guilty about using him as a sexual object.

Directors: Sandy Smolan
Pursuit of Loneliness
star
7.02
240 votes

#10 - Pursuit of Loneliness

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/21/2000

Ally rebuffs the advances of a coffee shop worker; a man going through a divorce attempts to annul his marriage on the grounds that he unknowingly wed a lesbian; Billy tells Sandy about his feelings for her.

Directors: Jonathan Pontell
Happy Birthday, Baby
star
7.04
343 votes

#11 - Happy Birthday, Baby

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/6/1998

Ally is mortified when her friends throw her a surprise birthday party. A man with a foot fetish refuses to use insanity as a defense.

Directors: Thomas Schlamme
The Promise
star
7.06
378 votes

#12 - The Promise

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/1997

Ally saves an obese man's life, only to become the object of his affection.

The Pursuit of Unhappiness
star
7.07
233 votes

#13 - The Pursuit of Unhappiness

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/26/2001

A couple about to marry find their relationship thrown into turmoil when their attorneys -- Jackson and Larry -- bicker over a prenuptial agreement; a man attempts to have his father declared incompetent on the grounds that he's too happy.

Watch Now:Amazon
Compromising Positions
star
7.07
587 votes

#14 - Compromising Positions

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/1997

Ally meets the firm's other founding partner when she defends him on charges of soliciting a prostitute, and feels like a prostitute herself when Fish asks her to date a prospective client.

Directors: Jonathan Pontell
Watch Now:Amazon
The Inmates (1)
star
7.08
344 votes

#15 - The Inmates (1)

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/27/1998

The firm joins forces with Bobby Donell and his staff when a client is accused of killing her husband; Renee is arrested for assault; a waiter alleges he was fired because he isn't gay. (Crossover event - The Practice - 2x26 - Axe Murderer (2))

Directors: Michael Schultz
Watch Now:Amazon
Sex, Lies and Politics
star
7.09
300 votes

#16 - Sex, Lies and Politics

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/1/1999

Cage and Ling represent a bookstore owner who was driven out of business by a politician who claimed that the store sold pornography. Ally and Billy deal with the aftermath of their kiss.

Directors: Arlene Sanford
Watch Now:Amazon
Saving Santa
star
7.09
293 votes

#17 - Saving Santa

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/13/1999

Cage faces off against Georgia when a department store Santa claims he was fired because he is too fat.

Directors: Rachel Talalay
Watch Now:Amazon
Theme of Life
star
7.09
313 votes

#18 - Theme of Life

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/9/1998

Ally defends a doctor accused of transplanting a pig's liver into a woman without her permission; Ally and Georgia square off in a kickboxing match; and Whipper dumps Fish for toying again with Janet Reno.

Directors: Dennie Gordon
Watch Now:Amazon
Car Wash
star
7.10
277 votes

#19 - Car Wash

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/25/1999

Ally has sex with a total stranger inside a car wash; a bride-to-be seeks the firm's help when her minister catches her making love to someone other than her fiancé; Renee launches her own law practice.

Directors: Billy Dickson
Watch Now:Amazon
The Playing Field
star
7.11
323 votes

#20 - The Playing Field

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/16/1998

Ally faces off against a child prodigy-attorney; a woman claims she is the victim of harassment because, unlike her female co-workers, she refused to use sex as a means of advancing her career.

Directors: Jonathan Pontell
Watch Now:Amazon
The Kiss
star
7.11
470 votes

#21 - The Kiss

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/22/1997

Ally has a confusing first date with client Ronald Cheanie... and teams up with Georgia to represent a television anchorwoman fired because of her age and sex.

Directors: Dennie Gordon
Watch Now:Amazon
Fear of Flirting
star
7.12
230 votes

#22 - Fear of Flirting

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/19/2001

Jenny represents Raymond in a sexual harassment case; complications arise when Raymond expresses an interest in dating Jenny and Glenn expresses an interest in dating Ally; Fish moves into the hole behind Cage's toilet when Cage mysteriously disappears.

Directors: Greg Germann
Watch Now:Amazon
Buried Pleasures
star
7.13
275 votes

#23 - Buried Pleasures

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/1/1999

Ling has a dream about kissing Ally; Billy and Renee defend a woman being sued by female co-workers for being too sexy; Cage believes that Nelle enjoys being spanked.

Directors: Mel Damski
Watch Now:Amazon
Pyramids on the Nile
star
7.13
305 votes

#24 - Pyramids on the Nile

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/15/1999

A company fires two employees for breaking its "date and tell" office policy. Billy grows jealous when he sees Greg and Ally kissing. Ling asks Fish to hire her as counsel.

Directors: Elodie Keene
Watch Now:Amazon
I Know Him By Heart
star
7.13
270 votes

#25 - I Know Him By Heart

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/24/1999

Ally decides to take a more aggressive approach in her search for a mate; a lesbian who wants to have a baby sues her insurance company when it refuses to cover the fertilization process; Nelle feels threatened by the relationship Cage shares with Ally.

Directors: Jonathan Pontell
Watch Now:Amazon