PUBLIC LIVES: ARREST CLOUDS SITCOM'S PLOT

The television writer and producer David E. Kelley fills his lawyer shows
("Ally McBeal" on Fox and "The Practice" on ABC) with equal parts tension,
humor and pathos. But there was an off-camera twist this week that he might
find too painful to use for a ripped-from-the- headlines episode.

The actor Robert Downey Jr., who signed on to play a funny but sad lawyer
on "Ally McBeal" this season, was arrested over the weekend on drug
charges. The police in Palm Springs, Calif., said that they found Mr.
Downey — and some cocaine and methamphetamines — in a hotel room at a
resort. The Associated Press reported that he was released on Sunday on
$15,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court by the end of the year.

Mr. Kelley had built the season on "Ally McBeal" around Mr. Downey's
guest-starring role. Mr. Downey had completed work on eight episodes before
the arrest, but was scheduled to appear in at least two more, one of which
is being shot in Los Angeles this week.

Neither Mr. Kelley's office nor the Fox network would comment yesterday on
the arrest or on what it might mean for Mr. Downey's involvement in the show.

Mr. Downey joined the cast in August, shortly after he was released from
prison after serving one year on drug charges. Mr. Kelley, who jumped at
the chance to hire Mr. Downey once he was out of prison, rewrote several
episodes to make room for him. Last night's episode was the fourth
featuring Mr. Downey and included him singing Joni Mitchell's Christmas
song "The River."