NAMES IN THE NEWS : ‘L.A. Law’ Role Becomes Winner

Actress Michelle Greene said she was able to get producer Steven Bochco to make her “L.A. Law” character independent and more attractive because Bochco is a “feminist at heart.”

Greene plays lawyer Abby Perkins in the NBC series.

The actress, in an interview for the Nov. 11 issue of TV Guide magazine, said she decided to talk to the show’s producers about her character after the first season.

Abby was “never seen doing anything involving the law,” Greene said. “She was this mousy creature to whom all kinds of dreadful things kept happening. She had an alcoholic husband, she got beaten up, her child was kidnaped, she had a messy divorce.”

Greene said she confronted the producers, saying, “I guess every show has to have the obligatory female victim in it, but I don’t want to play the victim any more. I don’t want to spend all my time crying on camera.”