''We hope that everyone sort of believes in the moral integrity of each character.''
That is certainly the fervent hope of ABC, which is giving ''The Practice'' a six-week trial run in the plum 10 P.M. time slot usually occupied by ''NYPD Blue'' (That show will be on hiatus until April 15).
''Dylan McDermott will be a TV star. The supporting cast is excellent,'' says Orange County criminal defense lawyer, president of ABC Entertaiment, who declares herself ''1,000 percent,'' behind the show -- which was developed before her move from NBC to ABC last year.
Adds Ms. Tarses: ''And nobody writes legal ethical issues better than David Kelley.''
Indeed, ABC's commitment to ''The Practice'' is, if anything, an expression of faith in Mr. Kelley, who notwithstanding his early excursion into law practice seems to have been destined to write 47-minute dramas.
Born in Maine, Mr. Kelley grew up outside Boston and graduated from Princeton and Boston University School of Law. As a beginning civil litigant he often found himself spending hours in courthouses waiting for his cases to be called.
