I remember Ally myself from way back. It was quite fun and super popular, agree but often felt more like Phoebe from Friends working in an office rather than a proper legal show.
I've yet to watch Boston Legal - so many people have recommended it on Twitter in response to this query, and some have also mentioned The Practice.
I am really surprised about Good Wife too - some non-lawyer friends watch it, but I've yet to meet a lawyer who's a self-professed fan. Suits on the other hand is like an epidemic. I guess that whole strutting around in power suits and being a bad ass quite appeals to a lot of lawyers.
I've stopped watching Suits at some point through the 3rd season, which became a bit ridiculous, but Good Wife has just been getting better and is now coming into S5. And the trials are far better than Suits, legally speaking, though they still stretch credulity a bit sometimes. Suits, however, has barely any law whatsoever, and it's more about scheming and plotting, it seems to me.
One character I absolutely adore in Suits though, and who I think single-handedly makes the show is Louis Litt. There are few other TV characters, if any, whom in the space of a single episode I've hated, loved, pitied, laughed with and at, understood and cried for. If wish they made a show where Louis & Harvey start a firm together. :)
What ultimately clinches GW over Suits for me though, as a law firm geek, are the partnership politics. Both are unrealistic in their own way (the concept of equity partnership in GW changes by the week, 4th year associate seems to be the most senior rung on the career ladder before partnership, and their partnership deed must have been written on toilet paper and lost or something, and where the hell has Julius disappeared to???), but there are many more dynamic interactions between the partners. In Suits it basically boils down to 2 or 3 partners, most of whom are a bit bland (Harvey and Louis excepting of course).
Newsroom is great, agreed, though the last season turned a bit rom-commy for my tastes at times. Will still be watching the second half of the season, of course, when it's out. House of Cards only seen the first 2 episodes so far but it looks astounding!
If you like journalism and quality TV, and you haven't seen it yet, I've yet to see a better depiction of news than Season 5 of The Wire (especially after watching season 1 to 4, which are a treat)...
I also did some Googling earlier and came across this post, which highly recommends Murder One as quality legal drama:
http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/the-five-best-legal-shows-of-all-time.php
Anyone seen it?