THEY’RE BRINGING BACK LAW & ORDER!!

YES!!! Please, don't fuck it up!

What is Benjamin Bratt up to these days?

We’ve been telling these motherfuckers to bring back Law & Order for years, and it finally happened. The system works!

You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone, and I’ve learned my lesson! I took the show for granted and hardly ever watched it. Now I solemnly swear that I’ll never miss a new episode.

We'll clamor for Jesse L. Martin or Alana de la Garza and we'll get Milena Govich.

I will be more impressed and jubilant when they bring back Lenny/Jerry Orbach

I hope Stephanie March has spent through her divorce settlement from Bobby Flay so they can bring her in.

She was the best female ADA of all the SVU shows.

* SVU shows = Law & Order shows

I'd rather they bring back Cagney and Lacey. Or Hill Street Blues.

I'm available!

So am I!

DUN-DUN!

Isn't Angie Harmon fully occupied by being conservative now?

I wonder what happened to Michael Moriarty? Other than being drunk…

Michael Moriarty is supposedly bonkers a la Randy Quaid. He was posting Alex Jones type conspiracy stuff on MySpace back in the 2000's.

A shame because he was a good actor. Speaking of Cagney and Lacey, he did a memorable guest appearance on it playing a Serpico type officer.

Michael Moriarty was a right wing conspiracy theory nut way before it became a thing. After he left L&O, he moved to Canada, claiming to be a "political refugee" or some such bullshit.

Seppetha and Stephanie and Tamara!

Bring back Pino and the hot lesbian character just fired from SVU.

Finally, something other than "Law & Order: Perverts"

Is Jesse L Martin coming back?

Tired of the SVUs. Stopped watching when OIivia got the kid.

Jesse L would be a good partner for Pino.

Has Jesse worked since leaving the show?

Wasn't Jesse one of the stars of RENT? Wasn't that after he left L&O?

Jesse has a role on The Flash.

I hope that they will be able to duplicate the magic. Probably the best drama series ever.

Jerry will be missed.

Will Mr. Big make a brief appearance?

Is Angie Harmon vaccinated?

[quote]Probably the best drama series ever.

Excuse me!?!

R27, do they allow horses to get vaccinated?

It would be delicious if Sam were brought back as Manhattan DA, and split his time between criminal cases and Trump cases.

I'd love to see a "Ripped from the headlines" episode where they investigate corrupt ex-president Ronald Bump

[quote]What is Benjamin Bratt up to these days?

Who cares? He had his chance!

I really liked the cast in the last two seasons: Linus Roche, Alana De La Garza, Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson. I wish they had gotten a couple of more years.

The fact that they were able to still have a compelling show at the end, R33, proves that it had no business being cancelled and bodes well for their chances to “recreate the magic” as someone said earlier.

It's a joyous day in the day room at the nursing home!

Jesse L. Martin joined L&O after being a big hit on Broadway in the original cast of Rent. Wolf and the other producers let him miss the last four episodes of Season 15 so he could film the movie version of Rent, which largely used the OBC. Michael Imperoli filled in for him as a different character.

That sort of thing is very unusual. Tom Selleck was the first choice of both Spielberg and Lucas for Indiana Jones but the Magnum PI producers refused to delay that season's start date for two weeks so he could be available, despite being offered numerous incentives to do so. Ironically, Indiana Jones came in under time and under budget and Selleck could have done both. Selleck really stuck it to the MPI producers when his contract came up for renewal.

L&O was cancelled at the last minute, when everyone was taking it for granted it would be renewed. That's why there was no proper finale. Wolf and NBC got in a pissing match over money, so Wolf took his toy and went home. It was a real shame because the show had the best overall cast it had had in several years and the ratings were going up those last three seasons.

I could never stand that gong or cow bell that accompanied every change of scene. The show is on in reruns as much as the Golden Girls. Now that’s a dated program in need of a fresh perspective. We have entirely too much crime and gloom and stridency on TV as it is, hell, in the world alone. Still, stale scripted drama is preferable to some reality stripe of dung.

I used to find BD Wong on SVU sexy.

I miss L&O:LA. I don't think they gave it enough of a chance.

There was somewhat of a finale. One thing I remember, Van Buren’s cancer was in remission. They were having some type celebration when she found out.

Let ‘em. Again, I won’t watch it.

[QUOTE] One thing I remember, Van Buren’s cancer was in remission. They were having some type celebration when she found out.

I hope they bring S. Epatha Merkerson back.

R39, I liked it, too. I also liked the other failed Law and Order spinoff, Trial By Jury

That celebration was Merkerson's farewell. She was leaving the show, before it was canceled.

I never watched LA or Trial By Jury, but wasn’t one of them real and not a scripted drama?

Merkerson told Wolf and the other suits a year in advance that she wouldn't be renewing her contract and they appreciated that because it gave them plenty of time to write her off. That's one reason they gave her her own story arc that last season (as well as for her years of excellent performances and low key maintenance) and wrapping that up did kind of serve as a show finale.

The rumor at the time was she was going to be replaced by Kathryn Erbe in her Criminal Intent character, Lt. Eames.

I'm sure they'll have Waterson on for some run of shows. I mean the dude is pushing 80 and probably can't do 22 episodes a year but they might get him for a few eps a year.

[quote] Alana De La Garza, Jeremy Sisto

I think they’re on a new FBI show. She’s still beautiful.

Sisto was good, but we’ll do fine without him.

[quote]I used to find BD Wong on SVU sexy.

BD is great as Awkwafina's dad on her series "Nora From Queens". Its funny hearing BD speak in a New Yawk accent, with a goofy Beatle haircut. His character doesn't exactly dress as well as his L&O character. The show is actually extremely funny. The grandmother is hilarious, she used to be on 'Roseanne'.

Is BD a NY native like Awkwafina?

I am going to punish you with death and kill your f---ing dog, r7

I had a friend who used to always tell me I should watch Law & Order UK. He said it was terrific, and while following the same formula as the US show, it felt fresh and fun. I never did but I kind of want to now.

Seasons 1-5 of L&O UK are on Prime for free with ads.

I was watching a very old rerun this morning from season 2 and Jerry Orbach showed up as a sleazy defense attorney. That was a year before he joined the regular cast replacing Paul Sorvino as one of the detectives.

Isn't it odd that Orbach and Martin both played hard boiled detectives after having been song and dance men on Broadway?

R53

L&O:UK is great, especially if you like British drama. They've recycled many of the L&O Mothership episodes but with a British twist, consisting of a different legal system and the feel and cadence of British drama - writing and actors.

I loved it. Try a few episodes. The cast is wonderful: hunky Ben Daniels who plays for our team and has long been out, Harriet Walter, hunky (in a more typical way than Ben) Jamie Bamber, and an actor I had never seen before, Bradley Walsh, who is brilliant. There are cast changes along the way, though.

I could go on and on, but TL;DR. I'll put it on my L&O blog.

Oh, and please God no Bratt or Govich, among a few other huge casting mistakes along the way.

Isn’t Bradley Walsh part of the Fam?

I knew someone who worked for a subsidiary of Dick Wolf Productions. And he said Dick makes 250 million per year just for the syndication of all his shows!!! For reruns!!! 250,000,000 per year!!! That's not including what he makes for the the initial First run of the shows!!!

Dude is so rich!!!

He likes to keep below the radar, so his paydays are never talked about publicly.

Good. I love that show in its earlier forms, and I love Criminal Intent with D’Onofrio and Erbe most of all. My least favorite was Goldblum and Burrows.

Because I’m a New Yorker, I know lots of actors who worked on the show. It’s always fun to see them playing a supporting character. Many had repeat appearances as different people; a victim in this episode, a cop in another. And it’s fun to see the various real locations.

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I’ll put it on and it’s like a lullabye.

It's always fascinating to see so many New York actors make guest appearances before joining the mothership or one of the spin-offs as different characters as regulars. I never notices that until reruns.

^ noticed, not notices

I like how the first episodes really captured the violence and class divisions of the day. The coroners would be completely exacerbated which aligns with the 2000 murders a year back then.

No all white, all rich Manhattan of today’s SVU.

[quote]It's always fascinating to see so many New York actors make guest appearances before joining the mothership or one of the spin-offs as different characters as regulars. I never notices that until reruns.

It became almost like a game to go to a Broadway show, open your Playbill, and try to find all of the "L&O" references in the actors' bios.

A Zombie Elaine guest spot, please!

It sucked without Orbach and it still will and there sure is no way they're bringing him back. RIP Jerry.

I remember a few years ago on the Tonys when they showed a clip of Danny Burstein in six different roles in the various L&Os. They mentioned how many New York actors were able to support themselves due to their L&O work. Burstein finally won his Tony on his seventh nomination last Sunday night.

I am watching it right now on WE tv. (Diane Wiest is the DA.) I’d rather watch an old episode I’ve seen a couple times than whatever new drama the network is pushing.

Can’t wait to see who they cast.

I have a friend who was on two juries, r66.

They should cast Danny Burstein!

RIP, Rebecca Luker.

I never really watched Law And Order. I have watched Law And Order : SVU which was never really a good show even back in ca. 2001. I have also watched in recent years Law And Order: Criminal Intent- that was a good show. The new show with Christopher Meloni STINKS. I will give this new Law And Order a try.

Patricia Clarkson when she was still dewy.

Too bad Jill Henessy's ADA Claire Kincaid was killed off. I always liked her. Now watch as they bring back Elisabeth "Is it because I'm lesbian?" Rohm.

All the new shows suck now so hopefully this will be good.

Diane Wiest hated her time on L&O and they very dissatisfied with her work. She left on mutual agreement before her contract was up.

Love that show. I can’t stand SVU anymore, but I suppose in the beginning it was okay.

My very favorite episodes were the Criminal Intent episodes where Det. Goren played cat-and-mouse with his nemesis Nicole Wallace. I loved them together.

Please do not bring back Benjamin Bratt or Angie Harmon, the two most insufferable actors of the series.

SVU was their biggest hit

Not a D'Onofrio fan, r75. He's so self-indulgent.

[QUOTE] SVU was their biggest hit

You forgot the fourth S.

B.D. Wing was on SVU, no?

*Wong

Yes

D'onofrio's daughter is a good actress. She just spent two seasons on Animal Kingdom playing the young version of Ellen Barkin's character in flashback scenes.

Well, Daddy is a hambone, r83.

I hope they've read all of our notes and suggestions!

Serena Southerlyn being a lesbian is not enough for 2021. She must come back as a TRANS MAN PLAYED BY ELLIOTT PAGE!

I want young Jack McCoy deep inside me.

I know this is heresy, but in reruns I came to like Elisabeth Röhm as Serena Southerlyn. I worked as support staff in BigLaw for over 30 years and she was very typical. That little twist in her final episode was right on point.

But I still hate that Milena what's her name as a detective. Thank God she didn't last more than one season.

R87 definitely fuckable.

R87- I've thought for years that Sam Waterston is gay.

[quote]SVU was their biggest hit

No, not really. It was the one that somehow, inexplicably, despite Mariska, managed to survive the Wolf/network politics.

In 2010, Wolf could have brought back either the original or SVU for the budget NBC offered him but he was so pissed at NBC, he gave them the weaker show out off spite.

^ And that was because NBC expected him to take less of a salary than he wanted and he was hugely offended. It's a very long and very complicated story. Both shows could have come back except for Wolf's ego.

Yes, it was. It beat the shit out of the original in ratings for many years, bigger mainstream appeal and the franchises youngest audience viewership.

The public can never get enough rape and molestation, r93.

Law & Order SVU had the highest ratings of the three for years. Law & Order in the 00s didn’t hold the same weight it did in the 90s, and even then some other law/cop shows beat the shit out of it in ratings.

The new season of FBI SUCKS ASS. Horrible, horrible writing.

As mentioned above, L&O the original had the best overall cast it had had for years and the ratings were going up each of the last three seasons. Wolf got two paychecks for each of his shows. One for his personal services as creator/executive producer and another for the show's actual budget. He wanted a big increase for each for L&O. NBC thought his demands were over the top and counter-offered a lump sum for the two amounts together. If he wanted a a big personal increase he was free to take it out of the show's budget. Neither side budged and Wolf cancelled the show.

Waterson has sizemeat.

How have I - no stranger to television- managed to never watched any second of this show?!

RIP Lenny, he was my favorite. He had chemistry with whoever you paired him with.

[QUOTE] As mentioned above, L&O the original had the best overall cast it had had for years and the ratings were going up each of the last three seasons. Wolf got two paychecks for each of his shows. One for his personal services as creator/executive producer and another for the show's actual budget. He wanted a big increase for each for L&O. NBC thought his demands were over the top and counter-offered a lump sum for the two amounts together. If he wanted a a big personal increase he was free to take it out of the show's budget. Neither side budged and Wolf cancelled the show.

Dick Wolf ought to be ashamed of himself.

Maybe they’ll bring in Corey Stoll from the old LA cast. He was great. Too bad Sisto and Alana de la Gaza are stuck on that FBI show, I’ve never watched it or the Chicago ones but they looked terrible in the commercials. Anthony Anderson was the only one who scored big with Blackish.

Didn't Alana de la Gaza's character move to L&A: LA? I never watched the LA spin-off. How was the move explained?

Never have I felt more eldergay. Between this and CSI I can apply my Ben Gay with contentment!

Yes she showed up in L A. I can’t remember the explanation, was she originally from LA in the show?

Maybe. I'm just wondering how they made that work with her credentials. When you come to California as a lawyer you cannot just open shop and start practicing. I don't believe you can use your NY credentials to get admitted to the CA bar. Maybe they retconned her to have both states' admissions to the bar.

I don't remember -- was Annie Parisse's character killed off? Fun fact: her brother (actor Louis Cancelmi) is married to Waterston's actress daughter.

Rohm was undervalued and wonderful. It was good they didn't kill her off.

[quote] I don't remember -- was Annie Parisse's character killed off?

Didn't she end up murdered found in a car's trunk?

[quote]Between this and CSI I can apply my Ben Gay with contentment!

Tell me about it.

Yep. Borgia and Kincaide were killed. One murdered, one in a fatal auto accident.

What actually happened behind the scenes with L&O For the Defense? If I remember correctly NBC felt really strongly about it, greenlighting a season order without a pilot - and then it was canceled unceremoniously.

R57

Don't know, but if he is, I'd be first in line. He's good looking, sexy, a daddy vibe (and I'm older than him), and one of the most natural, intuitive actors I've ever watched.

It's worth watching the show to watch him do his thing.

^^Sorry!

It was a tent pole!

A TENT POLE!!!

Annie Parisse/Borgia. She was on the L&O ep I watched last night, playing the stripper girlfriend of the lawyer who murdered his wife. I liked her when she was a regular, I’ve liked all of them except Serena. I don’t know why. I mean, she was okay, I just not interested in her coming back. Besides the advice that Fred Thompson’s DA gave her was to become a defense attorney.

Fran Lebowitz returning as a judge!

Heard that Jeremy Sisto has such a massive dong, it's about time he presents it.

Richard Brooks as Robinette. He’d be a great returnee.

Robinette went rogue and went woke and he was kinda annoying when he made some guest appearances though.

I need the ‘90’s version of Jesse inside me deeply.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She went out with a smile, r109.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fun fact: I was in an orgy with BD Wong at the Belvedere in Cherry Grove. He has (or had) a giant prince albert on his cock and and really bangin body.

r113/r114 - by “Fam” I actually don’t mean he’s gay, lol. He was in the cast of the latest Doctor Who (Jodie Whitaker) as one of three Companions…who she referred to as her “Fam” to the annoyance of the viewing audience.

He was also completely wasted on DW.. And by “wasted” I don’t mean drunk!

It should be mentioned that one of the ways that L&O:UK is different, is that they don't have the solicitor from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) present grand closing arguments as Jack McCoy did. So the moral, ethical, case summation that McCoy used to give us every episode is not in the UK version. It's disappointing not to have that "wrap up" - and an odd choice dramatically - but you get used to it.

Watch it anyway.

[quote] Heard that Jeremy Sisto has such a massive dong

Really? Yum!

Law & Order and Homicide were two of the best series the big three have ever made. I wish Homicide would be back too.

I liked all the female ADA’s except Jamie Ross and Kincade. Not sure why I didn’t like Kincade, but Ross came off as a total bitch. Didn’t like Richard Brooks either. After re-watching all of the show, Van Buren brought a lot to the show. I didn’t like Milena either. As far SVU goes, it no longer has some of the “gotcha” writing that it once had. I miss Richard Belzer and Dan Florick. Danny Pino was underrated.

[quote] Danny Pino was underrated.

Danny Pino's pinga is underrated, too.

Pino suffered from Jessica Rabbit Syndrome, he was written bad.

SVU was always much more melodramatic than regular L&O, and I appreciated that during its first 7-8 seasons or so. Eventually it got too campy and the writing turned to complete crap.

This was the moment it completely jumped the shark for me. So much that it took me forever to warm up to Mickey on Shameless!

[quote]Is BD a NY native like Awkwafina?

BD was born in San Francisco. He's 60. He's look great. This pic is from 2008, but he still looks good on Awkwafina's series.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo😫ooooooooooooooooooooo

Very excited about this!

What the hell is Mariska Hargitay doing kissing Noel Fisher in R134?

I thoroughly enjoyed each and every performance by Elisabeth Rohm! She seemed so natural!

I said it. Loved her. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every performance by Elisabeth Rohm!

[quote] What the hell is Mariska Hargitay doing kissing Noel Fisher in [R134]?

He played a crazy forensic technician. She was trying to distract him from killing Stabler. Yes, it was as stupid as it sounds.

Bring back Chambala Greene. I loved how she would grandstand and then be like okay here’s the deal.

She always had lovely hair.

SVU didn't jump the shark, it jumped the tiger or the lion, I forget which. Chris and Mariska were in an idiotic episode where they were investigating a gang smuggling exotic animals, including big cats, and Stabler found himself face to face with one though the glories of CGI.

And not only did it jump assorted wild animals but it also jumped an alcoholic ADA played by Christine Lahti.

My stars, r145. Did she come to no good end, or what?

Yes. The deranged lab technician played by Noel Fisher killed her.

I'll spare you the plot summary that leads up to it, but Annie Parisse was found beaten to a bloody pulp in the locked trunk of an abandoned car. Her mouth was duct taped and she had asphyxiated on her own vomit. Presumably raped, too. The killers were the perps in the case she was working on.

Has OLEEBIA been promoted to Chief of Police yet in the L & O universe?

They'll bring McCoy back as a trans mugging victim.

Think of all the 'ripped from the headlines' stories L & O missed out on by not being around during the Trump years. That is, unless Dick Wolf is a Trumpanzee and wanted to avoid that....

With so many zombies and vampires and the like running around, maybe they can bring back Mike Doyle in the morgue.

I just hope they use lots of actors from cancelled NYC soaps again so I can see what my favorite actors look like now.

Oscar nominated actress Debbie Wings appeared in the final season.

^^ That was a wild episode.

[quote]I just hope they use lots of actors from cancelled NYC soaps again so I can see what my favorite actors look like now.

"Shannon" and "Gwen" from ATWT were on FBI: Most Wanted last night. One looks thinner, the other...not thinner.

I love, love, love L&O - and only L&O; do not care for The Bobby Show of Nervous Tics and Borderline Breakdowns (aka L&O: CI) or The Filthy Sex Crime of the Week (aka L&O: SVU).

I am really wary of this announcement. Wolf's programs these days are c-r-a-p. The Chicago franchise is just awful and the FBI series (I think there are now 3) are implausible (and someone tells Sisto to stop the Botox...)

L&O occupied a sweet spot for programming for a number of years, a bit under the radar for pop culture, often featuring NY theatre actors and some really fine character actors who got one scene early in an episode, never to be seen again. As NYC became less gritty, so did the exterior shots in Manhattan and thus the program.

I don't think it was very good with McCoy as DA with Roche and de la Garza. The plots became needlessly complex and veered into convoluted. Too many cases of corporate malfeasance that leads to murder.

If it ended early because Wolf and the network played chicken, so be it. We have endless reruns.

I could go on and on with favorite characters and who I'd like to see again, but you'd get bored quickly.

BUT - yea to the poster who remembers Chambala Greene! God I loved her and Lorriane Toussant who played the character. Fabulous... now, if she were the DA, we'd have a program, but the character must be what, 60 now?

I wonder if Chambala and Robinette ever hooked up? Is there money to be made in fantasy sex writings for L&O characters? h'mmm...

I always remember how on 30 Rock they had a running gag one show:

They're cancelling Law & Order? That's insane.

[QUOTE] If it ended early because Wolf and the network played chicken, so be it. We have endless reruns.

There’s no such thing as endless reruns. I’m already sick of them, R157. Some stations only play certain seasons and they beat you over the head with episodes you’ve seen three or four times. We need new blood, and we’ve lost 11 years worth of new storylines and characters.

Now if the Linus Roche era went on for 10 more years and the series ended properly in 2020, then maybe I could say I’ve had enough.

[quote]Anthony Anderson was the only one who scored big with Blackish.

And Jesse on "The Flash."

I thought Linus Roche was hot.

R161, me too. I've liked him since I saw him in The Wings of the Dove

More importantly than being hot, he did an admirable job filling Jack McCoy’s shoes. Of course nobody could touch Jack and his spine tingling closing argument speeches, but Linus kept the show moving at least.

Linus’ American accent was spot on too.

[quote]More importantly than being hot, he did an admirable job filling Jack McCoy’s shoes. Of course nobody could touch Jack and his spine tingling closing argument speeches, but Linus kept the show moving at least.

I agree with you but only recently has a local station began rerunning the earliest episodes and Michael Moriarty was fantastic as the DA. He was just as good as Waterston and Roache.

But he left because he is nuts. He's crazy. Very sad life story and of an overall career that could have been.

Wolf really lucked out when he found someone as good as Moriarty, ie, Waterston, to replace the character.

R165, I totally agree with you. I have read that Moriarty was a raging alcoholic on set, but somehow pulled it together when being filmed. He really was amazing in that role.

I watched a few seasons of L&O:UK. One thing I’ve never understood. In the UK—and I’ve seen this on many other British police shows—when the police haul in a suspect and question him with his solicitor present, the solicitor never, EVER interrupts the questioning. He sits there mute. There’s no conferring with the client, no objection to the questions being asked. He’s just like an observer. It’s weird.

R157

That also happens on the Mothership frequently. Not always, but it does, and we yell at the TV and object or ask the questions ourselves. Come to think of it, we also yell "Object!" during the courtroom scenes when the Defense Lawyer should be objecting and doesn't.

Clearly, we are way too invested.

It's all (done or not done) for dramatic reasons, but, you're right; in British scenes they're ALL mute, almost EVERY time. We call them the wall flowers.

[quote]Fun fact: I was in an orgy with BD Wong at the Belvedere in Cherry Grove. He has (or had) a giant prince albert on his cock and and really bangin body.

Was his ex-husband involved. Or his recent husband?

[quote]I agree with you but only recently has a local station began rerunning the earliest episodes and Michael Moriarty was fantastic as the DA. He was just as good as Waterston and Roache.

Maybe it was just me but I thought they had actually stopped showing the Michael Moriarty episodes because I hadn't seen them in years. I almost fell off my chair during the shutdown last year when I was channel surfing one afternoon and came across a rerun of the original L&O and it was a Moriarty episode. And yes, he was brilliant in the role.

I think one reason we see Moriarty's seasons far less is because Waterston's Jack McCoy character arguably became the face of the series over the years. An apt comparison would be the way Diana Rigg as Emma Peel became the face of "The Avengers" even though she didn't appear until the show's 3rd or 4th season.

r170 Or, for a more L&O tie-in: How Peter Graves became the face of "Mission:Impossible," even though he didn't appear until the second season, replacing Steven Hill, aka Adam Schiff!

About goddamn time!!!

Bravo, R171!

The L&O Org Crime episode with all the dismemberment was disgusting.

Eliot fucked Olivia over on the SVU ep before Org Crime.

Now feel it was a mistake to bring Stabler back.

The last show that disgusted me was Criminal Minds.

Sorry, Meloni.

R170, "Arguably," my arse! Everybody knows I WAS "L&O"!

Who had the best wisecracks, huh? Tell 'em, Rey---"I have ties older than him."

Attention must be paid!

Muriel is it possible to automatically block posts that want to discuss, mention, or disparage L&O:SVU and/or L&O: OC? Maybe there's a filter that can deny accepting the post? You could add key words like Stabler, Meloni, Olivia (or Ole-e-e-e-e-b-i-a).

This thread is about the news that the mothership's return, not the hackneyed, tired, and overwrought SVU and OC.

Thank you,

~ fans of the original and best, L&O

r177, calm down, or you'll worry yourself into the fits.

I am sure Muriel will rush to do that, R177. Her passion for curating the site is evident.

It's all in the casting. I gave up the old show when Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto took over, didn't enjoy it and only watched to see if Dick Wolf would kill off Anita since he treated most of his characters as shit.

R180

Dick Wolf and S. Epatha Merkerson had an unusually (for him) good relationship. He allowed her time to do theater work and she was very grateful and never rocked the boat.

And he wouldn't have killed her off; the last season on air was her last season on the show and it was an amicable arrangement.

Anita Van Buren was an indelible character. S. Epatha Merkerson did great work when she had the room.

She did. I really liked her. It's a pretty talented actress can take about six lines with little emotion and turn them into an indelible, likeable character, but she did it. I thought the same about most of the MEs. Theatre actors, real actors, not terribly pretty actors. Mike Doyle was about the best looking of the supporting cast and even his character had a quiet likeability.

[quote] S. Epatha Merkerson did great work when she had the room.

She played the mother of a child victim early on in Season 1, Episode 17, called "Mushrooms". This was in 1991.

She didn't come on as Van Buren until 1993

AR with S. Epatha...

Right now I'm watching the episode where Julia Roberts guest starred. She is embarrassingly out of her league with these seasoned old pros.

It came on, rr185 and I saw it was Julia. I switched to Leave it to Beaver.

^ r185

R185

That episode - which was one of the worst primarily because of her and Bratt - illustrated what a very limited actress she was/is. She plays the same character in every movie, but that would be a different thread. She was banging Benjamin Bratt at the time, so that was the connection. Couldn't stand Bratt or his character, Rey Curtis either, but many people like him.

You're so right - I laugh at her attempting to act with real pros. She can't even hold her own with the bit characters, which are small time NYC (real) actors.

R186, Roberts acted around then. She was perfect as one of the few criminals to get away with her crime. She was delicious. One of my favorite episodes.

I thought I’d seen every L&O but I guess not because I missed the Julia Roberts one.

This is a senior citizen's dream come true.

L&O S9E20 "Empire"

Julia Roberts plays a young Helen Lawson who kills Nealey O'Hara and gets away with it.

Better than YUMMO, it's DE-LISH

Oh, fuckin' dear, r192.

Here ya go, r190. The part wasn't a stretch for her. She played a woman having an affair with someone else's husband.

The shark jumping episode of Law and Order SVU,S10E7, is on ION this morning.

R53, I always think that L&O had the feel of a British cop show. All grit and not warm fuzzies. It was about the professional life of the continuing characters.

The L&O: UK turns it into an American cop show. The emotions of the continuing characters are more central. Sentimental music tells you how to feel.

Also, I am guessing that plea bargans are not a big thing in Britain. In the American show, there seem to be more plea negotiations than jury summations. The negotiating gives it that cold hard edge. By contrast, the UK lawyers make emotional speeches and the whole show is a lot more sentimental.

I have never watched any of the variety of Law and Order shows. But then, I do not watch any police, lawyer type programs. I sure do see a lot of their ads and invitations to not miss them, though. Question: Is it a topic of discussion that this Marissa person looks a lot like Caitlyn Jenner? Just wondering. It is a bit off-putting, I would think. Apparently it has been discussed, based on this photo I have found.

You mean the the daughter of Jane Mansfield looks like post op TG? Interesting.

Y, r198?

Mariska was actually quite attractive when L&O: SVU began. But that was well over 20 years ago. At this point she has thickened and leathered ungracefully. The comparison to Caitlyn is not unreasonable.

" At this point she has thickened and leathered ungracefully."

Do tell us, r200, what's *your* secret?

No secret. I'm an eldergay and look my age. I have to live with it.

What's your secret? And what will it be when you are somewhere between 40 and death?

Oleebia looked weird in S3.

Ever notice the L&O writers use the names of famous people as the perps or victims?

One name which really stood out was the late Layne Staley from the rock band Alice In Chains. Layne was fairly well known to rock audiences, but not many viewers would have caught the name check. I don't remember if Layne's name was used after he died, which would have pointed to a tribute, it could have been used years before his death.

The writers also use names similar to famous people. The other night on SVU, there was a slimy killer named Gabe Navarro, I thought they were saying 'Dave Navarro', the Janes Addiction guitarist.

Tell me about it, r204!!!

Mariska needs a facelift.

Her jowls are hard to look at.

When was it ever gone? It's on every channel on TV as it is.

R99, not only have I not watched a second of this franchise, I’ve also never watched any in the NCIS franchise. I also never watched Gunsmoke.

Law & Order is way better than NCIS and Gunsmoke. Where the hell does one even go to watch Gunsmoke?

NCIS was actually pretty good the first 10-12 seasons. I was really surprised. But it’s gone downhill for quite awhile now.

R204, Sorry, wrong police procedurals.

"Layne Staley" was used on "Homicide: Life on the Street."

And "close" ("Gabe") is no cigar, nor is "SVU" the topic show.

Amen, r65. A-men.

Lennie Briscoe was the absolute best. So many great wisecracks; so much total dedication; so much hard-earned wisdom; so much heartache (his daughter; Claire Kincaid); so much humanity ("Do you forgive me, Lennie?" "All day long, Tommy. All day long.").

Lennie Briscoe, like Jerry Orbach by all accounts, was a mensch.

R208, La-di-da. You are obviously not a better person for your eschewing.

[quote] Where the hell does one even go to watch Gunsmoke?

Six days a week, on MeTV.

You got it, baby, r191! And? Be thankful somebody is keeping television viable, lest you be forced to watch smaller and smaller devices while your eyesight diminishes as well.

I'm trying to remember the last alphabet soup network scripted series I regularly watched. It might've been 30 Rock.

Linus sports a massive, unmutilated dong. He's triply hot.

[quote]I'm trying to remember the last alphabet soup network scripted series I regularly watched. It might've been 30 Rock.

For me it was Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which I loved). Used to watch The Good Doctor but fell out of it because it went off the rails in my opinion. Also still watch The Conners, though it's beginning to slide a lot, too.

I would be watching Season 2 of Evil but fucking CBS moved it to their streaming platform. 😡😡😡

r217=Charlie Brown

R217, as always when such a claim is made, DataLounge demands... 'pics please' and 'verificata of sizemeat!' or it just isn't true... thereforefore, Linus is "mutilated", he has a small penis and cannot be triply hot.

The ball's in your court hon...

CBS is reviving the original CSI: Las Vegas with some of the original cast for a limited run of 10 episodes starting this coming Wednesday.

I’m excited for that r222. Wish Marg was taking part.

Which CSI cast members are coming back?

Peterson, Fox and the guy who played Hodges are coming back in their old roles but I think the rest are going to be newcomers.

Amy Adams...

[quote]verificata

It's VERIFICATIA you moron!

^Oops

[quote]"Layne Staley" was used on "Homicide: Life on the Street." And "close" ("Gabe") is no cigar, nor is "SVU" the topic show.

New around here? DL ALWAYS veers off the main topic of a thread. Get with the program! The world of L&O goes beyond the original series. People in this thread also discussed the UK version, which was shown in the US on BBC America.

Are you sure about 'Layne Staley' being used on 'Homicide'? If his name was used, wasn't Dick Wolf or another L&O producer/writer involved in the Homicide series too? I do remember 'Homicide' using Krist Novoselic and Matt Cameron's names.

Whatever. Anyway, the original L&O and SVU ALWAYS used famous peoples names for the perps or victims or at the very least a name VERY close to a famous person's name.

There is a reason why the writers use a famous person's name or a name close to theirs. It's obviously an inside joke or a tribute..

Don't be so fucking anal.

As long as they don't use *my* name.

Paul Guilfoyle as Captain Jim Bragg will also be back on the CSI revival. But yes, largely newcomers.

ss, r231.

Jesus, if CSI: Vegas is returning, what assisted living facility/dementia ward will it take place within?

Shady Pines: Vegas

OP- I'd rather see this headline-

THEY'RE BRINGING BACK FULL BUSHES!!

r235, watch the ME autopsies...

Lifealert is a lifesaver!

I want Jeremy Sisto, I want Anthony Anderson, I want Linus Roache and I want Alana De Garza or I will throw a tantrum in the privacy of my own home.

Bring on Baranski!

OP, THEY'RE EVEN BRINGING BACK STEVEN HILL AND JERRY ORBACH!!

Why NBC’s ‘Law & Order’ Revival Isn’t a Peacock Original:

It's gonna suck, guys. Trust me.

They need to stick to straight, linear plots.

[quote] Bring back Pino and the hot lesbian character just fired from SVU.

Is Pino still on Mayans MC? I liked the first season but pretty much forgot it existed.

The SVU lezzie was looked like a rat. Bring back Donal Logue!

Jamie Gray Hyder was perfect in the part. Pino was on The Good Fight last season.

Thank God that Wolf is smart enough to leave the formula alone.

[QUOTE]Wolf is mostly mum on details about the “L&O” rebirth, but did say not to expect any major changes to the show or its formula (although much of the casting will obviously have to be new). “This will be Season 21, so it’s the same ‘Law & Order’ everyone knows from the first 20 years,” he said. “So there’s really nothing to fix, we just want to continue telling great stories. Casting as always will be three cops and three D.A.s.”

Dicl Wolf looks like an older Judd Apatow. Not attractive at all.

You don’t need to be attractive when you have his kind of money.

I liked the early formula: the crime investigation in the first half, and the courtroom maneuvering in the second. I can appreciate a bit of background/development of the recurring characters, but hated when it took up too much time.

The absolute worst, IMO, was Jeff Goldblum in L&O:CI. Ugh.

Yawn. Let me know when they bring back "Law & Order: Elevator Inspectors Unit."

I don't remember Jeff Goldblum in L&O: Criminal Intent

I remember the regulars, Eric Bogosian, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe and Courtney B. Vance. Was Jeff a guest star?

R251 No. Goldblum was a regular in Seasons 8 and 9 (after Chris Noth left.)

I’ve been rewatching Criminal Intent on one of the cable channels. It’s better than I remember.

“On the season 73 premier of Law and Order…..”

If I run across an episode now, r253, D'Onofrio is worse than I remember.

Goldblum was brought in after both D'Onofrio and Noth left and killed the show dead both in the ratings and with the critics. That's why D'Onofrio and Erbe agreed to come back for an abbreviated ten episode final season, just to let the show be buried with some semblance of dignity.

I watch to which Donofrio is in the episode. Skinny, fat, bloated, obese. Then I turn the channel.

Are they finally going to pull the plug on the terrible SVU?

^ over Mariska’s bloated corpse!

R259, exactly the way I'd like to see them do it.

This is the way, R259.

Coming to Peacock Virtual in the fall of 2045: Law and Order:GVU (Geriatric Victims Unit). Detective Oleebia Benson retires as NYPD Chief of Detectives and moves into Shady Pines Skilled Nursing Care in Peekskill, NY. Oleebia investigates cases of elder abuse and Medicare fraud from her own room!

Reno 911

Criminal Intent had huge ups and downs over its ten year run.

The first few years with D'Onofrio and Erbe were great. You realize he was deliberately playing a camped up version of Sherlock Holmes, right, right down to sniffing everything? He got bored and didn't want to commit any more so they brought Noth in to alternate episodes. They worked great in tandem. But eventually both actors were over it so Wolf brought in Jeff Goldblum who did his own take and absolutely wrecked the show. That's why, as mentioned above, the brought back D'Onofrio and Erbe for a few episodes to bury the thing with grace.

Good show, good run, lots of ups and downs but managed to survive for ten seasons.

Bring back Fran Lebowitz as the judge.

Everyone hated Jeff Goldblum but I liked him. Even if he did insist on playing the piano.

I always thought D’Onofrio/Erbe altenated with Noth/Nicholson because D’Onofrio had a mental health issues.

I’m not sure if D’Onofrio was suffering from mental health issues so much as growing tired of playing the same character. Most actors enjoy going from role to role with new directors, cast members, sets and locations. It’s like putting on a new suit. They expect to be movie stars, filming for a few months and then it’s on to something else. Instead you end up on some series for a decade playing the same person with the same faces, including some you might hate, and you can’t even work on anything else because of your obligations to that series. It becomes more like a 9-5 job, and for actors that can be soul crushing.

Nope, Vinnie D had a nervous breakdown. It was reported at the time. He also gained a lot of SSRI weight at the time.

R266, the episode that absolutely KILLED it for me was “Palimpsest” where he reunites with a Manic pixie Dream Woman he had banged in his earlier life. He should have recused himself from the case immediately. It was over the top, ridiculous.

R269, I too hated that episode... the waif flouncing about in a New York mansion which was constantly illuminated with candles. Candles all over a home that housed rare, uncataloged, randomly stacked works.

The dumbest of episodes and the fact that he simply flew off to London to spend an afternoon with an old flame to retell it in a cafe was even more ridiculous.

I really liked Goldblum on CI, but CI was the wrong program for his character. The same for Saffron Burrows' character. They should have been on a program built around the esoteric crimes of the insanely wealthy

I couldn’t watch D’Onofrio at all so I was happy when they brought in Noth and Goldblum.

The Jeremy Sisto character - Cyrus something? - was in law school a la Carisi. Perhaps he will return as a ADA.

I also loved Law And Order UK. Great cast. And some especially sexy lawyers/ I’m looking at you, Ben Daniels.

[quote] It's always fascinating to see so many New York actors make guest appearances before joining the mothership or one of the spin-offs as different characters as regulars. I never notices that until reruns.

It seemed to be a kind of audition to see if they get along with TPTB. Scanavino and Esparza guested on 3-4 of the Law And Order series as distinct characters before being recast and hired as regulars.

Jeremy Sisto played the lead defense attorney in the last episode of Season 17 and was back as Det. Lupo in the first episode of Season 18.

Bring back Carey Lowell.

But BDF Sisto is on FBI/FBI Most Wanted/FBI International. It's not like they want him gone like Sela Ward.

I was watching WeTV & their Law & Order promo - with graphics- proclaims that - in addition to being a 5-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize - the show has won more than 70 “Academy Awards.” Who are the brainiacs who work at WeTV?!

R278, it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. You didn't get that?

Carey Lowell should definitely come back.

St. Olaf’s, r278?

Apparently R278 doesn't have a tongue or cheek.

Ok, in my defense, I've never watched Law & Order, but I know of its enormous reach, and that there's no limit to the people & entities nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. So the Nobel piece seemed very plausible to me, and not meant to be tongue-in-cheek. So I assumed it was a straight - but fact-challenged - promotion. I also didn't watch the commercial in full, so I was tipped-off to its satiric nature. nature.

The tweet in R283’s post is exactly why we need more episodes. These channels that broadcast the L&O marathons keep showing the same ones over and over again.

George Clooney talks about AHS releasing Lily Rabe so she could make his movie. Probably why her character disapperars into the woods.

[quote]The tweet in [R283]’s post is exactly why we need more episodes. These channels that broadcast the L&O marathons keep showing the same ones over and over again.

On the weekends, SVU is on both ION and USA, both networks constantly repeat the same episodes. There are so many episodes then can air, SVU has been on for 22 years! I wonder why there are constant repeats.

I was wondering, perhaps the syndication deals both ION and USA have signed might be limited to certain seasons. I'm not sure how syndication works.

Off-topic, but years ago I tried reading "The Tender Bar." I couldn't finish it... too depressing and I knew/didn't like many characters from my childhood/family.

Clooney will probably do well with the film, but I'll stay away.

[quote] Clooney will probably do well with the film, but I'll stay away.

His Catch-22 was awful. Christopher Abbott as Yossarian couldn’t save it.

No, I loved the book. My favorite part was his cousin? who was a pitcher for the Royals? They played catch one day and the cousin was working on a specific type of pitch. I thought it was a good description of the mind set you develop as a professional.

Imagine if they brought back Vincent D’Onofrio, LOL

Will this be a mash-up with Grace and Frankie?

Mariska apparently fired several crew members a few weeks ago because she’s been looking like shit on SVU but somehow better on Organized Crime.

Organized Crime sucks but I’m watching for Ellen Burstyn appearances. She’s fabulous.

Mariska’s hairstyle is doing her no favors.

Where did you read that, r292?

I love how every (younger, hotter) female cop on the show have to dress like her: black jeggings and long sleeve, form-fitted, dark tee and ponytail.

It’s funny because Meloni’s hair and makeup was verrrry poor on Organised Crime. His hair was darkened from a can and his makeup was unblended.

All the fans were mad at Sharon Stone when she said that on SVU she was taken aback when a makeup artist approached her with white primer to go under her foundation and how different it was from a film set. But how was she wrong? Teenagers on YouTube look amazing on their makeup tutorials but Meloni is walking around with sprayed on hair and unblended pancake?

R294, I didn’t read that anywhere. I was told by a crew member who was there that it happened.

Oh that’s GOLD, r295

[quote] It’s funny because Meloni’s hair and makeup was verrrry poor on Organised Crime. His hair was darkened from a can and his makeup was unblended.

Meloni is BALD on Organized Crime with very unfortunate facial hair. He looks like shit.

There was a teaser at the end of last week's SVU that said this coming week's upcoming new episode with be the 500th. Damn.

r296=Kenny Bania

Mariska is aging terribly and she's blaming the SVU crew?

She looked great when she appeared on Seinfeld, her character was auditioning for the Elaine character role in Jerry's sitcom.

She was like 30 years younger, R299. What the hell do you expect? Everybody on that show looked better than they do now.

[quote] Mariska is aging terribly and she's blaming the SVU crew?

Yeah, everyone knows the lightening and photography can make or break a look. Watch "Jinxed" with Bette Midler and look what a crew that doesn't like you can make you look.

[quote]She was like 30 years younger, [R299]. What the hell do you expect? Everybody on that show looked better than they do now.

Yet, Julia Louis-Dreyfus still manages to look damn good, even after having cancer. Mariska has been looking very masculine..

Yes, Julia looks good R302 but nowhere near as good as she did in the 90s. Elaine was so cute, she made me question if I could be straight for her.

[quote]Yes, Julia looks good [R302] but nowhere near as good as she did in the 90s. Elaine was so cute, she made me question if I could be straight for her.

Everyone ages, that's a given, but some people look much younger than their actual age. Over the past few years Mariska has really hit the wall.

Compared to Mariska, with her masculine jawline and big boned peasant looks, Julia still looks like an absolute super model.

Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice is cast!

I find him boringly plain-faced.

R229, I see you equate "facts" with being "anal." How quaint.

No, I am not new here. Nor am I new to Google ("Layne Staley"); you?

And I have watched the OG "L&O" more than you can guess; have 78 Orbach episodes permanently recorded; and have sundry print matter relating to the series.

Now, I'm not saying you're 100% incorrect, as I've no doubt there were "in-jokes" with the names of some victims and villains. But "ALWAYS"??

Unless you can specify any of those "famous names" from the original "L&O," all you offer here are "Homicide" music allusions as examples. I'd chalk those up to Richard Belzer, whose only rival in Detective Cool was Jerry Orbach (who probably wouldn't have come up with a Nirvana name).

"Van Buren" and "Adam Schiff" don't count.

Anthony Anderson (yea!) and Sam Waterson (nay) have been approached.

[quote] Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice is cast!

Strike ONE.

I like him better than the blond guy on SVU. Or Benjamin Bratt

Jeffrey Donovan is hot!!! Hope he at least presents hole here or maybe bare his hairy chest!

Anthony Anderson and Jeffrey Donovan would make a damn fine detective team if you ask me, R309,

Donovan is all too obvious as a bitchy DA (he’s played an asshole lawyer more than once for Eastwood) so I rather hope he is a cop paired with Anderson.

Oh, the TV series.

For a moment, I thought Biden was bringing back law and order to this country.

My bad.

[quote]I like him better than the blond guy on SVU.

Carisi? I haven’t seen the last season.

I've liked Jeffrey Donovan since he played twins on a particularly suspenseful two-parter in season 4 of HLOTS. The writing on Burn Notice, unfortunately, was insipid. I'll be happy to see him on L&O.

I hope Dick Wolf will also find a regular spot for David T. Patterson, whom I saw on this week's episode of Wolf's FBI program.

If Jeffrey and David were to play husbands, so much the better.

TONIGHT, 11/04---7:00 p.m.---Sundance TV---S14, E24---"C.O.D":

LENNIE BRISCOE RETIRES.

R314, He's not a Fascist, sorry.

Thanks r317 for the heads up, but my Sundance TV station isn’t airing it until tomorrow, Friday night 11/5 @ 7pm.

Just an FYI for everybody to check your local listings in case your channel line up or times are different.

Ha, r319! You are correct---November 5!

How did I get that wrong? It's on my birthday!

Happy Birthday r320! I just figured you were in the next day zone or your cable provider ran an alternate schedule. Enjoy your day tomorrow!

Thank you, r321! Smooches!

They should do a zombie crossover from special perverts unit.

Bring back Sonia Paxton and Sister Peg and have them reanimated zombies.

It's 12 noon ET, Sunday, 11/14/21 and the WE network's running L&O - YEA, it's season one!

The 11am episode was their Lisa Stenberg case... David Groh, so good and we know that he will return season's later and be murdered by a prison shrink!

Thank you, r324! My cable allows for a re-wind of earlier-televised shows!

11/15/21, 12noon ET and it's L&O time on the WE network. Oh man, a classic season one episode is on! Christine Baranski is playing Masucci's younger sister. She is one NY girl not to be messed with fellas!

11/16/21 and guess who is in the 12noon ET episode of L&O and it's from season one... Harriet Harris! Freakin' Bebe from Frasier is playing an Irish-born waitress in some very smoky NYC bar.

I’m LOVING your programming updates ‘ByJupiter’ @ r327! Include all the franchises if you have the time and then everyone can discuss in a separate thread.

Thanks R328... yesterday I saw a season one episode that Clark Gregg (you know Agent Coulson from the Marvel films and the ex-Mr. Jennifer Grey) in the cast! Good Lord he was so young (weren't we all?). He was a Catholic school teacher who had knocked up his Catholic school teacher girlfriend... she was dead though, because the abortion clinic she visited was blown up! Poor, poor, Clark - I would have offered comfort, but was never written into the script all those years ago.

BTW - I'm an L&O guy... have never enjoyed SVU (weekly sexual abuse is not my thing and the lesbians arguing over and over and over? Ugh.) CI has its casts, but that show often had convoluted and ridiculous storylines/crimes and for a long time was the D'Onofrio 10 minute monologue at the end - tiresome.

Today's 12noon episode is excellent... an old, old, episode. Man is dead, his father will do anything to keep the case out of the courtroom because his murdered son is gay. G-A-Y. It's heartbreaking. A father's need to keep his son in the closet because of how embarrassed he is of the son's homosexuality. Final minutes are excellent. It's Sunday, 11/21.

Sounds good. I’ll have to record it r330 ‘ByJupiter’. I’m in the midst of a “Riptide” marathon on DecadesTV and I’m flat on my back from a hard day working the ‘flea’ yesterday.

By Jupiter,

My two favorite episodes feature Larry Miller as "Michael Dobson," wife-killer: Season 5's "Coma" and Season 6's "Encore."

R332 - I can remember the first time I saw the second episode with Larry Miller (wife-killer extraordinaire). It seemed so out of character for L&O to revisit a character, but it was worth the second go 'round.

Personally, I've often wondered if the L&O writers had written "what ever happened to?" scripts for so many of the characters that got sent to jail for 15 or 20 years. Those murderers would be eligible for parole at this point!

BTW - I saw L&O today, 11/22, at 12noon - another Harriet Harris episode! She played an FDA official talking about pacemakers with bad leads that caused heart attacks.

L&O: UK streams for free on the IMDB network.

Anthony Anderson is coming back and Hugh Dancy is joining the show

Yes! I loved Anthony Anderson. As Alana De La Garza and Jeremy Sisto and happily ensconced in FBI and Linus Roche probably back in Britain it’s nice to have one of the last 4 leads back.

Hugh Dancy, I can't stand him. 🤮🤮

Did Jerry Orbach have a son? If so, can he act? I would rather see a regular's offspring than the very mannered Hugh Dancy.

Is lard ass Chris Noth coming back?

Chris on the set of the SATC reboot.

Anthony Anderson is on Blackish, how’s that going to work?

Guys, I’m worried. I just watched something called FBI International. It was absolute dreck. Simplistic, jingoistic, an embarrassment. It’s a Dick Wolf production. I think he’s lost it.

[quote]Anthony Anderson is on Blackish, how’s that going to work?

Blackish has one more season and that's it.

Not an origonal thought in all of hollywood.

I told you early on in this thread: we're going to get Milena Govich and Elizabeth Rohm and we'll deal.

Yea, I really don't care about this revival of L&O and I loved the show for many, many years.

And as R339 wrote, I've been unimpressed with Dick Wolf programs for a long time... the Chicago Fire and P.D. shows are also jingoistic in their own way, lots of talk about how firefighters are "brothers", always their for each other and oh-so put upon by the rest of the world. P.D. is soft-core torture porn of being a cop and Med is just idiotic.

I've tried the new FBI programs and find them silly since every agent and every investigation places a halo atop every characters head. The real-life history and actions of the FBI begs to differ. One cool thing: the overseas shots of European cities on FBI: International - love those.

What surprises me is how many former L&O actors are in these new Wolf productions that are just inferior to the program they once worked on. There must be other roles available... is the pay that good? Is the work schedule light enough that they are each happy to do a few scenes and leave the set for other projects?

Prior to cancellation I think that Eames was going to take over from Van Burren? Which probably won’t happen now. But there will be a female ADA and possibly police lieutenant to balance out the cast. They will probably cast an Asian in the mix.

I don’t want to see Sam Waterson. His croaky voice has bothered me since The Newsroom.

Personally, I’d love to see Barba or Stone again and depending on how out of work they are, maybe Esparza or Winchester will do a season.

If you watched the original L&O, you may know today's 11 AM ET episode by this one line, "I'm Susan Forrest." Hint, hint, Kunstler is the big guest star...

I love this one.

Christine Baranski is back on L&O - not as a mafia princess but as a defense attorney who represents the woman who kidnapped Wendy. BONUS appearance by a very young Camryn Manheim as an uninterested and really obnoxious foster mother!

[QUOTE] Yea, I really don't care about this revival of L&O and I loved the show for many, many years.

Are you fucking crazy? You’re not excited for the triumphant return of Law & Order?

Home, quarantined thanks to a case of COVID (no joke - seriously ill Thu, Fri, Sat, much better today). A true classic L&O is on right now, Mike Logan's final episode.

You know the one, NY city councilman Crossly has murdered gay city councilman Durbin - Logan gives Crossley 'what-for' at the end, Logan is sent off to exile in Staten Island.

Bonus that Daniel Hugh-Kelly is Crossley... he was once Frank Ryan on Ryan's Hope (I remember that from when my mother watched that soap).

L&O's gay storylines and characters early in the series is very interesting.

Karen Allen is a very fragile, but deadly hot mess on today's (12/07) 1pm episode. Oh that Peterson coin collection. Peterson you are a fraud and messed with the wrong daughter of Holocaust survivors!

I laugh at the end of every episode when they run the disclaimer about these being fictional characters not based on anyone or any event. Every episode is a real life ripoff.

I did some searching to see if anyone else has been cast and found out the reboot premieres Thursday, February 24, the week after the Winter Olympics ends. Thursdays will be Law & Order night on NBC: L&O at 8pm, SVU at 9pm and Organized Crime at 10pm.

Waterston has been offered the role of the head DA but nothing has been signed yet. Anderson signed for only one season so far.

If Sam Waterston didn’t shut it down immediately, then it’s a sure bet that he’s returning.

R349, That coin collection was like Monty Python cheese! "Sorry, fresh out!" "Had it earlier!" "Just sold the last, Sir!"

R337, Jerry not only had a son, but Chris Orbach played "Det. Ken Briscoe"!

It’s a done deal! Sam is back as Jack McCoy!

I’m disappointed that Linus Rosche and Alana De La Garza aren’t in it. Alana should have been thd ADA now.

If McCoy is back in the courtroom, we won’t need Linus.

Well yes, McCoy had taken over the DA position, and Linus Roache had taken his old job of ADA. It would be weird if Jack McCoy were no long DA and was back to being an ADA at the age of 80+.

I assume that maybe McCoy is retired, and the character comes back for some reason or other (perhaps an issue comes up with a case he had prosecuted?

Good Lord who cares? One aspect of L&O when it started was that actors could come and go and the show would continue - and continue to be good. Dzunda wants out after one season? Okay, kill him off - Sorvino is not working out after two seasons? H'mmmm, let's have him get shot and take a desk job... and so on and so on.

Jack McCoy isn't needed to re-launch this program. Linus, Alana, Anthony Anderson, etc. aren't needed either.

Of course, I hear Chris Noth is available... maybe he could be the new LT at the police station! Ha!

12/23/21... Sundance channel (or is it Sundance Now?); L&O episode is season one! Greevey and Logan just arrested the 'Mayflower' madam.

And a hooker (oops, escort), just mentioned that she thought Logan would bust his nut in under a minute...

Yea! Back to the beginning.

I can't wait to see Chris Noth tackle more rape cases!

Guess Chris Noth sure won't be back, you think? 😂 🤣😂 🤣

[QUOTE] Jack McCoy isn't needed to re-launch this program. Linus, Alana, Anthony Anderson, etc. aren't needed either.

We’re talking about a reboot here, and familiar faces are very helpful in terms of a TV program regaining its footing. They’ll have Jack McCoy in all the marketing promotions. His value can’t be overstated.

What I liked about Alana is she was drop dead gorgeous but neither she nor the show ever referenced it. Being a US show, actors are hired on the basis of being very California good looking with perfect white teeth but L&O dodged that.

I wonder which one of the original characters will now return as trans.

None, R364. Law & Order doesn’t play the game.

OP’s pic is the typical crime drama promo pic — everyone looks like they just figured out who farted.

I hated Jack McCoy. So supercilious.

[quote]You know something’s a big deal when a pro like Sam Waterston is floored. “I wasn’t at all expecting to be bowled over, and I was,” he says of his first day back on set of the original Law & Order, returning almost a dozen years after its undeserved cancellation. “I was amazed at how great—and strange—it felt to step onto what looked exactly like the old sets, all brand-new, with dear old friends and cool new people.”

[quote]The actor is back full-time as the beloved district attorney he played from 1994 until 2010’s not-quite series finale. Says producing titan Dick Wolf: “Since day one, Sam has had perfect pitch when it comes to Jack McCoy as a character who both reflects and expands our ability to understand the law. He is the ultimate conscience of the show.”

more at link

Where the hell is the hype? The show is coming back next month and they haven’t even announced the complete cast yet.

They better include Noth.

Anthony Anderson. Camryn Mannheim as the police lieutenant. An actress I’ve never heard of (but brunette!) as the ADA. Sam W as the DA.

Feb 24

Anything for me?

Chris Noth - or I’m not watching!!!

Interesting that Camryn Manheim will be the new police lieutenant. It looked like S Epatha Merkerson might be leaving Chicago Med the way her story is currently being structured. I hope she is back in L&O in some capacity. I really liked her in the series.

I LOVE Camryn Manheim- that's exciting casting! If they're going to have accused rapist AA, they may as well have Noth.

Camryn is the one interesting aspect of this that I've read.

I really liked her on Person of Interest and wanted her character to do a 180, join Harold, John and Root in the final season.

Interesting to note that IMDB is counting this as Season 21, Episode 1, rather than as a revival. Must be what Wolf wants.

Manheim has 3 or 4 previous appearances on the series over the years as a guest performer.

It will be interesting whether this first episode being shot is the first episode broadcast. Often it takes a few episodes for everything to gel together and a later episode is broadcast first. I Love Lucy did that and in fact the original L&O did that. The original pilot from 1988 was intended as the first episode, explaining the various character relationships, but it was broadcast sixth. The second episode shot was the first one broadcast.

I want to know who is playing the other detective. It’s not clear from IMDb.

The two detectives are Anthony Anderson and Jeffrey Donovan, the guy from Burn Notice. Donovan did two guest appearances on the original show.

Anderson has only signed for one season. Wonder whether he will stick around if the show is renewed.

[quote]Anderson has only signed for one season. Wonder whether he will stick around if the show is renewed.

He shouldn't be hard to replace.

😂 “If” the show is renewed? More like WHEN the show is renewed! We’ve been waiting 10 years for Law & Order and its return will feel like a breath of fresh air.

[quote]I hated Jack McCoy. So supercilious.

How so, r367?

I thought that Donovan was #metoo’d?

What guys came forward to accuse Donovan?

Who is Anthony Anderson’s partner?

R386…girls IIRC. Unless you know something that I don’t.

R284, WE Channel showed all the original "L&O" episodes in order.

Once done, of course there will be repeats.

Be glad of it.

OP's post reminded me of this

Am I the only one who wanted a completely NEW cast of actors. At this point, there are probably a lot of film actors who would jump at the chance to do a season or two on Law & Order as detectives or ADAs. New York has more than two detectives and more than one ADA (Brooklyn alone has 400) contrary to the impression Law & Order sometimes gives us. They can shift around among different detective/ADA teams, as long as they keep the traditional structure (crime investigation, then court case). I really don't want to see the older cast moving at half-speed looking haggard and geriatric. That's always depressing.

Finally, the only female junior ADA I truly despised was Angie Harmon's Abbie Carmichael, a right wing bully who got off on throwing the weight of the office around to satisfy her ego more than anything else; a hundred years earlier she would've been leading lynch mobs. And I loved Serena Southerlyn. I had watched all of her episodes before I learned about the online hate directed at her by a bunch of morons. It makes no sense. She was terrific.

Sam Waterston has never looked haggard and geriatric. And Anthony Anderson is what, in his early 50s at the most? Why wouldn’t you want a couple familiar faces in the mix? Virtually everybody else is new.

Camryn Manheim was great in The Practice. I look forward to seeing her in this, even though I'm not crazy about Anthony Anderson.

I sure miss Jerry Orbach...

R393, I recently watched Lenny's retirement episode. It was truly heart-breaking to watch because, by then, we knew he had cancer and wouldn't be with us much longer. And yes, I teared up at the end when he walked out of the squad room with his box of stuff. I cry every time I see that episode!

On Trial by Jury he withered visibly more and more with every episode up to the end where he couldn't even speak anymore. Still not sure how I feel about that public display of dying. In a way I found it voyeuristic (a variation of 'ripped from the headlines'). On the other hand I appreciated that production included him even if his condition may have meant costly accommodations. I am sure Orbach appreciated the opportunity to still work; it's not that he was forced to work.

Nobody at the time thought he was terminal and thought he would respond to further, more aggressive treatment. He'd been dealing with it for years. But he couldn't do full time weekly shooting anymore so they wrote him off of L&O and put him into what was supposed to be a recurring role in Trial by Jury. He died after shooting two episodes.

Cast James Waterston. He's a terrific actor, and he looks like Sam.

Jack McCoy doesn’t have a son, but I just figured it out: he could be his grandson.

So creativity is so dead that it's now suggested that if not the actual, real-McCoy with Sam W, just cast the not-real McCoy who is the spawn of the actor who played McCoy? God, we're doomed.

Waterson and Anderson being cast smacks to me of program producers and network execs being afraid that viewers really don't care if the show returns, so they have hired holdovers to bring in an audience older than when the program was airing (probably the only Americans left who watch programs when scheduled).

I am so unimpressed with this. I love L&O, watched it during its early seasons, before Claire and Anita were added. I gave up during the final seasons (the plots were so convoluted with Mike Cutter having long explanation scenes so the audience could follow along - sort of like D'Onofrio's final 10 minute expositions which were excruciating).

This really feels like an unnecessary reboot to satisfy Wolf's ego.

R392, Just read what R358 said. The show was famous for bringing in new actors and characters and the show continuing on just fine. As for Sam Waterston, an actor that I like very much, but let's be honest...everyone gets geriatric and haggard after awhile.

Sam Waterston is neither, and would still be electric giving those slam dunk Jack McCoy closing arguments.

I want Sophia Bush back as Erin Lindsay.

I;m watching the newer releases of SVU, and it would not be bad for L&O if they brought back Philip Winchester as Peter Stone. Hotter than Mr Hargitay, hotter than Mayhem. I'd bake cookies for him.

And is there any sibling that isn't a psyco fuckup?

Fantastic! I have another opportunity to not watch this show the second time around.

[quote] it would not be bad for L&O if they brought back Philip Winchester as Peter Stone. Hotter than Mr Hargitay, hotter than Mayhem. I'd bake cookies for him.

Wear a mask when serving the cookies! He’s anti-vaxx.

Sad to know...

Jesse L. Martin wants back in!

When the show entered Season 20, S. Epatha Merkerson had already given Dick Wolf and the show runners notice that she wasn't going to renew her contract (they were grateful for the heads up and thanked her with that nice story arc she got that season). The widespread rumor was that Kathryn Erbe would come in as her character of Lt. Eames from Criminal Intent to replace her. Then Wolf got into hissy fit with NBC over money and unexpectedly shut the whole thing down. Everyone had thought they were coming back for Season 21 -- the ratings had been going up for the previous three seasons and the cast was the best overall it had been in several years.

Wolf seems like the egomaniacal type who’s prone to hissy fits.

In my mind, should a revival happen, I always hoped that Jesse L. Martin and Anthony Anderson would be the two detectives.

Where are the pics of the cast? Where are the set photos? Where are the commercials? Surely they’ve been filming by now if episodes will start to air in two weeks.

Feb 24th. Two more weeks.

Yeah well where’s the promotions? Has anyone seen anything? You’d think we were six months away.

I finally found it somewhere. They’re on the cover of the latest TV guide.

Here it is! Finally, some fucking promotion.

Covering the senior, black, female and plus-sized demographics in that cover.

And the Brooks Brothers demographic, R417.

They don't need to promote the show. It'll still get high ratings.

TV Guide magazine is still in publication? That’s more surprising than the revival.

They’re finally rolling out the red carpet.

The new ADAs: Hugh Dancy as Nolan Price and Odelya Hadevi as Samantha Maroun.

Ugh, Hugh Dancy. I cannot stand that guy. He's so fake.

Yay, Hugh Dancy. His is one of the first British dongs I craved. It started with "Daniel Deronda."

Another Brit faking an American accent? They couldn’t get the real thing?

I’d they’re going faux-American, they could have brought back Linus Roache.

Linus must have been too busy with something else. Or Dick Wolf never really liked him.

What’s Carey Lowell doing these days? Her character’s daughter must be grown so no custody issues with her ex! Is Lowell retired? Someone dust her off and get her back into a power suit!

One week from tonight!

Dick Wolf brought Linus back for a few episodes of SVU, so there was no bad blood.

The “Dun Dun!” at the end of this promo video was orgasmic.

Why is Anthony Anderson not in that promo? I would think his value being part of the original would make it necessary.

Jeffrey Donovan is too old for this show. And by too old, I mean he is no longer hot.

And Lennie Briscoe, the best them all, was "hot"?

Orbach was swave. They brought in Farina, who was also swave. Donovan is neither swave nor hot. Donovan is not a good Sisto replacement.

And yes, I meant swave in the same way divoon is appropriate.

Now that her face has settled, I hope L&O puts Sela Ward to work. Why did they fuck her over on FBI?

[quote]And Lennie Briscoe, the best them all, was "hot"?

Jerry Orbach was loaded with charisma and extremely likable.

I bet some of you have no clue Jerry appeared in Broadway musicals!

I bet I saw him in Promises, Promises, Chicago and 42nd Street and loved him.

And he never lost his charm but I wouldn't call him "hot" in L&O yet he was great. That was my point. Somebody complained that Jeffrey Donovan isn't hot enough to be one of the detectives. Hot isn't a requirement for a L&O detective.

Jesse Martin started out as Broadway song and dance man too.

Jeffrey Donovan doesn’t have anything else going for him other than his former hotness.

FBI didn't fuck over Sela Ward at all. They wanted her badly for that part and made generous offers but she just wanted some time off from her career to be with her family. They kept looking around and couldn't find anyone else they wanted and then it came time to start production and the part still hadn't been cast. As a personal favor to Dick Wolf she signed to do the first season only to get the show off to the start they wanted. She was never going to be a permanent cast member. She was extremely well paid and everyone was very happy with the way things worked out.

^ If you're primarily a television actress it's not a bad thing to have Dick Wolf owe you a favor.

Linus Roache and Alana de la Garza had great chemistry in those final seasons. I wanted their characters to fuck.

[QUOTE] Orbach was swave. They brought in Farina, who was also swave. Donovan is neither swave nor hot. Donovan is not a good Sisto replacement.

Then what the hell was Jeremy Sisto, R435?

Sisto was/is gruff and fuckable. Still not hot.

Sisto was and always has been super-hot.

[quote] Orbach was swave

There’s no such word. You mean “suave,” and he was indeed.

Wow, Linus Roache's regular voice is much higher with his Brit accent. When he spoke with the American accent on L&O his voice was much deeper.

I miss the old 'Talk Stoop'. Think the show was brought back with a new host, but Cat Greenleaf was much better.

r444, is English your primary language? Reading comprehension? Critical thinking?

You are DIVOONLY stupid.

r435

[QUOTE] Sisto was and always has been super-hot.

Jeremy Sisto was never hot, and I’d put money on Jeffrey Donovan’s detective character being better than Sisto’s.

Disappointed there are so few returning actors. Hopefully we will see lots of cameos and familiar judges.

Earlier we had someone crying about too many retreads. They can’t win.

They can rotate in-n-out old characters till the cows come home ACROSS the Wolf Dick spectrum.

The only person left who I really, really need to see is S. Epatha Merkerson.

Watch Chicago Med, r452.

The fuck? I don’t want to see that garbage.

Please hire the BEST ME, Tamara Tunie. PLEEEESE!!!!

48 hours!

When will these damn awful Winter Olympics be over?

Don't get up too much hope for the very first new episode. Even really good series sometimes take a few episodes to settle into a good groove, The original Law & Order pilot was broadcast sixth in the original order.

My hopes couldn’t be higher, and there’s no way they could disappoint me. Even the worst Law & Order episodes are watchable.

I hope it is an update episode like SVU did with the sociopath child, that they sent to wacko hospital ten years ago, that was released as an adult and, Bob's your uncle, he killed his family.

[quote] there’s no way they could disappoint me

Not even “Special guest star: Mariska Oleebia Hargitay “?

Tonight’s the night, baby!

Season 21, Episode 1 PREMIERE

The NY Times panned it.

r465, under normal circumstances that might hold weight but this is the MOTHER SHIP.

A reboot will take time to shake out. The first three seasons took waves of recasting to get it right.

It's the FORMAT that is the star.

The New York times can kiss my ass. they've been on my last nerve anyway lately

The New York Times SUCKS. Let me guess the headline of their negative review: “The Law & Order Season Premiere is Not Good, and Here’s Why That’s Bad News for Joe Biden.”

I'm surprised it's in the 8pm slot. I never watched it in its first run on NBC. Was it on at 8pm? I thought it would be on at 9 or 10. It works out well since ghosts is on at 9pm.

My favorite detective pairing was Briscoe and green.

That should be everybody’s favorite detective pairing.

One of the best episodes was titled Possession Briscoe and Green investigate a murder with so many twists and a brother and sister suspects played masterfully by John Schuck and Linda Thorson.

It’s so surreal. 12 fucking years and I’m finally watching a new Law & Order.

Not hot on this pairing of coppers. It is jarring to see it in the new video format. It's too pristine.

The new HD glossiness was quite jarring. Goes to show how long it’s truly been.

Briscoe and Green. Two Broadway song and dance men cast as hard boiled detectives and pulled it off perfectly.

There is no HD glossiness. What are you talking about? The original was shot on 35mm film which is as sharp as modern HD digital cameras.

There was a signature grittiness with the old episodes that’s now gone. It feels different.

Donovan is more than fine as a L&O detective. I don't understand the complaints above.

Agreed. Donovan’s detective character is good and highly realistic.

LA Lawis coming back too

Carey Lowell showing up as Jamie Ross was a nice surprise. Too bad she looks nothing, ancc dad I literally mean nothing, like her old self.

Oh my God, that was Lowell? Initially I thought it was her, but after a half second, I corrected myself because it was obviously another actress. And no, it wasn't about being older, she just looks completely different. The only common denominator was the short hair.

I still think Law And Order: Criminal Intent was the BEST version of the Law And Order shows.

That’s a reasonable opinion, R484. But anyone who thinks SVU is the best should be thrown off a bridge.

I forgot to watch!

Also Orbach died nearly 20 years ago but it doesn’t seem that long…thanks to all the reruns.

Off to Peacock now.

Same r484. I’m watching an episode of “Criminal Intent” now to ease ease last nights L&O disappointment.

The show was terrible. There is no chemistry among the cast members. They were thrown together, hastily it seems and their talents are wasted.

The sets were claustrophobic. There was no room for space and movement; it was suffocating.

The writing was abysmal, the scenes were banal, and the characters were cliche. There is positively no excuse for this dreck.

But what do you really think, R488?

I liked it. I don't know what people were expecting. Yeah, the actors/characters are mostly new. It's going to take time to get used to them. I'm most comfortable, I suppose, with Camryn Mannheim, in her role as boss of the detectives. I don't find the conflict of values between Anderson and Donovan's characters to be that hugely affecting, either for them as characters or for us as viewers. Time, of course, will tell.

I liked the new ADA. Jack McCoy is Jack McCoy, so far more grise than eminence than before. Hugh Dancy is someone I first liked twenty-plus years ago. Liked a lot. Thought he was the most beautiful boy in the world in Daniel Deronda. It's odd seeing him play a character closer to his stated age of 48. He's the one I'm most anxious to see next week. They didn't do him any favors, saddling him with that "the confession is out" decision.

I wish the jury had gotten to decide the killer's sentence. It would have been one day if I'd been on the jury. She was accomplishing a public service.

I wonder if we're supposed to perceive Donovan's character as being a New York native. He sounds much more like he comes from Donovan's native Massachusetts.

All I can say is that the premier suffered from bad writing. I know they had to do a bunch of establishment exposition, but the bones of the actual crime was plainly stupid. Blue Bloods has edgier scripts, and they have an A, B AND C line each week. Dick Wolf needs to invest more in his writers as the FBIs also suffer from sloppy, flabby and incoherent scripts. He needs to find the next Sorkin.

But I have it on my Hauppauge DVR record.

[quote]Dick Wolf needs to invest more in his writers as the FBIs also suffer from sloppy, flabby and incoherent scripts.

I hadn't watched any FBI shows until mid-pandemic, when I bingewatched the first two series. I like the first one much better than the second, in which my favorite character is Jess' new girlfriend, who used to play Gwen on ATWT, who was a symbol of all that I hated about the show post-Marland. Now that they're writing Jess off the show, I guess she'll go with him, and maybe I'll stop watching.

I watch FBI International only when I'm bored out of my mind and an episode of something particularly innocuous is all that will do. I had so hoped to like the show—Luke Kleintank is a god of sex—but it's the worst of the three. The best part of it is his relationship with Tank, his large black dog whose eyes you can't see. Him and that girl agent getting it on? Spare me. Please.

So, I'm not expecting scintillating writing from Dick Wolf's writers brigade. They just get worse and worse. The Chicago shows aren't too bad, but every time someone sneezes, I'm afraid they're going to be written off the show. I wonder if Matt Casey will ever return to Chicago Hope.

I like the two cute new guys on Chicago Hope, particularly the one who's obsessed with Violet, but they look like twins.

I am counting on the hope that it takes several episodes for the cast to gel. The new detective: “I speak my mind.” But he’s okay with body cams. Ugh. Cathryn Mannheim wasn’t convincing, which surprised me. It’s like she was just sitting at the table during the read-thru. Hugh Dancy, he was okay but the female lawyer, shades of “Hang ‘em all’ Angie Harmon.

The writing: omg, it wasn’t the defense attorney asking for the confession to be thrown out? That’s L&O 101. The ADA volunteered to exclude it? JFC. The victim’s wife: “I never turn on the security cameras even though my husband is the most hated man in America. I’m from a small town and we don’t hold with newfangled gadgets” and the cops didn’t roll their eyes hearing that?

And what was the final scenario, defendant shoots victim in self defense? That was still a viable theory right? The prosecution didn’t disprove it.

I was underwhelmed but I live in hope.

R492, please re-read and repost. Chicago Hope? Um, the 1990s called...

[quote] I still think Law And Order: Criminal Intent was the BEST version of the Law And Order shows.

L&O:CI was "Jessica Fletcher suffering from Asperger's". It got annoying pretty quickly.

I was shocked to see how much Carey Lowell aged.

Her three ex-husbands, photographer John Stember, Griffin Dunne and Richard Gere seemed to have sucked the life out of her.

Chicago Hope? LOOOOL

The NBC 'Chicago' shows are called: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.and Chicago Med

Chicago Justice was cancelled after one season.

All three of those “Chicago” shows are deadly dull. I guess Dick Wolf is afraid of LA after he couldn’t make L&O LA work, and wanted a city with an urban environment like NY. But Chicago is overused and dull.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Those are both rare cancers. I wonder what happened. At any rate you really will recognize him if you click on the link above. He appeared on the original L&O, CI, and recurred many times on SVU. Definitely a member of the franchise. The DM says he kept working after he was sick to maintain his health insurance.

RIP Mr. Eisenberg. Condolences to your family.

Couldn’t even make it to the Order part, the first 10 minutes were atrocious.

Bad (and I mean BAD) acting

Bad writing

Bad directing

Final end credit on SVU tonight:

"In memory of Ned Eisenberg"

The script for episode 2 is worse than the first one, which I didn't imagine was possible.

Yes it was, r503, and I noticed it was written by Rick Eid, who is the showrunner and the guy who created the reboot (or Season 21 as Wolf wants it called). Obviously a ripped from the headlines episode based on Elizabeth Holmes, that Theranos woman.

The pacing is all off. The writing is bad, the acting is bad. Even Anthony Anderson. He was so natural when he was paired with Sisto. During a break there was a commercial for The Dropout, the miniseries about Holmes with Amanda Seyfried and even in that short trailer, she was a better sociopath than the guest star on the show. Camryn Mannheim had a larger speaking part this week but nope, still not convincing.

Oh my God, I forgot about the show already. 😂

Last night was even worse than the premiere. The acting is atrocious.

Looks like a one (season) and done.

It is apparent that the writing sucked. Unsubstantiated plot holes that would get an indictment thrown out are the norm now? And why did Manheim walk in with a file that she handed off, for another unnamed underling to bring in an important file that she gave exposition on? Is the director fucking the day player? Manheim should have walked into the scene, reading the important file. Sloppy writing. Lumpy staging. AMATEURS!

However, more egregious is the DIRECTING.

Manheim's character spits out her lines as if she knows when people are guilty. It should be more "follow the evidence". More low-key. She sounds new in her position and not a seasoned pro. Both Dann and Sepetha gave off, I know what I am doing, vibes. And what is with the judges "selling their performances". Not the smart, quiet, shrewd judges we are used to. For the love of God, bring back Judith Light to show them how it's done. The director needs to be fired.

Oh, and Donovan is too young to act this jaded and grizzled. Hugh Dancy needs to sue the writers for giving him so little to work with. It's obvious he's just reading lines. And even Sam needs to go back to his old characterization, more like the Diane Weist version.

My first recasting: Fire Dancy and replace him with Mr. Hargitay. He knows how to act a lawyer.

I liked this judge. I don’t recall seeing her before.

I think Dancy has possibilities. I’d fire Haley, Donovan, and Mannheim.

Haley s/b Halevy, the new junior ada.

R496, I was astonished. The only thing that looked the same was her eyes. Even her voice was different.

Thank you r508 for being able to explain what is wrong. I just know something ain’t right.

I haven’t read any reviews or seen ratings numbers. My guess it’s coasting on residual good will.

The important thing is that we don’t give up on it. Things will get better, I’m sure.

I will watch it all even if it's out of spite because it is my comfort show.

These episodes shouldn't have aired.

NBC should have pushed the show back to fall for retooling.

I saw Sam Waterston years ago at Bradley International Airport and boy, is he tall.

Nah, for comfort, watch the reruns.

I’m tired of the goddamned reruns! I’ve seen them all 20 times over.

There’s still some reruns I’ve never seen before, usually the very early seasons.

Is it the sound that is different? Maybe because technology has advanced? Because now I’m remembering the outdoor street scenes, questioning a witness unloading a truck, and they just have a fresh, lively quality. You can feel the bite in the crisp air.

R519, yes, the new season is so sterile. It feels like a TV show.

Slightly better this week? At least the opener with the amicably bickering couple felt right.

The acting is still unconvincing.

Watched the first 2. Forgot it was on tonight. I rewatched a star trek episode for the 900th time. Obviously, this iteration of law and order is not holding my interest.

A bit OT, the redhead who played a judge on these L&O shows, is now a lawyer defending the criminals on SVU.

WTF did she do to her face, she cannot move it! Her face is completely frozen, she makes Madonna look natural!

Bring back S. Epatha Merkerson.

3rd episode was better. Not original mothership tiers of good, but better.

I know the legal issues have always been finessed in the name of a good story but in this case, that the guy had attacked at least one other woman with a knife, that was not admissible??

Did they find the body while I wasn't looking? Not sure how the jury came back with a guilty verdict based on a bloody shoe and a pattern of lying to women.

I watched SVU right after for the first time in ages, and that was Masterpiece Theater compared to the L&O revival.

Sad that she doesn't have a name, r523.

[quote]Sad that she doesn't have a name, [R523].

I don't know the actress' name, but Mr. Snarkness, why don't YOU look it up. Pretty sure most people know exactly who I'm talking about.

This actress now looks like she's wearing a plastic mask!

I was watching an episode from the early 90s this afternoon and a young Camryn Manheim had a guest spot as a defense attorney. IMDB says she appeared on the show three times during that time period.

She knows ow to act as a belligerent attorney. She is clueless as a Precinct captain.

I should have specified it was a small one scene part where she was trying to convince her guilty client to accept a plea deal She didn't play one of those defense attorneys you love to hate.

Well I watched this week's episode, Filtered Life. *Spoiler alert* if you haven't watched yet.

I found the "van life" aspect amusing, with the kooky female characters living out of vans in Manhattan. Although who would do this now with the crazed homeless and other attackers all over the city? Is this actually a thing.

They are talking about jury selection on the show more. I wonder if that is the influence of that "Bull" show. But they never do a voir dire onscreen.

The episode was still underwhelming. There is no way they would have brought that case with the flimsy evidence -- no body, no proof of kidnapping.

A major plot hole is the instagram photos of the supposedly missing girl posted of herself down in the islands, enjoying herself. Those were brought up and then never resolved. I suppose they could be addressed on a future episode, but I doubt it. I expect these type of sloppy loose ends on a Soap, not on a major prime time show.

And sadly, but predictably, SVU this week wasn't good either. Frat house antics, it seemed like a warmed over Benson/Stabler episode from many years ago.

The only bright spot now is McGrath.

It was ann updated Hudson episode, Olibea, telling the new school administrator that we are beyond a school cover-up, and the Blue Bloods episode of the dead woman in the Private Men's club. Plot cannibalism.

yeah, R535. I don't expect much from SVU anymore. I can't remember the last time they had an interesting episode. But it's appalling how weak the first 3 eps of the L&O reboot have been.

How are the ratings? I think they still had over 4 million total viewers last week.

I'm not minding the new L&O at all. I've never thought any of them were great television; they're just dependable, easy to watch as reruns. Homicide: Life on the Street, now that was a great television show. L&O was simply the first shot in modern procedural cop shows. Its only brush with greatness was the Jerry Orbach/Jesse Martin era. I also liked the original version with George Dzunda and Paul Sorvino.

The only real problem I have with the current production is how truncated the set looks. Was Van Buren's office really as close to the detectives' desks as Cameron Manheim's is to Anderson's and Donovan's? I like the new Profaci, though.

I'm enjoying Hugh Dancy and Jeffrey Donovan very much, as I always have. Same with Anthony Anderson.

Donovan is slowly losing his fake New Yak accent. Doesn't need it.

Dylan Baker on next week's episode!!!

I was expecting way more returning characters/actors to show up. Hopefully Baker being on signals a trend.

Is Camryn Manheim incapable of speaking without moving her head? She’s bobbing and weaving with every word like a champion boxer.

R540, He's a BABY-KILLER!

R518, Change the channel?

Wow, only four or five episodes in and they're already bringing back an Elizabeth Holmes based case.

Is this the order the reboot was filmed in? In the original, the pilot was shown sixth, with a different DA, and the fourth episode filmed was the first shown.

It’s not the original, is it?

The first episode was obviously based on Elizabeth Holmes. Isn't this?

WHY are they showing repeats so soon? WTF?

It appears that the networks are dribbling out episodes because of the sports schedule. First the Olympics, then the pitiolympics and now Basketball.

They aren't rolling out episodes people won't watch. Pay attention, and if you hear "stay tuned for scenes from our next episode" then the next week will probably be new episodes for everyone.

Plus, most series are on 22 episode seasons. But because of the pandemic crap, some have moved to 10 episode Fall seasons, with finales, and 10 episode Spring seasons, with another finale.

They have adopted a modified British system. Has SNL been on this for decades?

I forgot to watch it this past Thursday. It’s a repeat??

That was on my bucket list for today. Now I have absolutely nothing to watch.

Has it gotten better? I think I’ve got like 3 episodes to watch. I feel so bad.

Not really R551. There hasn't been one compelling episode so far, and I think I've watched them all. You aren't missing anything.

This show needs a legal expert. So many episodes have me screaming about the violations of legal proceedures. Interesting that they are turning Manheim into a bad ass. I hope she gets to ride her hog.

I hope they retool. The ratings are decent enough that it should at least get another season.

The stories have been terrible. Jesus! Give the actors something to do.

I don’t get it. With all the crazy, salacious crime we read and hear about in America every fucking day, how could they not have great stories? You’ve got an endless pipeline of material to choose from! Not to mention all the shit that happened over the past 12 years since the show’s been off the air (you know you can go back to some of that stuff, right L&O?).

This past week…old rich guy drugging and assaulting young black guys and DA having trouble getting witnesses to testify that is wasn’t consensual. The ME *said* the dead kid was injected after death but it wasn’t brought up in court. Shouldn’t that have been enough for a murder conviction?

Also, for a supposedly smart guy who’d been getting away with this for years, he puts the body in an expensive trunk and leaves it on the sidewalk where it’s immediately discovered. And of course he has a matching set in the cupboard.

I’m enjoying it so far. It’s not as twisty-turning as the mothership’s ripped from the headlines scripts but it’s still good considering the dearth of adult shows available. I like it.

After catching up on all the new episodes, I love the show. The cast and writing is coming into its own. And I’m grateful that Law & Order is back as it’s one of the few shows I even have to watch right now. They really don’t make much television for me anymore.

Yay! Renewed for Season 22!

Has this improved at all? I just couldn't take it after E3. It was like watching a dear old friend get their head bashed in during a hate crime and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

I kept forgetting to watch on Thursday night so I caught up on all the episodes on the Peacock app. Still not gelling for me.

I’ve been on a Law and Order binge the past few days and it feels like those old Lenny Briscoe episodes will hold up forever. I’ll never get tired of watching them.

I've been doing the same R563 . When his daughter was discovered executed on an episode I watched yesterday, Orbach was so subtle and devastating. Curtis and Green were terrific partners for his character.

You know what? The second new season is pretty good! Anderson is gone (good), the rest of them seem to have gotten their groove. I am not nuts about the female ada, she's kind of a nonentity but she's not offensive. If they replaced her with someone compelling like ada's of the original, they'd be pretty good.

I’m enjoying it. But I’ve always liked Hugh Dancy and Jeffrey Donovan. Having them both on one show is a real treat.

What was with the subway bombing targeting Asians and the perpetrator being White?

What’s wrong with the perp being white? Robert Aaron Long, the shooter at Asian Massage Parlours in Atlanta, is white.

Season 23 just kicked off and the premiere is waiting for me on Peacock when I get home tonight.

Is Sam Waterson still involved?

[quote]Season 23

There is no god.

Yes, R570, he’s still on there.

[quote] This show needs a legal expert. So many episodes have me screaming about the violations of legal proceedures.

I'm available.

This will be like the time they re-rebooted Dragnet in the 2000s.

Joe Friday was still an older white guy, but the rest of the squad room was as youthful and conveniently multi-ethnic as a 1980s McDonald's commercial. They had one of every background, all serving the same Mid-Wilshire precinct.