Saturday, November 17, 2007

Are you suffering from Law & Order Withdrawal?

I’m an admitted Law & Order junkie. I’ve probably seen every episode of the “mothership” several times over. I try to catch the reruns of SVU and CI as well, although they don’t have the coverage that TNT gives the original series.

I didn’t initially think it would be so bothersome that we’re not getting any new episodes. But with CI now on USA (and I don’t get USA in HD, a major annoyance) and with SVU starting the year with some awful episodes (more on that at a later date), I am missing my weekly dose of new L&O shows. One can only watch so many reruns on TNT before it gets confusing. After all, you can see and older and worn Jack McCoy in one hour, and the next, he’s much younger. Or, one episode he’s got Claire as his ADA, the next it’s Serena. I feel like I am time shifting. I am even trying to catch the ancient Ben Stone and Paul Robinette episodes when TNT sometime shows them in the wee hours of the morning. I wish TNT would show MORE of the “oldies.”

While the quality of L&O has gotten a little stale in the last several years, they finally made a big change by moving Jack to DA, and bringing in someone new to replace him. The rub is that we have to wait what seems like forever to see if this change will revitalize the show, or, drive it to the grave. After all, the show teetered on the grave during the Elisabeth Rohm years. The show was also hurt, in my opinion, from NBC moving it from the Wednesday night slot.

I’m still turning to TNT for my fix, but I can’t last much longer. I hope that the show has enough scripts prepared so the writer’s strike won’t delay its season premier even further.

I don’t think I could take it.

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These Are Their Stories.

2 comments:

Karen said...

I am definately suffering from Momship withdrawal. To see Sam Waterston on sVU the other night, was just plain cruelty! I wanted to see him march into the SVU squadroom, see Munch, and utter some classic McCoy-ism, and have Munch answer back...we could have had a whole HOUR with these two going at it!
I disagree about Elisabeth Rohm. I have thought, for a few years now, that the writing has suffered greatly on L&O, and Ms Rohm and the other actors simply did the best they could, with what they had. A lot of the storylines were great, they were just written shabbily.
I thought she had it right, how a woman who works with a lot of older more experianced men, acts in such a workplace. You know you have a brain in your head, you want to let them know you do, yet at the same time, you have to watch it, not be a braggert, or you'll be labeled the office know it all bitch. At the same time, you don't dare spend every night after work with the guys in the cornor bar, trying to make buddies in the office, or you're labeled the office lush. Its a fine line, and I felt she-and before her, Carey Lowell, had it down pat, just how much to give away in the office. No tv shows, whether comedy or drama, ever get it right, what it is like, to work with mostly men. The media tells us women, we're equal, we have brains just like men, but in the workplace, we're still either treated like bubble headed girl Fridays, or aggressive bitches who dont know what we're missing-and there's always some idiot willing to show us, should we get caught in a room alone with them.
Annie Parisse, and Angie Harmon, on the other hand...THEY nearly had me turning off L&O. One whined incessantly, was a total wimp, and the other has the acting range between smirk and snarl. I even felt sorry for Fred Thompson, having to work with these two amateurs. He and Sam WAterston must be two very polite men, as I can't imagine them giving into even rolling their eyes in impatience, til they got home.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree regarding Elisabeth Rohm. To think she would have brought down that franchise with about 10 minutes of airtime a week was a bit far fetched. Dick Wolf would have dropped her if she wasn't living up to his expectations and she ended up in the part longer than any other actress. It's easy to label her a bubble headed blonde (which she isn't) but it was the writing that was bubbleheaded during that time period.