Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Elliot Stabler Gets A Mom - With Baggage

It’s been reported by several sources that Law & Order SVU character Elliot Stabler’s (Chris Meloni) mother will appear on an upcoming episode, being played by Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn.

More details on what this means for the Stabler family is below, from TV Squad. Do everyone’s parents in the Law & Order Universe need to have “issues”? Think of Bobby Goren’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) mom, Olivia Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) mom, John Munch’s (Richard Belzer’s) dad, Mike Logan’s (Chris Noth) parents, Jack McCoy’s (Sam Waterston) dad…are there no normal parents out there?

Ellen Burstyn to guest on Law & Order SVU
by Allison Waldman


Recently, we told you about James Brolin appearing in a guest role on Law & Order: SVU, as a man from Elliot's past. Now, there'll be even more development for Christopher Meloni's character when Ellen Burstyn shows up on SVU to play Stabler's mother.

Oh, and she's not your button-downed, upright all together mom. She's bipolar, which is to say that she has a serious psychological disorder.

TVGuide.com reported that it learned that Ms. Burstyn's guest role will be very dramatic -- "explosive" -- and is slated for one episode. Thinking about what's been happening on SVU, the major storyline for Elliot has been revolving around his wife Kathy having another child.

The baby has brought the Stablers back together after a separation. Could Elliot's mother be coming to New York to see her new grandchild and something else go wrong? Hmm...

Oscar-winner Burstyn (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) has been busy on the big screen as well as TV. She's a four-time Emmy nominee, including one this year as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for HBO's Big Love. She was great as Barb's mother, but I think she's likely to lose the Emmy to Cynthia Nixon, ironically, for a role she had on SVU in 2007, as a severely disturbed woman with multiple personalities.




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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then, there are the first and second bananas. Claire's father pushed her in her high school track days ("Doubles"), to say nothing on her relationship with her stepfather in "Aftershock." Abbie's mother wanted her to marry a doctor ("Harm"). Serena often said on her attempts for her father to notice her. Connie's father was a doctor from another country, and couldn't find proper work in the States. Though, whether or not it impacted his relationship with his family, can't say.

To mirror Moriarty's life, Ben Stone's father was also an alcoholic. Ben was then raised by his grandmother, and later developed a surrogate son/father deal with Adam. He did try to accord with his father's wishes on occasion (studied to be a doctor, then "grew up."). I temporarily forget the episode which that was declared.

Borgia got along with her father, as they used to fish when she was younger ("Obsession"). I think Eames also had a good relationship with her father, as she often referenced him in a positive light. I know Ed's wasn't positive nor negative, same with Lennie's.

Otherwise, yeah, the screwed up kids, like Logan, Jack, Liv and Elliot, they get all the attention. It's also a good point you bring up, as parental dysfunction is nice from a dramatic standpoint, for a while. Then, they have to deal with it, and move on.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Connie's allusion to her father was "Melting Pot." And Ben's father being an alcoholic was "Prescription for Death," and being raised by his grandmother was "The Troubles."

Sorry, forgot to add that in.

Jane said...

Thanks for sharing, nice photo of Ellen, I am not much of an SVU fan but I had seen some of them, I wasn't aware that Elliot had a wife, I feel that they make detectives in Detective dramas (worldwide) all have troubled home lives ( even the married ones-and there aren't many of those)to kind of given them an edge maybe and makes the viewer empathize and sympathize with their characters more than if they were without problems-kind of makes you drawn to them which is why we watch and enjoy.