Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Jeff Goldblum Leaving Law & Order Criminal Intent

Variety reports that Jeff Goldblum is leaving Law & Order Criminal Intent, saying the following:

?Jeff Goldblum has decided to exit USA's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent."
Goldblum's reps told Variety on Tuesday that the thesp has made up his mind to depart, and say it's not a negotiating tactic.

There's always the possibility that Goldblum can reverse course, but for now the actor said that his decision is final.

Goldblum's decision to leave comes after two years on the USA drama. Goldblum's option with the show and Wolf Films had expired, and his reps said the actor chose to exit "due to the uncertainty" surrounding the show's future."


You can read the complete story from Variety here: Jeff Goldblum exits 'Law & Order'



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28 comments:

Anonymous said...

No surprise. This past season was awful. I don't blame him, he did OK paired with Nicholson and Erbe but Saffrom Burrows just had nothing going. The storylines did not play to his strengths, either.

This may be it for LOCI but I wish they'd bring Erbe and D'Onofrio back.

Sara said...

Goldblum is smart to leave at this juncture. Sounds like he saw the writing on the wall. With the departures of D'Onofrio and Erbe signaling the death of this L&O franchise, there's nothing Goldblum, or anyone else for that matter, could do to resurrect it. How sad.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the final nail in the coffin. I really don't know how the series would recover at this point without the lead. I really don't think CI is viable anymore for USA, what with the Burn Notice/White Collar/Royal Pains-type line-up they have going, it really does not fit in with the rest of their programming.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and deadline is also reporting it: http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/the-future-of-usas-law-order-criminal-intent-still-in-limbo-may-return-for-final-hurrah-sans-jeff-goldblum/

Quote from article:

I hear that a final pickup decision, which largely hinges on making the economics work, will be made in the next couple of days, and the network is looking to bring some of the show's original players, including Vincent D'Onofrio.

I thought VDO said he had no interest in ever coming back. TBQH, that whole scenario sounds like a mess. They should just cancel and be done with it. If they do go with the above option, they should go balls out and awesome, but I know that won't happen, considering how terribly Loyalty I and II went.

Petra Gardiner said...

I think that USA will use this as an excuse to get rid of the show. I think it's time for the show to go anyway. Goldblum was OK but the writers made his character too depressing. They seemed to expect Jeff to be just like Goren and that did not work at all.

I don't want D'Onofrio back because the writers were ruining Goren too.


If LOLA doesn't work, and with Chris and Mariska only having contracts through the next season, the area of Law & Order could be over within a year.

MissJanet said...

Wow, good news. JG is a fine actor, he does not need to have his reputation tarnished by appearing in this badly written parody of CI.

That said, with his decision to work there in the first place he enabled TPTB to treat Mr. D'Onofrio and Mrs. Erbe like they did and that was unfair, to them and the longtime viewers.

Dalton said...

Well, ultimately the future of Law & Order is in the balance as we speak. If LOLA bombs, then it's up to SVU to pull the load because with Goldblum leaving, CI is pretty much over. That itself isn't very good news considering the fact every SVU episode is now "Days of Our Lives" starring the Special Victims clan.

Joshua Morton said...

Goldblum's health could be a factor too!

It was said while "3-in-1" was being taped Goldblum was feeling quesy during a driving scene and they had to delay it to the next day when I assume he was feeling better (possible blood pressure spike) which would have been dangerous if he injured himself, Shaffron Burrows, citizens, cast/crew and the camera man in the backseat.

I wish Goldblum the best and I hope they CANCEL Law & Order: Criminal Intent - I WON'T be sucked back in WALON GREEN'S MESS IF the show is renewed and D'Onofrio returns!

I'm e-mailing Bonnie Hammer and telling her to 'axe' LOCI!

Joshua Morton said...

Also, if anyone needs me...

I'll BE IN LOS ANGELES!
Law & Order: Los Angeles!

SVU SUCKS to w/ Neal Baer's "Benson/Stabler hour"!

Anonymous said...

I think all we knew this would be happening. Without Goren & Eames, (and Ross and Wheeler) all gone in the season opener... what were the USA executives thinking? The end of LOCI it's only a matter of time. (Like X-Files without Mulder just for an example)

Joshua Morton said...

http://mortonslawandorderci.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/jeff-goldblum-leaves-the-cast-of-law-order-criminal-intent-just-cancel-the-show/

Check my article All Things, I didn't want to rant in your comments section.

Anonymous said...

This has to signal the end of L&O:CI. The show wasn't that good anymore with the new team. Just no chemistry. The only way it comes back is if Goren and Eames return and I don't see that happening. Law & Order on TV may be coming to an end with the end of the mothership.

Shelly said...

Maybe it's just time to put the entire "franchise" to rest. With the Mothership unceremoniously canceled, with CI probably on it's way out, with the lousy past season of SVU, it's just time. Obviously LOLA could turn out to be something wonderful, and I will watch and give it a fair chance, but I truly don't have high hopes.

I hate to see the end of the line for the franchise, but if SVU doesn't get any better this coming season, it would probably be a blessing to just put it out of our misery too.

Claire said...

It was rumored that Neal Baer said this could be his last year on SVU as EP, he could step down to a frequent writer... I'll be watching Law & Order: LA too!

Anonymous said...

http://twitter.com/JeffGoldblum

Jeff even closed his twitter page! His last tweet was about him marrying Tania Raymonde.

Rosemary said...

Jeff got married? Congrats to him and his new wife.

I gave up watching LOCI after they wrote out Goren and Eames but if they really were to return I'd watch again. However if it happens I'd hope they do it right and bring back Courtney Vance, Jamey Sheridan and Rene Balcer.

Well I can dream can't I?

ci hater said...

he just proposed to her, they haven't married yet. i don't think. unless they eloped.

as for the show. i just needs to end now. v'do and ke coming back is no worth it if the writing is not going to support their characetrs. i vote for cancellation for ci and revival of the mothership.

Music Wench said...

Good for Jeff. The show was a disaster last season anyway. Walon Green ruined the show. First he ruined Goren and Eames epis then he ruined Nichols.

I don't expect anyone to return to the show. From VDO's comments recently, I seriously doubt he'd want to return.

I hope no one returns because quite frankly, I'd rather the show just be canceled outright. Without competent show runners like Balcer and Leight, the show was a mess.

The only reason I watched up to Loyalty in season 9 was for Goren and Eames. Once they were gone it wasn't worth watching and from the reviews the show got, it seemed with Walon Green in charge, everything went to hell in a hand basket.

Put a fork in it, it's done.

Angrywolf said...

not a surprise...

I have always liked Jeff Goldblum..Earth girls are easy anyone..rotfl...and I hope he gets his health together and the marriage with his new girl works out.
I agree that CI should be buried..I doubt Goren and Eames would return...nor should they.
I do blame Dick Wolf for letting his minions run a fine show into the ground.He should have intervened.

I will still watch reruns on the cable channels and smile...

Anonymous said...

The way they got rid of Goren and Eames felt a lot more like a cliff-hanger than an ending, but I hope they don't intend to drag them back.

At the moment they are both enjoying life in Kosovo. Eames joined EULEX (the European group assisting the world's newest country in establishing law and order; it also has some Americans) where her more - mmm, direct - style of policing is much appreciated by the locals ("The Europeans have us spending all our time drawing organizational charts!") The country is opportunity-rich for a cop - drug smuggling, people-smuggling, high-level corruption, revenge killings [although not nearly as bad as the Serbs from whom they separated try to make it sound] - and any collar can turn out to be a hero from the war of independence we helped them win in 1999. (Remember the break-up of Yugoslavia, anyone?)

Goren has gone undercover - he hates it, but he's good at it - and as a fired cop he seems to fit in with the types taking advantage of the post-conflict situation there. For some unnamed agency he's hunting Ratko Mladic (the Srebrenica genocide general) who is still on the run from the Hague. Although a Serb, he's probably somewhere in Kosovo, Goren figures, the last place anyone would expect to find a Serb these days. Probably in one of those Medieval monasteries that the Kosovo cops can't enter.

G&E have each convinced the necessary people that they are using the other as a source in the enemy camp.

So, they're busy, productive, and in totally different chains-of-command - leave them alone.

gahks said...

The only viable way to resuscitate the show is to bring back Rene Balcer, pure and simple. Trouble is, he's got his hands full with 'Law & Order: LA,' and I doubt he'd return unless VDO and KE came back too, which I'm not really counting on at this point.

It's such a shame to see a once unbelievably compelling mystery drama now dying a slow, painful death as a result of a catalogue of errors. Perhaps the most damning indictment is that so many are willing for the show to be cancelled, unlike the mass revolt at news of the mothership's demise!

The 'CI' I used to watch is gone. May it live forever in DVDs of the first five seasons!

janethyland said...

This decision was made some time ago. It was already evident in his voice when he talked about his greatest happiness performing in the London theatres,his happy days...walking the Southbank by Tower Bridge perhaps...

Joshua Morton said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQYz3i6qqXA - I think it's time to go.

John Stodder said...

I thoroughly enjoyed the last episode of the season and saw a lot of potential in the pairing of Goldblum with Abraham. But perhaps this episode was merely intended to close the Goldblum-as-a-prodigal-son story arc.

It was the loss of Balcer and Leight that drained the show of its brilliance. The penultimate season was okay, particularly the Goldblum episodes, but this last season had about three good episodes.

It's okay with me if they want to bring it back with a different actor, but I can't imagine they would actually do that. Bring it back with Goren and Eames somehow restored? Is that a shower I hear running?

It's over.

Tina W. said...

It's a rumor floating that today at noon USA Network closed the book on "Law & Order: CI".

Is that true? Say it is. We really don't need another season of this show to make remaining fans suffer and the show itself suffer in the ratings.

Goldblum's last episode with Abraham was indeed a good one for his exit and a good place for the show to end. I don't think bring in D'Onofrio/Erbe will fix anything that's already broken, especially if the writing doesn't follow suit with the characters re-entering.

And D'Onofrio has said he doesn't have plans to return or wants to return. Erbe has gone on; going back to starring in movies. They've moved on and now it's time for this show to move on like the original "Law & Order".

Chris Zimmer said...

Tina - lots of rumors floating around but I haven't seen anything from a credible source that said is canceled - at least right now.

Anonymous said...

Tina W-

While I agree that perhaps CI's time has come, the mothership still had a good number of people watching. It had it's strongest season in both content and performance. NBC unceremoniously dumped the show that the treated like the Little Dutch Boy.

USA is all about fluff and CI is a poor fit in that format.

Unknown said...

Personally I thought JG did an awesome job. I am very disappointed he's not coming back. He's one of the heavy hitters.