“Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” Attends The Summer NBCUniversal Press Tour

“Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” was represented at the Summer NBCUniversal Press Tour on Thursday, August 3, 2017 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California. Photos of those in attendance include Gus Halper, Miles Gaston Villanueva, Edie Falco, Dick Wolf - Executive Producer/Creator; Lesli Linka Glatter - Executive Producer / Director;   Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment; and Rene Balcer - Executive Producer / Showrunner.

Gus Halper, Miles Gaston Villanueva, Edie Falco, Dick Wolf, Executive Producer/Creator; 

Lesli Linka Glatter, Executive Producer / Director; Rene Balcer, Executive Producer / Showrunner

Photos by: Chris Haston/NBC 2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.

Pictured: (l-r) Dick Wolf, Executive Producer/Creator; Lesli Linka Glatter, Executive Producer/Director; Gus Halper, Edie Falco, 

Miles Gaston Villanueva, Rene Balcar, Executive Producer/Showrunner; Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment -- ()

Photos by: Paul Drinkwater/NBC 2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.

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Edie Falco Cast in NBC’s “Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders” (Press Release)

NBC Press Release February 3, 2017

FOUR-TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER EDIE FALCO CAST IN 

NBC’S ‘LAW & ORDER: TRUE CRIME — THE MENENDEZ MURDERS’

“Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie” Star to Play Defense Attorney Leslie Abramson in Dick Wolf-Produced Anthology Series

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Feb. 3, 2017 — Edie Falco, who won three Emmy Awards for her role as matriarch Carmela Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos” and an additional Emmy for the title role on Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” has been cast as tenacious defense attorney Leslie Abramson on NBC’s upcoming “Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders.”

In addition to her four Emmy wins, Falco, widely known as one of the finest actresses of our generation, was Emmy nominated an additional nine times. She also earned 11 Golden Globe nominations for the two roles and won twice. Falco is the only actress to have won the Emmy for Best Actress in both the comedy and drama categories. She has been nominated for a record 22 SAG Awards and became the only actress ever to receive the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award all in the same year for the same performance.

“Edie’s past iconic roles cement her place among the highest caliber of actresses working today and we couldn’t be happier that someone of her stature will be joining our upcoming ‘Menendez’ series,” said Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “We know she will do a remarkable job portraying the complexities of defense attorney Leslie Abramson and the issues that made her such a compelling figure.”

“I’ve known Edie for more than two decades,” said executive producer Dick Wolf. “Our working relationship started when she was among an elite group of actors who made multiple appearances asdefense attorneys on ‘Law & Order’ in the early ’90s. Edie was at the top of that list. She did a fabulous job on ‘Law & Order’ and, as Leslie Abramson, will knock the role out of the park.”

Falco, who most recently starred alongside Louis CK on his critically reviewed series “Horace and Pete,” has appeared on several seminal TV dramas, including “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Law & Order” and “Oz.” On the comedy side, she has appeared in guest roles on “Will & Grace” and “30 Rock.”

Falco’s lengthy film career includes “Laws of Gravity” (Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead), “Bullets Over Broadway, “Cost of Living” (AFI Fest Award for Best Actress), “Judy Berlin” and “Sunshine State” (L.A. Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress).

Her upcoming films include “The Comedian,” opposite Robert De Niro; “Landline,” opposite Jenny Slate and John Turturro; “Megan Leavey,” with Kate Mara; and “Land of Steady Habits,” opposite Ben Mendelsohn.

A theater veteran as well, Falco has starred on Broadway in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” “’night, Mother,” “Side Man,” in which she was a winner of the Theatre World Award, and opposite Ben Stiller in “The House of Blue Leaves,” for which she was Tony Award nominated and won a Drama Desk Award.

The eight-episode anthology series “Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders” will focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The brothers, who were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the murders, were tried separately but eventually convicted in a third trial after no verdicts were rendered in the first two trials because of hung juries.

Defense attorney Abramson represented the brothers through the three trials and claimed the brothers had suffered a lifetime of abuse from their parents. Their father, Jose Menendez, was accused of sexual abuse as well as being unusually cruel while mother Kitty Menendez was accused of being mentally unstable, and a violent drug and alcohol abuser.

Rene Balcer will write and executive produce with Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Arthur W. Forney through Wolf Entertainment in association with Universal Television.

# # #

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Dick Wolf Talks Possible Law & Order Return

Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC 2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC

At the “NBC Chicago Celebration” for Wolf Films’ Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med shows, Dick Wolf gave the latest information on a possible return of the beloved mothership, Law & Order. Wolf mentioned an "event" series of 10 to 13 episodes, hoping for Rene Balcer as showrunner. (I'm all in for that!)

Read the full story here: Variety: Dick Wolf Talks ‘Chicago’ Crossovers and Potential ‘Law & Order’ Revival




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Law & Order: LA Sizzle Reel & Message to Fans from Showrunner Rene Balcer

From Wolf Films, here’s a Law & Order LA “Sizzle Reel” along with a special message from showrunner Rene Balcer. Here’s hoping Law & Order LA returns for another season!




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Law & Order LA: René Balcer Talks with Mediaweek

Here’s an interesting interview from Mediaweek with Executive Producer René Balcer about Law & Order Los Angeles. Take note of the comments on the differences in location shooting between NY and LA.



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René Balcer’s Video Production Diary for "Sylmar"

Here’s the latest installment of René Balcer’s (Law & Order Los Angeles Executive Producer) video production diary for the episode “Sylmar,”

Update - this video is no longer available.





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Law & Order LA Gets Full Season Pick Up: NBC Press Release

Released by NBC :

NBC ORDERS FULL-SEASON PICKUPS FOR NEW SERIES 'THE EVENT,' 'LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES' AND 'OUTSOURCED'

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - October 18, 2010 - NBC has given full-season pickups to three of its new Fall 2010-11 series, "The Event," "Law & Order: Los Angeles" and "Outsourced." The announcement was made by Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

"We are pleased with the quality of 'The Event,' 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' and 'Outsourced,' and feel they are an important part of helping to re-build our schedule and our studio pipeline," said Bromstad. "We believe in these new series and the creative auspices behind them."

Through October 11, "The Event" has averaged a 3.0 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 9.1 million viewers overall in "most current" averages from Nielsen Media Research. "The Event" has generated a 30 percent improvement in the time period versus year-ago "most current" results for NBC in 18-49 rating (with a 3.0 rating vs. a 2.3) and a 47 percent increase in total viewers (9.1 million vs. 6.2 million). On a percentage basis, "The Event" was the most time-shifted new series in adults 18-49 during premiere week from among the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox primetime lineups, with 35 percent of "The Event's" "live plus seven day" rating being accounted for by time-shifting. Additionally, "The Event" was licensed to nearly 200 territories internationally even before its U.S. premiere, and is launching in numerous regions abroad to impressive ratings.

As of October 13, "Law & Order: Los Angeles" has averaged a 2.5 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.7 million viewers overall in "live plus same day" averages from Nielsen. "Law & Order: L.A." has delivered a 39 percent improvement in the time period versus year-ago "live plus same day" results for NBC in 18-49 rating (with a 2.5 rating vs. a 1.8) and a 45 percent increase in total viewers (8.7 million vs. 6.0 million).

Through October 14, "Outsourced" has averaged a 3.0 rating, 8 share in adults 18-49 and 6.3 million viewers overall in "most current" averages from Nielsen. In the valuable adult 18-34 demographic, "Outsourced" is averaging a 3.3 rating, making it the #1 new series on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox this fall. "Outsourced" is also heavily time-shifted, adding 19 percent to its "live plus same day" 18-49 rating when Nielsen issued "live plus seven day" results for premiere week (to a 4.29 rating from a 3.59), making it the top gainer among first-year half-hour comedies on the ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox primetime lineups.

"The Event" (Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET) is an emotional, high-octane drama that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, "The Class"), an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fiance, Leila (Sarah Roemer, "Disturbia"), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. Sean's quest sends ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including newly elected U.S. President Elias Martinez (Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"); Sophia Maguire (Emmy Award nominee Laura Innes, "ER"), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees; and Leila's shadowy father (Scott Patterson, "Gilmore Girls"). Ian Anthony Dale ("Daybreak"), Clifton Collins Jr. ("Star Trek"), Taylor Cole ("The Violent Kind"), Lisa Vidal ("The Division"), Bill Smitrovich ("The Practice") and Emmy winner Zeljko Ivanek ("Damages") also star.

"The Event" is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Evan Katz ("24") serves as executive producer/show-runner; Steve Stark ("Medium," "Facing Kate") serves as executive producer; Jeffrey Reiner (NBC's "Friday Night Lights," "Trauma") is director/executive producer, and Nick Wauters ("The 4400," "Eureka") is creator/co-executive producer.

"Law & Order: Los Angeles" (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) fuses the classic ripped- from-the-headlines storytelling with the distinctive backdrop of L.A. The drama follows Detectives Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich, "Jericho") and Tomas "TJ" Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll, "Midnight in Paris") who are members of the L.A.P.D.'s elite Robbery Homicide Division. Their boss, Lt. Arleen Gonzales, (Rachel Ticotin), is driven and meticulous. Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales (Alfred Molina, "The Da Vinci Code," "Spiderman 2") is a sarcastic realist. Oscar nominee Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow") portrays methodical Deputy District Attorney Jonah Dekker and shares the position with Morales in alternate episodes. At Morales' side is the idealistic Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Price (Regina Hall, "Death at a Funeral"). Megan Boone ("Cold Case") plays Deputy District Attorney Lauren Stanton who works at Dekker's side.

The series is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Wolf is creator and executive producer, Rene Balcer ("Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"), Blake Masters ("Brotherhood," "Rubicon"), Christopher Misiano ("West Wing," "ER") and Peter Jankowski ("Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") are executive producers.

"Outsourced" (Thursdays, 9:30-10 p.m. ET) is NBC's popular new workplace comedy series centered on a catalog-based company, Mid America Novelties, which sees its call center suddenly outsourced to India. When Manager Todd Dempsy (Ben Rappaport, off-Broadway's "The Gingerbread House") moves there, culture shock ensues when Todd inherits a sales team that includes: Gupta (Parvesh Cheena, "Help Me Help You"), a socially awkward employee; Manmeet (Sacha Dhawan, BBC's "Five Days II"), a young romantic; Asha (Rebecca Hazlewood, BBC's "Doctors"), a smart, striking woman; Rajiv (Rizwan Manji, "Privileged"), the assistant manager; and Madhuri (Anisha Nagarajan, Broadway's "Bombay Dreams"), suffers from shyness. The series also stars Diedrich Bader ("The Drew Carey Show") and Pippa Black ("Neighbours").

From Universal Media Studios, "Outsourced" is executive-produced by show-runner Robert Borden ("The Drew Carey Show" "George Lopez") and director Ken Kwapis ("He's Just Not That Into You," "The Office"), who developed the project through his company, In Cahoots. Victor Nelli, Jr. ("Ugly Betty"), Tom Gorai ("Outsourced" theatrical release) and David Skinner ("Outsourced" theatrical release) also serve as executive producers, and Alex Beattie serves as co-executive producer.


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Law & Order: LA Behind the Scenes & Video Production Diary

Here is a behind the scenes look at Law & Order: Los Angeles with Terrence Howard, showrunner Rene Balcer’s video production diary, and the Law & Order: Los Angeles “Echo Park” promo.

Behind the Scenes Terrence Howard


Rene Balcer


“Echo Park” Promo



Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

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Law & Order: Los Angeles Behind The Scenes and On Set Interviews

Here is a video of an "on set" interview with Law & Order: Los Angeles Executive Producers Rene Balcer (“The Brains Behind Law & Order” and “He Who Makes It Happen”) and Christopher Misiano, plus a behind the scenes look at the set. I have also included a video of an interview with Regina Hall and Alfred Molina taken at that same time. You can also check out the article and photos from this event at allieiswired.com.

I actually got an invite to go to this set tour, but as it only came about a week before the event and as I live on the other side of the country, air fare (plus hotel) was steep. Besides, I don’t like to fly anymore unless I have to, and I couldn’t change enough plans to make the 3-4 day drive out to Los Angeles. These videos are just like being there – for a lot less $$$. (Still, I would have loved to be there.) Enjoy!









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More Law & Order LA TCA Press Tour Photos

Here are a few more photos from the Television Critics Association press tour featuring Dick Wolf, Law & Order LA executive producers Rene Balcer and Blake Masters, along with cast members Skeet Ulrich and Corey Stoll. Dick and the group were speaking onstage during the 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' panel for the NBC portion of the summer TCA press tour on July 30, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California. (The other photos were posted here: Law & Order LA TCA Press Tour Photos

L to R - Rene Balcer, Dick Wolf, Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll, Blake Masters

Photos by Getty Images North America

Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order, here.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Law & Order LA TCA Press Tour Photos

Here are a few photos from the Television Critics Association press tour featuring Dick Wolf, Law & Order LA executive producers Rene Balcer and Blake Masters, along with cast members Skeet Ulrich and Corey Stoll. Dick and the group were speaking onstage during the "Law & Order: Los Angeles" panel for the NBC portion of the summer TCA press tour on July 30, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California.

L to R - Rene Balcer, Dick Wolf, Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll, Blake Masters

Photos by Getty Images North America

Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order, here.

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Rene Balcer to Head Law & Order LA

Good news - Deadline.com reports that Rene Balcer will serve as showrunner for the new Law & Order: LA. You can read the full story here: ” 'L&O' Veteran Rene Balcer To Run 'LOLA' “

Rene was showrunner for both Law & Order and Law & Order CI during some of their best seasons, so we should expect Law & Order LA to put on a good show!




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Law & Order Paley Center Event Photos

Here are some of the early photos from the “Law & Order: Twenty Years and Counting” event, which was held today at The Paley Center for Media in New York. Hopefully, there will be more photos released in the next day or so, and I will post them if I can get them.

Executive Producer Rene Balcer, Series Creator Dick Wolf, Sam Waterston, S. Epatha Merkerson

Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order, here.

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René Balcer: On Producing Law & Order

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have a few minutes to talk one-on-one with René Balcer, Executive Producer of Law & Order. As fans, sometimes we take for granted all the people who work to deliver each episode to viewers, and I jumped at the opportunity to talk with the man who I see as the brains behind the operation. (A note to fans: he is also featured on page 84 of the TV Guide Law & Order Collector’s Issue.)

As “ripped from the headlines” is a phase often associated with the Law & Order franchise, I was curious about what components of a real story are needed for a good ripped from the headlines story. Balcer explained, “What makes a good headline is one that gives us an opportunity to dig deeper and tell us something about human nature such as social issues or an issue of the day that’s of national interest. Just doing a celebrity-type story or crime story just for the sake of doing a crime story is not that interesting.” He added, “The whole "ripped from the headlines" is kind of a misnomer. Usually people say it like it is some kind of slam against the show. In literature there is a long tradition of our greatest novels being ripped from the headlines. Moby Dick was ripped from the headlines from an actual ship that was rammed by a whale off the coast of South America.” This was something that I did not know, so he went on to explain that someone wrote a book about the wreck of the Essex, a whaling ship out of Nantucket, that was rammed by a whale – not a white whale but a whale nonetheless. It made the newspapers of the day and Herman Melville ripped that headline. Balcer added, “There have probably been very few books written that have not been inspired by real events,” citing two other well known books that were based on real life events: “The Executioners Song” by Norman Mailer, and “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. While “ripped from the headlines” is a tag line that has followed Law & Order, it’s not a technique that is new to writers. But Law & Order doesn’t simply lift the entire story. Balcer explains, “It’s not enough to just do a retelling of the story. Of course, we never follow the case anyway other than just the headlines. We take it and go in different directions because we’re interested in looking at other aspects of human behaviors than just retelling the crime. “

Since I’m not in the TV industry I was curious about how long it takes from the time an episode is conceived to the time it airs. Balcer explained, “It’s like college students - if you have six weeks to do your term paper, you’ll take 6 weeks and do it, if you have three days you’ll do it in three days.” The completion time can depend on how much lead time they have before the scheduled airdate. At the beginning of the season there is a lot of lead time, so writing the episode can take anywhere from three months to two weeks. After that is done, there is 8 business days of pre-production to prepare to shoot the episode, which includes finding locations, and then 8 days of actual shooting. Afterwards, there is the post production editing process which could take anywhere from 10-20 days.

When I briefly touched on the recent news and resulting turmoil about the mass exits at Law & Order Criminal Intent, and I mentioned that the “whole gang” was leaving he commented, “Well, we’re not sure if the whole gang is going to leave so who knows? One thing I have learned in this business is until the check is cashed and you put it in the bank and until the show airs, nothing is written in stone.” I am going to resist reading anything into that comment, only that it is an indication of how fluid things in the television industry can be.

As fans, I am sure that we never think about the enormous expense associated with each episode. Balcer brought up an issue that I know has been a topic of discussion with fans over the years – the desire for more crossover episodes. He explains that even if the actor appears in one or two scenes of an episode, that actor must be paid their full salary, which could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for just a day or two of work. Crossovers are prohibitively expensive, and that’s why they are rarely done.

When I asked if the economy has affected their ability to keep up the quality of the show, Balcer indicated that they made changes with small things that the audience never sees, and these things can add up to reduce costs. “The one thing they may notice is we don’t have as many exterior night scenes because those are very expensive to shoot,” Balcer adding that lighting these night scenes is a big part of the cost.

Not only was I educated about the use of “ripped from the headlines” in classic literature, now I will be thinking a lot more about all the things that happen behind the scenes to deliver an episode of Law & Order to viewers. The next time you watch an episode, when the opening credits roll, say a big “Thank you” when René Balcer’s name, and the names of other producers, writers, and support people appear on your screen. Without them, your favorite Law & Order characters would never see the light of day.



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Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order, here.

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Robert Goren, Diagnosed

He looks normal to me

The TV Guide has taken a stab a trying to diagnose Law & Order Criminal Intent’s Detective Robert (Bobby) Goren, with some input from Vincent D'Onofrio. Did they get it right? You decide. Here it is:

Vincent D'Onofiro Puts Criminal Intent's Goren on the Couch

Friday, June 27, 2008
by Mike Flaherty

Watching Vincent D'Onofrio's Det. Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sundays at 9 pm/ET, USA) is a deliciously unsettling experience. We love the awkward mannerisms, the halting yet penetrating speech, the craned neck bend he performs when grilling suspects. He's brilliant, insightful, riveting. But, frankly, he seems a few sandwiches short of a picnic, if you know what we mean….

For example: In "Untethered," D'Onofrio's last episode before the writers' strike, Goren went undercover in a mental ward to expose prisoner abuse. Instead, he fell prey to the sadistic mind games and emerged from the ordeal near-catatonic. In the first post-strike episode, "Purgatory," the suspended Goren got reinstated, but we never witnessed the psych evaluation that was required to get his shield and gun back. This was no accident: Turns out D'Onofrio's loathe to have his alter ego follow a certain powerful, neurotic Italian-American to the couch. "The Sopranos did it so perfectly that if you take a strong character like mine and put him with a shrink, it's going to be a copy," says the actor. "So we won't go there."

Actually, dude, we will.

Diagnosis: Abandonment Issues
Goren's major malfunction in a nutshell: His father, a compulsive gambler and serial adulterer, walked out when his son was 11. Four years earlier, his mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. As he put it in a rare soul-baring moment, "She's been slipping away from me my whole life." In Season 6, before Mama Goren (Rita Moreno) finally succumbed to lymphoma, she let it be known that she favored his shiftless brother, Frank (Tony Goldwyn), another gambling addict who's spent most of his recent life homeless. So it's quite an understatement when D'Onofrio says, "Goren's very damaged." In some ways, it's what makes him a better cop. He's lost everyone close to him (save for partner Alexandra Eames, played by Kathryn Erbe) but refuses to lose a suspect once in his grasp. Our conclusion? That obsession is his way of exerting a degree of control that he never had growing up.

Diagnosis: Paternal Neglect
Did someone say "daddy issues"? Goren's mother informed him on her deathbed that the louse he thought was his father may not be his father. Instead, it may be the louse she was bonking back in 1960, a serial killer named Mark Ford Brady. As a result, says D'Onofrio, "Goren is lost and has to find his way." The show's consulting producer René Balcer is more direct: "He's always looking for a father figure." But Balcer also points out "that [neglected boys] tend to have a lot of problems with older males and authority issues." That's our boy!

Diagnosis: Post-romantic Stress Syndrome
OK, we made that one up. But it's the best way to describe the psychological morass that is Goren's relationship with criminal mastermind Nicole Wallace (Olivia d'Abo). Sure, she's a purring, pillow-lipped blonde, but it's her mind that tortures our hero. She's the only person who can go head case to head case in the interrogation room and get the better of Goren, taunting "Bubby" in her Australian patois and seeing right through his protective shell to all that pain. "That's the only true relationship with a woman that he's had in the last seven years other than his mom," notes D'Onofrio. "Which is very screwed up."

Diagnosis: Repressed Sociopathy
"Manipulation is a symptom of the psychopathic personality," Goren once observed of a suspect. That's the cop calling the kettle black! His ability to guilt-trip, distract and befuddle suspects into a confession makes you wonder what path Goren might have followed if not law enforcement. "He walks that line of being able to enter that criminal world and think like a criminal," D'Onofrio observes. Balcer concurs: "There but for the grace of God goes Goren."

Diagnosis: Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
A more taciturn, less flaky Goren of the past few seasons was an attempt, as D'Onofrio said, to "internalize" the character. "The guy couldn't be so quirky that he wouldn't be allowed to be a cop." That recalibration seemed to have come full circle when we saw a scruffy, puffy Goren at the beginning of "Purgatory," brooding at the end of a bar. So who knows? Maybe he will go completely off the rails someday. Until that happens, Goren will remain a work in progress. "The last episode this season will revisit his past in a very literal way," reveals D'Onofrio. "He'll be pulled out of a nosedive," adds Balcer. OK, just don't go making him normal or anything.



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here.

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Law & Order New Episodes Begin in April

Law & Order has been working on three new episodes which begin airing in April. All I have for now are the titles for the most part. They are: Righteous Shoot, Bogeyman, and Strike.

TV Guide says the next new episode for L&O (which returns on April 23) is Jesse Martin’s last and he leaves with a story line that is “troubling and disturbing” according to executive producer Rene Balcer. Rene continues to say that Ed “may wish he were dead, but he’ll be alive.” Ed’s replacement, Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) will come from Internal Affairs.

In one episode (I assume it’s the one titled “Strike”), Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza) switches sides when the Legal Aid lawyers go on strike. She’ll represent a poor defendant, opposite Michael Cutter (Linus Roache). Balcer says “They’ve got an “Adam’s Rib” thing going on.” (Adam’s Rib being an old movie with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.)

It all sounds interesting, but I hope that the scenario surrounding Jesse Martin’s leaving the show will not be so traumatic and disturbing as to overly upset the viewers. That would not make me a happy fan.

Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, here.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.