Dancing with the Law & Order Stars

It’s what you’ve been waiting for. Today, April 1, is the premier date for the Law & Order dance video. Famous “faces” of the Law & Order franchise do their interpretations of dances of the world, strictly for your entertainment.

I had no idea these people were so talented.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing some of your favorite faces - like Sam Waterston, S. Epatha Merkerson, Chris Meloni, Vincent D'Onofrio, Mariska Hargitay, Linus Roache, Alana De La Garze, Jeremy Sisto, Jesse L. Martin, and a few more - performing international dances.

Dancing with the Law & Order Stars


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

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

Law & Order Stars – “Old” AND Likeable

The Miami Herald recently did an article about the drawing power of some of television’s “older” stars. I use the word “older” carefully, since some of these people are younger than me. But it indicates that a lot of people will still tune in to see actors that aren’t just in their 20s and 30s.

Of course, some of our Law & Order favorites are high on the list. Here’s the whole article, plus a listing showing where the top L&O stars landed. Sorry Criminal Intent fans, Vincent D'Onofrio and Chris Noth didn't make it in the top five.

“Q scores, a measure of the name-recognition and likeability of stars compiled by the New York-based company Marketing Evaluations, certainly bear that out. Prime-time TV's top Q-score personalities and their ages:

ACTORS

1. William Petersen, CSI (55)
2. Hugh Laurie, House, (48)
3. Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU (47)
4. Sam Waterston, Law & Order (67)
5. George Eads, CSI (41)

ACTRESSES
1. Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (44)
2. Marg Helgenberger, CSI (49)
3. Reba McEntire, Reba (53)
4. Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (29)
5. Jorja Fox, CSI (39)


TV's May-September romance
Networks lust after 18- to 34-year-old viewers. So why do so many successful shows star the over-50 crowd?
Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2008
BY GLENN GARVIN


How much do television executives lust for young viewers? Enough that they dared to ask Judy Sheindlin if she'd mind doing her famously cantankerous Judge Judy show from a Florida beach one spring break, laying down the law in a lush landscape of Jell-O shots and overstuffed bikinis.

''You laugh, but they were serious,'' Sheindlin recalls. 'They said, `You'll be in there with them all around, doing stupid things, and you can keep them in line. Judge some of their contests. It'll introduce you to a whole new audience.' I told them, 'I have a whole new audience. I have teenagers, 13-14-15, writing me fan letters.' But they wouldn't listen to me.''

They should have. Not only does Sheindlin have the top-rated daytime syndicated show in America, she often whips her competition in the 18-to-34 age group that makes TV executives -- and, even more importantly, their paymasters, the advertisers -- grow faint with longing.

In a television universe that worships youth, the 65-year-old Sheindlin is not the only heathen god. Oddly and counterintuitively, the industry's landscape is increasingly dotted with senior-citizen stars:

• When CBS, in search of younger viewers for its evening newscast, knocked 20 years off the age of its anchor by dropping Bob Schieffer for Katie Couric, ratings plummeted. ABC went the reverse route, replacing 40-something anchors Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff with Charles Gibson, who just turned 65. Result: ABC's evening news rocketed to No. 1 for the first time since 1996.

• Television's top Q score -- a rating of a star's name recognition and likeability, little known outside the industry but highly prized within it -- belongs not to any of the buff young cast members of Grey's Anatomy but to CSI's comfortable old shoe of a leading man, William Petersen, 55. At that, Petersen is a mere pup compared to the No. 4 actor on the list, Law & Order's 67-year-old Sam Waterston.

• Older stars are a formidable presence in practically every time slot and channel on television, from the relatively sedate world of morning talk shows -- where 76-year-old Regis Philbin has been the undisputed king for almost two decades -- to teeny-bopper prime time. When 54-year-old pro wrestler Hulk Hogan's reality show Hogan Knows Best premiered on VH-1 in 2005, it was the most-watched debut in the network's history. MTV's most popular show ever remains The Osbournes, whose senescent rocker star Ozzy, 59, was making records 40 years before most of his viewers were born.

Older stars say there's nothing surprising about their appeal, only that television executives give them a chance to demonstrate it.

''In movies, this wouldn't be anything new or shocking,'' says David Carradine, 71, who has a starring role in a Hallmark Channel action movie, Son of the Dragon, that debuts Wednesday. ``Spencer Tracy was working two weeks before he died. Cary Grant stopped only because he wanted to. John Wayne didn't get his Oscar until his second-to-last movie. But TV has always been a young thing.''

MORE STATISTICS

Since the mid-1980s, when computerized ''people meters'' allowed ratings companies to figure out not just how many people were watching a show but who they were -- their age, gender, race and shopping habits -- television has been a demographic battleground, with advertisers seeking to get their messages not just to eyeballs but the right eyeballs, especially young ones. Viewers past the age of 54 no longer count at all in TV ratings, and those over 35 are seen with increasing disdain.

The result has been an avalanche of teen soap operas and reality shows that appeal, so advertisers believe, to the self-important narcissism of a young audience that doesn't want to watch anybody who doesn't look like itself.

But a growing body of ratings data suggests that's simply not true. ''I don't believe there's any correlation between the age of your stars and the age of your audience,'' says Steve Leblang, vice president of planning and research at the FX cable channel.

Leblang's network has amassed one of the youngest adult audiences in television with shows peopled largely by characters in various stages of middle-aged burnout. Among the most popular: Rescue Me, starring 50-year-old Denis Leary as a fireman whose mid-life crisis was triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks. Median age of its viewers: 37. Even more pronounced is the age gap between the star of cranky-old-man sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 63-year-old Danny DeVito, and his audience -- more than half of it under 35. Concludes Leblang: ``There is something to be said for the idea that people of any age want to watch compelling television, no matter who it stars or what it's about.''

That's certainly supported by the rankings of Q scores among television personalities compiled by the New York-based Marketing Evaluations. Of the top five men in prime time, the youngest is CSI's George Eads, 41. Even among actresses, where the conventional wisdom is that age is a curse, the top three are Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay (44), CSI's Marg Helgenberger (49) and sitcom star Reba McEntire (53).

''You can have olderleads attracting younger audiences,'' argues Henry Schafer, Marketing Evaluations' executive vice president. ``Age doesn't necessarily matter for some of these people. It's the type of programs they've been associated with over the years that, in some ways, dictates the potential for their future success.''

ANCHOR FLOPS

Nowhere is that more apparent than in television news. The ratings flops of younger anchors include not just the highly publicized cases at ABC and CBS but the cable news networks as well. If you judged from the number of glossy magazine covers and the chatter on inside-media gossip websites like Media Bistro and Gawker, the new face of CNN is soulful stud-muffin Anderson Cooper, 40.

The ratings, however, say otherwise: CNN's top show is hosted by craggy Larry King, 74, whose broadcasting career began when Dwight Eisenhower was president and Elvis Presley was on top of the record charts. And the only CNN show to beat its head-to-head competition at industry leader Fox News is Situation Room, hosted by the determinedly unglamorous Wolf Blitzer, 60. And when AOL recently polled TV viewers about which anchor they'd prefer to see as president, Comedy Central's terminally hip Jon Stewart, 45, finished a distant second to ABC's 61-year-old Diane Sawyer.

CBS' Schieffer, who has continued to host the Sunday-morning Face The Nation since stepping down as anchor of the network's evening newscast in 2006, says viewers not only don't mind a few wrinkles around the eyes of their anchors, they find them reassuring.

''Familiarity is the first step toward credibility,'' says Schieffer. ``If people know who a correspondent is, they'll put trust in that person more than a stranger. . . . Being around a while and establishing a reputation is a good thing in TV news.''

Convincing advertisers, the people who really run television, may take a while. ''If advertisers were putting together a forum on who should be the next president,'' fumes Sheindlin, ``they'd want Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera and Nicole Richie, instead of Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters.''

But many TV executives believe a change is already underway. The single-minded pursuit of younger viewers, they say, runs counter to the nature of not just television but demographics themselves. With 80 million baby boomers -- more than a quarter of the U.S. population -- moving inexorably toward old age, the median age of television viewers is going along with them. It's 36 now, up from 28 in 1970 and will climb to 38 in another decade. Meanwhile, the 18-to-34 segment of the TV audience has actually declined, from 67.5 million in 1990 to 67.3 million today.

''Television is an aging medium,'' says David Kenin, programming chief for the Hallmark Channel and its new sister network, the Hallmark Movie Channel. ``Look at the top shows -- CSI and Law & Order and Dancing with the Stars. They're all older-skewing; they all appeal to baby-boomer audiences. And that's good -- these are audiences that have money and assets, instead of allowances.''


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

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

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.

Law & Order SVU New Episodes for April

The episode names and information for some new April SVU episodes have been released by NBC. Here’s what’s coming up:

Law & Order SVU “Undercover”, air date April 15:
THE RAPE OF A YOUNG WOMAN AND A STOLEN RAPE KIT PROMPTS DETECTIVE OLIVIA BENSON (MARISKA HARGITAY) TO GO UNDERCOVER IN PRISON.
When Ashley Tyler (guest star Shareeka Epps) is found raped and beaten in a local community garden, Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) initially suspect her drug-dealing uncle, Rick Tyler (guest star Hassan Johnson). After the rape kit identifying the rapist goes missing, a crooked prison guard comes under suspicion. Detective Benson puts herself in great danger as she goes undercover as a prison inmate to catch the predator. Also starring: Adam Beach, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Diane Neal, Tamara Tunie, Richard Belzer, and BD Wong.


Law & Order SVU "Closet", air date April 22:
According to TV Guide, Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) is becoming obsessed with being a mother. Neal Baer, executive producer, told TV Guide “ Olivia is a woman of a certain age with a clock ticking” and that “something surprising” will be revealed about Olivia in this episode. This episode is centered on secrets, and will guest star Bailey Chase, who will portray a closeted pro football player who is outed after a murder. Olivia’s secret will be shocking – just shocking! – to her partner Stabler (Chris Meloni). Her big secret? Well, readers to this blog already know it’s the revelation of Olivia’s new boyfriend, a New York newspaper editor, played by Bill Pullman.


Law & Order SVU "Authority", air date April 29:

Information from web site Seat42F

Multi-award winning actor Robin Williams makes a rare dramatic appearance on NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" as an engineer whose life has gone terribly wrong with dramatic repercussions. The episode, "Authority," will air Tuesday, April 29 at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

When a law-abiding engineer's life takes a tragic turn, he becomes an ardent believer in the necessity of challenging authority. His purpose in life turns to making people aware that there are risks posed by leading unquestioning lives.

Executive Producer Neal Baer said, "We are thrilled that one of the most talented and versatile actors around will be starring in this powerful and complex special 200th episode. We can't imagine anyone else doing this role."




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

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

Law & Order SVU “Snitch” Tells a Bad Story

This season has not been a good one for SVU. The stories have been uninteresting, with flat performances from just about everyone. But for the episode “Snitch,” it combined to create a bore of a show.

The episode begins with some people sent to clean up the East River finding a body intermingled with trash. While investigating, Stabler (Chris Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) come across a “body” nearby. What was ridiculous about this scene is you see Stabler checking the “body” for ID but not checking if the person was actually alive. How crazy – and uncaring – is that? For someone in special victims, he sure seemed insensitive here. Of course, the man is still alive and flees but is caught. All the detectives caught was a red herring, since this man had nothing to do with the case.

The investigation leads the detectives to a woman who performs female circumcisions, and then to the victim’s family. The husband is immediately suspect when he tries to flee, but we also later find that he is a witness in a murder trial AND a polygamist. He is being assisted in his case by an attorney Sarah Flint (Tracy Middendorf) who later turns out to be one of his wives. (Got it so far?) The detectives assume that the man – Chuckwei Bothame (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) – was not the murderer of his own wife but they believe it was “D King” (Method Man) who did it to prevent Chuckwei from testifying against him. Of course, seeing that the detectives have moved along in this case with little proof of anything, it’s no surprise when they later discover that Chuckwei’s wife/attorney was the real murderer.

During all this twisting and turning, we are assaulted with cheesy graphics (Chester’s tidal flow graph which looked amateur) and annoying comments by Chester (Adam Beach). Do the SVU writers think that people don’t understand the simple flow of water in the rivers – in some cases from nearby tidal flow – that not only do we have to see a graphic of water with arrows showing the flow that Chester had to verbally explain it too?

I have to admit that I thought Gloria Reuben did a good job as ADA Bureau Chief Danielson, but where was Casey (Diane Neal)? I don’t understand why she wasn’t used for anything in this show.

In this episode, as in many others for SVU, they forgot the main case at hand and seem to divert the story too much to the case where Chuckwei was to testify and the related problems. SVU would be much better if they could just focus on one case at a time and not overly complicate them. Funny thing is that if the detectives would have done a little better in solving the murder of Chuckwei's wife, the whole thing of witness intimidation and Chuckwei’s changing his testimony may have never been an issue.

So I don’t think I would be tattling if I said that this episode was poorly executed and would be no great loss if you missed it.

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

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

The Memorable, Dry Wit of Adam Schiff

My husband and I were watching an old episode of Law & Order over the weekend. It was called “The Secret Sharers” and it was a first season episode with Detectives Max Greevey (George Dzundza), Mike Logan (Chris Noth), Cpt. Don Cragen (Dann Florek), and in the DA’s office, Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), and Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). I wish TNT would air some of these older episodes because the themes or stories hold up very well, and the cast was great. The writing was also top-notch.

But the one thing that I really miss about these older episodes is the presence of Adam Schiff as District Attorney. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) is sitting in the big chair now. I find myself wishing, though, that we hadn’t had to endure a few years of Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest) or Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson).

In this particular episode I was watching, I was treated to an appearance of Shambala Green (Lorraine Toussaint), who was probably the best opponent that Ben Stone ever had. While Ben Stone is discussing the case with Schiff, Adam seems to compliment Shambala’s talents with the following line, which I found absolutely hysterical: "A girl raped, a sister on trial for murder, Shambala Green with a jury--she'll milk 'em till they moo."

That has to be one of the funniest lines I’ve even heard uttered (maybe I should say “uddered”) on Law & Order. It got me to look back and some of Adam Schiff's best lines over his many years on the show. I thought I’d assemble some of them here for you to also enjoy.

The Memorable Lines of Adam Schiff

The Violence of Summer
"I don't photograph well with egg on my face."

The Secret Sharers
"A girl raped, a sister on trial for murder, Shambala Green with a jury--she'll milk 'em till they moo."

Wages of Love
"Pride goeth before a fall. I'll send you flowers in the intensive care unit."

Renunciation
"Bring your crying towels, boys."

Intolerance
"Right now, you wouldn't get a conviction for bad thoughts."

Skin Deep
"Stuff envelopes for the county leader, you too can ascend the bench."

Wedded Bliss
"I woke up this morning--I thought it was the twentieth century!"

Prince of Darkness
"I'm not up on my Catholic theology. Is self-righteousness a mortal or venial sin?"

Point of View
"Yep, you've got snap, crackle, but no pop."

Consultation
"It's the Supreme Court of the State of New York, not the Romper Room."

"You have an accomplice--that'll get you into the theater, but won't let you see the show."

Mother Love
"We live in a two choice world--one or the other."

Jurisdiction
"Unless you want a real fight on your hands, stay out of camera range."

Virus
"The crying towels are down the hall."

"With a leap like that, they'll put you in a Nike commercial."

Manhood
"O'Hara's a well-liked cop. He's been decorated more times than my living room."

"Yeah, congratulations. You have flour and water, get an oven, you can make bread."

Benevolence
"You'll need more than open, sesame to get her to talk."

Apocrypha
"I know how to scramble eggs, doesn't mean I made breakfast."

The Pursuit of Happiness
"Quick! Lock the door! Someone might walk in with a case we can win."

"I wouldn't count your chickens: your omelet just hit the fan."

Snatched
"It wouldn't be the first time that you give the grand jury a dog and pony show without the pony."

Kids
"She gets overturned anymore, she'll be walking upside down."

Wager
"Dismissed? What have you been sprinkling on your breakfast cereal?"

Old Friends
"Never ask a jury to think."

Coma
"Well, I understand you've been promoted from assistant district attorney to supreme deity."

Blue Bamboo
"This defense! Like my grandmother's nightgown, it covers everything."

Precious
Jack: "If those were my children, I'd want that woman in prison."
Adam: "With a 15 percent chance she's innocent? I wouldn't tell that to the next Mrs. McCoy."

"You're riding your motorcycle without a helmet."

House Counsel
Schiff: "What is this, Bernie's Bargain Basement? Cop to four murders and get only five years?"
McCoy: "When I made the deal, I had no idea..."
Schiff: "That's because your ego was rushing from your head downstream to somewhere south of the border!"

Guardian
"Don't jump the canyon on your motorcycle."

Progeny
"Is there anyone in town who is not using this office for their own personal agenda?"

Rage
"Without motive, you couldn't convince a jury water's wet."

[to Claire]: "No one's being condescending here, young lady."

Performance
Jack: "...I think I can win."
Adam: "That's great. You get an A for self-esteem."

"So you've got something legal and inadmissible that you're trying to get in the back door twice. [pause] I like it."

"Oh, The Constitution--that pesky thing."

Wannabe
Claire: "The school circled the limos to keep the Barclay name out of it."
Adam: "I'm shocked."
Jack: "This isn't stink bombs in the boys room, Adam! They hindered prosecution of an A felony!"
Adam: "Now I'm very shocked."

Jeopardy
"You climbed Everest in your shorts on a cold day."

Remand
Jack: "Didn't you tell me you never make this job personal?"
Adam: "I lied...second time in thirty years."

Atonement
Adam: "A story for Sophocles."
Jack: "Or Larry, Curly, and Moe."
Adam: "Yeah, I always loved those guys."

Pro Se
Jack: "Then why didn't he plead insanity?"
Adam: "Because he's insane?"

Good Girl
"Four days of deliberation, what are they doing, electing a pope?"

Menace
"Throw the book at him. When the grand jury throws it back, don't get hit in the head."

Showtime
"You better bring something besides your boyish charm."

Schiff: "Started with a murder, ends with an execution. You got what you wanted. Take the rest of the week off."
McCoy: "It's Friday, Adam."
Schiff: "So it is. See you on Monday."

Double Down
"He confessed to a murder to avoid being prosecuted for a murder. I'm putting this one in my memoirs."

Blood
[Jack, Jamie, and Adam are discussing the case over lunch. Jamie's info hurts their case.] "Why do you always give me bad news while I'm digesting?"

Disappeared
"This office doesn't play patty-cake with serial killers."

Hate
Jack: "If I thought we could stop hate with one prosecution or one law, I'd be a fool."
Adam: "Yeah, but you'd be my kind of fool."

Justice
(to Jack): "Lit your own petard, my boy."

Black, White, and Blue
"Last time an Albany jury convicted a cop, I had a full head of black hair."

Stiff
"It's cases like this that make me take a long hard look at my pension plan."

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

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

Law & Order “Angelgrove” Guilty of Preachy Predictability

With all the talk about redemption in this episode, I don’t think it had one redeeming quality of its own. This was probably the dullest, preachiest, and most predictable episode of this current season.

The episode opens – again – with a very Criminal Intent feel, where we get a glimpse of the victim and, in this case, see part of the crime taking place. I wish they would go back to the old “some stranger just stumbles onto the victim” theme because it just seemed to add more interest to the discovery of the evidence or how the crime was committed. And part of what we did see was never even used in the case. Even though a woman was murdered by stoning, the fact that some stones were thrown off the building and onto passers-by below, this fact seemingly was forgotten as part of the crime.

It’s mistakenly thought the woman was killed for the art she wanted to display (which had preachy overtones all its own). It turns out that (not a surprise) that the son of the victim, Jason Lortell (Will Denton) was the guilty party, and he did it because his mother was an adulterer. Once it became obvious that it had religious overtones as well, the show went rapidly downhill. The only interesting character was the pastor at the Angelgrove camp, Samwise Gamgee – oops, I mean Mr. Hensley (Sean Astin). I was obvious once he appeared that the trial would take a turn and he would be prosecuted.

The entire episode is filled with commentary about the behavior of religious fanatics, this time from the Christian side. Even so, the theme seems tired, overdone, and frankly, boring.

Luckily, when Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) bring in a girl from the camp fro questioning, she comes with a video camera, which Hensley tries unsuccessfully to confiscate before she leaves. But, while this videotape seems to have a lot of inflammatory dialog on it, probably plenty to be used against Hensley, it seems that we only see it being used during closing arguments. Cutter (Linus Roache) and Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza) seemed to be fighting an uninspiring battle.

The judges also seemed to have been struck dumb, one making a ruling that set new legal status for religious mystics, and another not calling a mistrial when a Bible was found on a juror during deliberations. Maybe it’s just me, but my understanding as that you are not allowed to use ANY outside reference when deliberating. I sat on a jury in a local trial a few years ago, and that point was made very, very clear. Since I’m not a judge, I don’t know how much wiggle room they are allowed on this issue, but I would think in a case with stakes such as these, there should be NO wiggle room.

Even Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) seemed to be bored with the case. He did, however, give a grudging yet sheepish “thank you” to Olivet (Carolyn McCormick) for her help ion the case, to which she gave no verbal response, just “a look.” I’m surprised after what happened in the episode before that she’s even working with them, or that they would even want to use her. Personally, I think it’s time to get a new shrink for the show. There hasn’t been anyone who can match Dr. Skoda (J.K. Simmons) and maybe a new shrink would be an added spark for the show.

Eventually they cut a deal with Lortell, in order to after the pastor. Strange, but the whole incident with the kids throwing the stones off the roof was never used in any case to speak to intent. After all, they may have been there to kill his mother, but the people on the street who were struck or could have been struck were innocent victims.

While working on the trial of the pastor, Jack, after chiding Cutter and Rubirosa for possibly counting chickens before they hatch, gets in a little dig when a problem with the case come up, saying “Looks like one of your chickens just got run over.” It was the only interesting line in the show, I think.

But the theme of the story just didn’t cut it. The Law & Order franchise has given treatment to the religious fanatic issue so many times that it has become trite. And with the exception of Sean Astin, who seemed to portray the perfect extremist, the rest of the cast seemed to be going through the motions. I was unimpressed with Will Denton, who seems to only have one boyish look on his face no matter what show he’s on.

On a side note, I was surprised to see the scene with Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) in the morgue with the detectives. I can’t recall ever seeing her in a scene in the morgue before. Was that a first for her? It’s possible she may have been in one before; if anything it’s not something she’s done often. I’m not sure, though, why they felt it necessary to bring her in there for this case.

My verdict on this episode: Guilty of putting me to sleep.


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

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

Law & Order SVU Gets Robin Williams

TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello is reporting that Law & Order SVU will have Robin Williams guest star on the series’ 200th episode. He says:


“I told you Law & Order: SVU's 200th episode was going to be big, and now I've got proof: Sources confirm to me exclusively that Robin Williams has inked a deal to guest-star in the landmark episode on April 29. The Oscar winner will play a Svengali-like figure who tests Benson and Stabler like never before.

Exec producer Neal Baer says the episode is "one of the best cat and mouse stories we've ever done," and describes Williams' character as "a guy who has a problem with authority figures." Adds Mariska Hargitay: "He is one of these charismatic human beings that has uncanny power over people to get them to do what he wants."

Williams' casting comes just hours after it was announced that another movie star, Bill Pullman, would be doing an arc as a love interest for Benson. But that's only half the story. For the full story, check out Ask Ausiello tomorrow. -- Additional reporting by Ileane Rudolph”

This should be interesting!


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

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

Robin, probably hoping that he has no scenes with Adam Beach....