Though both the original Law & Order and Criminal Intent (which is moving to sister network USA) have been awarded new seasons, NBC U has some belt-tightening to do. Sources tell FoxNews.com that franchise father Dick Wolf will reduce L&O vet Sam Waterston's salary by giving Jack McCoy a "promotion" to the smaller role of district attorney, and then hire a younger (read: cheaper) actor to fill the vacated slot. Among the cops, Milena Govich, the series' first female detective, wasn't asked back for the fall, and rumors are swirling that partner Jesse L. Martin may join her on the unemployment line. CI, meanwhile, plans to keep Vincent D'Onofrio and Chris Noth, despite their hefty salaries. No word on whether their female counterparts — Julianne Nicholson and Kathryn Erbe — will return, but they rarely got a word in edgewise, anyway. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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Tuesday night's repeat, “Bedfellows,” is a solid, though somewhat derivative, Goren/Eames episode worth catching if you missed it the first time around. For my original post about it, click here.Next Week: I haven’t seen any commercials for next week’s episode, but here’s the summary from TV Guide’s listings: “A judge’s son is found shot to death following a rapper’s trial. Meanwhile, Wheeler investigates her estranged father’s alleged illegal activities.”Q: Just how many storylines involving rappers are the CI writers required to pen per season, anyway? A: Way too many.But I do like the second part of that description. We’ve gotten almost nothing thus far on Wheeler’s background, save for a couple of passing references. So giving Detective Pan her own storyline might give us a reason to care about this character, and let JulianneNicholson show she can do more than act as a foil for The Noth’s rapier wit. We shal...
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Question: I was wondering if there is a difference in either the reviews or the ratings for the two different versions of Law & Order: Criminal Intent? I happen to like both versions, for the completely different approaches each set of characters takes to solving the crimes and how they relate interpersonally and to suspects and victims. Yes, Vincent D'Onofrio is sometimes a little over the top, but I still like him. I also really like his partner, and this season there seems to be more insight into their nonworking relationship. I will forever love Chris Noth, dating back to the original Law & Order (he and Jerry Orbach were my favorite combination from any L&O series). I am not sure his partner, Julianne Nicholson, is quite up to snuff yet, but I will give her a chance. Anyway, thanks for the insight.
Answer: On this subject, you have more insight than I do. Of the L&O shows, this is the one I've watched the least. I'm more inclined to watch the Mike Logan episodes over the Rober ...
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Cop: "You listen to rap music, right?"Logan: "Regularly."So, I wasn’t really looking forward to this episode — another rap-murder case when we’ve seen way too many of these Tupac/Biggie slayings. And yet, I have to admit, I really enjoyed it – probably because the rap murder was only the “inciting incident” (pardon the high-school English term) for a complex case.The real heart of this episode was deep-undercover detective Williams, played with surprising depth by rapper Sticky Fingaz — that’s right, I said Sticky Fingaz. It’s a subject that’s been dealt with sporadically (the excellent drug-cops drama Rush comes to mind), but not so much from the hip-hop underworld angle. It wasn’t hard to see why Williams became torn between protecting his family and carrying out his duty as a police officer — and why he crossed the line in the end.Though he finally turned in his badge, I’d actually like to see a little more of this ...
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Not a bad episode, but a very low-key one — the energy just didn’t seem to be there, and the whole case had a going-through-the-motions feel. The worst offender was definitely backstabbing lawyer-girl — who didn’t earn the time it would take me to look up her real name. Miss shall-remain-nameless was handed a strong dichotomous hero/villain role and squandered it with a reading-cue-cards-after-five-Xanax performance.On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised to find Annabella Sciorra providing some much-needed spark throughout (and she looked pretty cute in those silly little hats too).The story itself was interesting enough, though, like everything else, oddly bloodless. Cheating spouses, warring siblings, extortion plots — yawn, seen them all before.The one standout element was the baby-papa scam perpetrated by Showgirl Elizabeth Berkley, giving what may have been her best performance ever with a shirt on. Her plotline led to the funniest moment of the...
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Now that I’m officially caught up on all of this season’s episodes, I’m glad I got to finally witness Logan and Wheeler’s awkward beginnings — and were they ever awkward. Without going over every example of Logan’s now-standard casual sexism, let’s just say he had a few misconceptions about what it would be like to work with a female partner. He certainly didn’t anticipate Wheeler’s knowledge of motorcycles or her ability to flirt (?) with a lesbian mechanic — nor her ability to translate IM-ese into actual English.All of which was more interesting than the crime(s) at hand. After the Mary Kay Letourneau case and the more recent Debbie LaFave one, this whole teacher-in-love-with-underage-pupil routine has long passed its expiration date. Ditto for all of those “edgy” camera tricks that made the beginning of this one look more like a late-’90s student film than a dignified member of the Law & Order family.That sai...
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While it was good to see some Goren and Eames after a couple weeks of the Logan/Wheeler team — even if it was in a repeat — this episode left me kind of cold. A pair of whimpering, greedy sons concerned more with losing their radio-magnate daddy’s trust money and saving face than trifling matters like human life and ethics? We’ve seen those characters too many times before — on this show, and on a million others. That said, Malcolm McDowell — who pretty much earned a career-long free pass with his brilliantly deranged turn in the late, great Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange — was in fine form here. The slow revealing of his character’s heartless, steely core was well-executed, taking his complicity in the murder of his alcoholic son from out-of-the-question at first blush to perfectly logical by the closing trial debacle.The understated humor and bizarre plot points also kept this one interesting, even when its story line didn...
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“This kid Holden’s lost control of his set.” That pretty much sums up this episode’s whole crazy chain of events. The hour may have been a little convoluted but was compelling and fresh from the first frame to the last.I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical going into this one, after last week’s ripped-from-the-headlines story style, which was both too literal and too out-there for its own good. But I think the writers handled the technique correctly this week, using the LonelyGirl15 debacle as a springboard rather than a crutch. What we got was a carefully plotted hoax, amateur film and kidnapping all rolled into one.I thought it was great to see the detectives scrambling to play catch-up to a new type of crime they definitely weren’t trained for at the police academy. It would have been interesting to see Goren handle this case, but Noth played just the right blend of bravado and bewilderment — while still offering up his trademark sarcast...
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After the season’s best episode so far, last week’s subtly moving “The War at Home,” this one about fallen child TV stars and the Albanian mafia was bound to be a bit of a letdown and — big surprise — it was.I know I’m not the only one who’s becoming uncomfortable with the Law & Order franchise’s growing dependence on “current events” (read: E!News fodder) for plotlines. This episode’s basis in the lives of ex-Saved by the Bell cast members was so thinly veiled, if Dustin Diamond weren’t so desperate for publicity that he’d peddle his own sex tape, I’m sure Screech would be making a slander case.Instead, it might be Dancing with the Stars loser Mario Lopez (aka A.C. Slater) calling up his lawyer — and maybe even winning the suit. Can’t you just hear the Criminal Intent writers’ defense: “You see, their character was named Slater, but our character was named Skater.” Come on, Skat...
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Julianne Nicholson with Justin Kirk in Flannel Pajamas
A veteran of such short-lived series as The Others, Presidio Med and last season's ADA dud, Conviction, Julianne Nicholson has finally found steady employment as Chris Noth's seemingly omniscient partner on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Before landing her breakthrough gig as Detective Megan Wheeler on the NBC stalwart, the freckle-faced beauty starred in a slew of indie flicks, including Flannel Pajamas, which opens today in New York. Reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, the film chronicles the roller-coaster romance between Nicole (Nicholson) and Stuart (Weeds'
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