Dennis Farina by Albert L. Ortega/ WireImage.com
Law & Order alum Dennis Farina has been charged with illegal gun possession at Los Angeles International Airport. Farina was caught with a .22 caliber gun in his carry-on luggage in May, and on Wednesday was charged with three misdemeanor counts that carry a combined max sentence of two and half years in jail and a $3,000 fine. At the time of his arrest, Farina made a public apology and told authorities that he'd forgotten that the gun was in his bags. Whoops! Should the Law come down on Farina? Or should he be spared punishment for an honest mistake? — Anna DimondUse our Online Video Guide to see some L&O, up close.
read more
Question: I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy the premiere of the original Law & Order. I liked the new additions to the cast and thought the story was also enjoyable. What are your thoughts on the new additions?
Answer: I was kind of "take it or leave it" after the premiere. The new women aren't likely to help or hurt the show measurably. Law & Order fans know who they are and what they'll get, and the plot of the season-opener was reasonably strong. What's missing by replacing Dennis Farina with the show's first-ever hot female detective is that tangible aura of experience and maturity you get with a seasoned lead investigator. (I've got nothing against Jesse L. Martin as Ed Green, but this new team now has a very generic feel to it.) It would be like replacing Sam Waterston with Shark's Jeri Ryan. Not that I want to give Dick Wolf any ideas ...
read more
Question: Who's replacing Dennis Farina and Annie Parisse on Law & Order?
Answer: You'll be seeing lots more women on the set next season. Taking over from Dennis Farina as a lead detective will be Milena Govich, most recently from Dick Wolf's failed Conviction. Taking over the assistant-district-attorney slot will be Alana De La Garza, who last season had the bad luck of being betrothed to CSI: Miami's Horatio Caine for about 10 minutes before she was gunned down. Not that this role traditionally has much job security. ...
read more
Law & Order: Dennis Farina is out, Milena Govich and Alana De La Garza are in.
For its 17th season, the aging legal drama Law & Order will undergo an extreme makeover. The NBC warhorse moves to Fridays at 10 pm/ET in the fall and will add two new cast members, including — for the first time — a female street detective.
After owning Wednesdays at 10 for more than a decade, L&O finally met its match the past two seasons against CSI: NY. Now NBC is going to see if the show will fare any better against another CBS hit, Numbers, on a night with lower expectations.
Notoriously brusque creator and executive producer
read more
Law & Order: Dennis Farina is out, Milena Govich and Alana De La Garza are in.
For its 17th season, the aging legal drama Law & Order will undergo an extreme makeover. The NBC warhorse moves to Fridays at 10 pm/ET in the fall and will add two new cast members, including — for the first time — a female street detective.
After owning Wednesdays at 10 for more than a decade, L&O finally met its match the past two seasons against CSI: NY. Now NBC is going to see if the show will fare any better against another CBS hit, Numbers, on a night with lower expectations.
Notoriously brusque creator and executive producer
read more
Brad Garrett, 'Til Death
After attending the networks' upfront presentations all week, the Biz has this analysis of the coming season. (Click here for next fall's grid and new-show descriptions.)
CWYou've got to wonder what went wrong in CW's new-series development process if the network had to bring back 7th Heaven — even though the show lost a reported $16 million for WB this past season.
But the decision to have CW's inaugural schedule made up of established shows from WB and UPN may end up being a blessing. Many of the shows have small but rabid followings, and promoting new shows on a new network will be tough. The fans of shows like One Tree Hill and Veronica Mars will track them down on their own. Viewers in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic that CW targets don't watch networks, they watch shows. (According to recent survey, only one in four 1
read more
Question: Is NBC trying to kill off Law & Order? How else would you explain them putting it opposite Lost? I think that NBC is content to just have Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (which is clearly the best of the L&O shows) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (only watchable when Chris Noth is on) in their stable and bid farewell to the original. It's too bad. L&O has been a good show for a long time. Who knew that the death of Jerry Orbach would be so devastating? No offense to Dennis Farina, but he has been unable to generate any interest from this fan.
Answer: I agree that classic Law & Order's glory days are behind it, but NBC (which merged a while back with Law & Order's parent company, Universal) isn't about to kill it or let it go just yet, regardless of this latest short-term, boneheaded move. (Second only to CBS continuing to run Amazing Race at the too-late hour of 10 pm/ET on Tuesdays.) If Law & Order were being thrown to the wolves — not just Lost, but the American Idol
...
read more
S. Epatha Merkerson, Law & Order
S. Epatha Merkerson likely gave fans of NBC's Law & Order (Wednesdays at 10pm/ET) a jolt with her downright giddy acceptance speech at this year's Golden Globes. Far from the levelheaded sobriety of her TV alter ego, Lt. Anita Van Buren, Merkerson let it all hang out. "I feel like I'm 16!" gushed the 53-year-old stage and screen veteran as she accepted the best-actress award for her role in HBO's Lackawanna Blues TV-movie. "And if I wasn't in the middle of a hot flash, I'd believe that."
Merkerson's been feeling a lot of warmth lately. She's not only the longest-running cast member on Law & Order but the "longest-running African-American woman on a television drama." That makes her,
read more
When Joan Rivers' industrious daughter, Melissa, isn't busy stalking Hollywood's red carpets with Mom, the part-time producer spends her time dreaming up other colorful programming for TV Guide Channel. Case in point: She's hosting TV Candy — debuting June 26 at 9 pm/ET — an unusual new twist on reality makeover shows.
"Instead of identifying with celebrities, some people want to emulate their favorite TV characters," she says. "So we help everyday people recreate those looks. We do their hair, makeup, clothing and a little bit of lifestyle help.
"We don't give them a $20 million mansion in Laguna Beach [if they love The O.C.]," Rivers jokes, "but we help them. For example, maybe you love the free-spirited look of Phoebe from Friends. Or you've perfected your household chores, but you don't want to be Marcia Cross. You want to be Bree from Desperate Housewives, dammit! We'll give you her look."
If
read more
