Although NBC renewed L&O the original flavor earlier this week, Fred Dalton Thompson, who plays conservative and curmudgeonly district attorney Arthur Branch, most likely will not be back, says The Hollywood Reporter. Thompson, a former Republican Tennessee Senator, has talked about making a 2008 White House bid and while he has yet to officially declare his candidacy, chances are his political aspirations will supersede his TV career. If he does run, perhaps he can use that catchy "dum-dum" as his campaign theme. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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Fred Dalton Thompson, the onetime Tennessee senator who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's Law & Order, said on Sunday that he is going to "leave the door open" in the coming months as he considers a possible presidential run. "I'm going to wait and see what happens," the Associated Press quotes Thompson as saying. "I want to see what my [GOP] colleagues on the campaign trail say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November." Among the big issues for Thompson: Southerlyn v. Rubirosa.
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Jon Stewart, the 78th Annual Academy Awards
For complete minute-by-minute Watercooler coverage of the Academy Awards ceremony and of Joan and Melissa's live preshow, click here.
ConvictionI've had many obsessions in my life — love, shiny jewelry, chocolate — but none as devastating as Law & Order. My addiction to Dick Wolf's franchise (save for the deservedly short-lived Trial by Jury) has distracted me from finishing freelance assignments, deprived me of adequate sleep and even chased away a boyfriend or two. That said, Wolf's new series Conviction — which technically isn't part of the L&O family, even though it stars Special Victims Unit's cast
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