Jesse L. Martin by Jason Kempin/ WireImage.com
Jesse L. Martin is coming back to TV.Less than a year after defecting from Law & Order, the actor is in talks to return to NBC in the midseason drama The Philanthropist, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Martin, who spent nine years on L&O, would portray Philip Maidstone, business partner and friend of lead Teddy Rist (James Purefoy), an altruistic billionaire who helps those in need worldwide.Production is expected to begin soon. The series is slated for a spring premiere with a truncated episode order, down from the original 13. Are you excited to see Martin back on TV? — Joyce Eng
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Jesse L. Martin as Detective Ed Green by Virginia Sherwood/NBC Photo
The least that a key team player can expect when his (or her) time comes to depart the unstoppable Law & Order is a memorable farewell. No slinking off into the sunset for Jesse L. Martin. No “Is this because I’m a lesbian?” nonsense, as befitted the hapless Elisabeth Rohm (arguably the most inept cast member in its 18-season history). Martin’s character of Ed Green, who bridges the past as the last detective to serve alongside the late Jerry Orbach’s legendary Lenny Briscoe, hangs it up tonight in a powerful episode that unearths some disturbing secrets—at least one harking back to how he coped with losing his partner—behind Green’s typically professional demeanor.I’m truly sorry to see Martin go at this juncture of the show’s history. After a number of seasons of uneven cast chemistry—I pretty much bailed during the “dark years” of Rohm, Fred Thompson and even Dennis Farina (who seemed too much like a “TV ch...
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Question: How will Jesse L. Martin leaving Law & Order affect the show? He has been the anchor of the "law" half since the departure of Jerry Orbach. Any word on who will replace him? On a related note, is NBC going to keep Law & Order: Criminal Intent, or is USA going to get it back when the show goes back into production?
Answer: Last I saw, Anthony Anderson (K-Ville) was still in talks to step into Martin's shoes as the other half of the detective team (opposite Jeremy Sisto). Fans tend to hate the revolving-door policy on this show, but Law & Order has survived many cast changes over the years in both the "law" and "order" halves, and I don't see this as being more disruptive than most. (Losing Orbach was without a doubt the most serious and tragic blow to date.) As for Criminal Intent, it is first and foremost a USA Network series now, and new episodes will continue to air on USA, with an NBC window to follow, should the network choose ...
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Jesse L. Martin by Jason Kempin/WireImage.com
After nine years of playing Det. Ed Green (and after many months of speculation), Jesse L. Martin is expected to leave NBC's Law & Order. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that Martin, who had originally signed on for at least 13 episodes this season, will film one more show in which his alter ego is written off the canvas. Perhaps filling the void left by Martin will be Anthony Anderson, who is said to be in final talks to join L&O. Anderson (most recently of Fox's short-lived K-Ville) would play a new detective partnered with Jeremy Sisto's Lupo.Related:• Movie news: Jesse L. Martin to play Marvin Gaye• L&O Signs Vet, Intent Stars; But Who's the New ADA?
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James Gandolfini by Jean Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com
James Gandolfini's going from the mob life to the soul scene in Sexual Healing, an indie pic that will explore the latter part of singer Marvin Gaye's life. The former Soprano will costar alongside Jesse L. Martin, who will play the legendary crooner.Gandolfini's company, Attaboy Films, is producing the project. The screenplay is loosely adapted from the book Trouble Man, which chronicles Gaye's life from when he left Motown records through his European self-exile and relationship with promoter Freddy Cousaert (Gandolfini), who was key to the singer's most popular album, Midnight Love.The announcement comes just days after Gandolfini won a SAG award as Best Male Actor in a Drama Series for his role on The Sopranos. — Anna Dimond
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Alec Baldwin by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com
Alec Baldwin will represent a child (Elle Fanning) who sues her parents for breeding her to save her cancer-stricken sis (Dakota F.) in My Sister's Keeper, an adaptation of the Jodi Picoult novel.... Also per Variety, Tom Cruise's Valkyrie has had its release pushed back from July 4 to Oct. 3, 2008.... Notes from the Underbelly's Rachael Harris is Robert Downey Jr's coworker in the musical/drama The Soloist.... Also per the Reporter, Rhona Mitra is the wife of Mad man Jon Hamm's police chief in the indie thriller The Boy in the Box.... Jason Ritter, Jesse L. Martin and Tracie Thoms will star in the romantic drama Peter and Vandy.... Mischa Barton is a psychologically unbalanced ex-girlfriend in Homecoming, to be directed by Morgan Freeman, says Page Six.
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Jesse L. Martin has renegotiated his contract to return to Law & Order for a minimum of 13 episodes, says the New York Post. Similarly, FoxNews.com says that Criminal Intent's Vincent D'Onofrio and Chris Noth (and Ms. Erbe, I have to imagine) have agreed to the previously reported salary freezes, keeping their haul at $350K for each of the 11 episodes they shoot. Meanwhile, with Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy stepping up to replace Fred Thompson's Arthur Branch, the question is who will serve as the mother ship's ADA. Fox hears that L.A.-based West Winger Bradley Whitford is on the short list, but likely commands far too high a payday for the belt-tightening series.
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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 ...
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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
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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
