I'm baffled. Why would a ...
Question: I'm baffled. Why would a seasoned actor like
Sam Waterston essentially accept a demotion to be the DA on
Law & Order? It makes no sense for a veteran actor like Waterston to be reduced to a minimal role. The DA, even when the excellent
Steven Hill was on the show, usually has only a few scenes, if that, discussing the case and advising on strategy or when to cut a deal. As DA, Waterston won't have his usual scenes bickering with defense lawyers, grilling hostile witnesses and suspects, and making courtroom appearances to argue arcane points of law, much less trial scenes with juicy cross-examinations. It strikes me as absurd for Waterston to agree to be relegated to a walk-on role. It would be like making
Dennis Franz lieutenant prior to the end of
NYPD Blue. Franz would never have agreed to such a move. So why did Waterston?
Answer: You're assuming he had a choice. The show is going through what
Dick Wolf calls "one of its major renovations of the past 10 years." Earlier this week he told critics in L.A. that all of the recastings, including adding
Jeremy Sisto as a detective and
Linus Roache as McCoy's replacement, represents "a very, very large shift and also a very deliberate shift to hopefully reignite or further penetrate a younger demo. The show has been skewing older, and we would love it to skew a little bit younger." So that's the pragmatic answer to explain why this happened, and you have to assume Waterston still enjoys the gig, which is why he agreed to stay on in what up to now has been a relatively marginal role. But it's also possible that with Waterston now in the DA seat, this role could be beefed up a bit. Wolf says McCoy's job change "is one of the most interesting aspects of growing the show and not keeping it the same. Sam is not going to be the pragmatist that the elected politicians have been. He is also going to be somebody who goes through changes in his own attitude because he is doing a different job. And a lot of it is going to be fascinating, because we've talked very openly about what happens to men of a certain age and a certain stature when the next generation comes in. There's a lot to play here." So maybe he won't be as wasted as you fear. Besides, he's been doing this job for something like 13 seasons. Mightn't it be time for a change of pace?
