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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Question: I was just reading that Criminal Minds was losing Lola Glaudini after six episodes and replacing her with an older female who acts as a foil of sorts for Mandy Patinkin's character. This got me thinking: Has a show ever brought back a character from a previous show and added them to their cast as a regular? I was thinking along the lines of Ally Walker's Profiler, Dr. Samantha Waters. It seems like an interesting proposal to integrate her into the show, and her character is so similar to what the team does now. I have always liked Criminal Minds (although I know it's not your favorite), but I agree it seems a bit lacking. Anyway, just wondered if anything similar has been tried.
Answer: The most famous example I can think of is Richard Belzer as Det. John Munch, a character introduced on the classic Homicide: Life on the Street who later joined Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after appearing in crossover episodes of the original Law & Order. (The character has also made
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Question: Now that Conviction has gone the way of Law & Order: Trial by Jury, any chance Stephanie March will reprise her role of Alex Cabot on SVU for an episode or two next season?
Answer: According to a source close to SVU, Steph "is not returning anytime this year."
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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. ...
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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
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Question: Where can I get a list of season-finale dates? Answer: I've compiled CBS' and NBC's below. I'll try to get around to the other networks next week. In case you haven't noticed, I've been a little busy.Ghost Whisperer — Friday, May 5 (8-9 pm) Crossing Jordan — Sunday, May 7 (10-11 pm)Criminal Minds — Wednesday, May 10 (9-10 pm)My Name Is Earl — Thursday, May 11 (8:40-9:20 pm)
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Question: You have said that most new shows get a review based on the first three or four episodes. What about shows that are bad at first, but for some miraculous reason start getting better? Take Conviction as an example. The first few episodes were horrible, but if you keep watching, you start to look forward to the peek into each character's life. In my opinion, the show is really starting to come together. What if that show starts to become popular? At what point do you start watching it again and giving it reviews? What if it never becomes popular, but is, as they call it, "the best show you're not watching?" When do these shows get a second chance?
Answer: If Conviction gets renewed for a second season, which would surprise me, I will force myself to watch a few of the late-season episodes to see if in fact it has improved. But I hated the characters and more than half of the cast. So the idea of getting peeks into their lives amidst the routine cases they're trying (I do at
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Question: I just want to know if Conviction is getting a second season, or is it going to get canceled?
Answer: I'm betting canceled. The show's lousy and the ratings are lousier.
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Question: When you write a review for a show that has yet to premiere, how many episodes have you typically seen? I would think it would be difficult to judge a show based just on a pilot.
Answer: Actually, it's not that difficult to judge a show based on one's first impressions. That's how most viewers do it, after all. The tricky part about reviewing off just a pilot is that when the pilot is all about setting up the premise of a show, you can't always tell from that what a regular episode would feel like. And there are times when so much more money is expended in producing a pilot that subsequent episodes never measure up. Which is why it's so valuable to have a weekly column, and especially these ongoing Web columns (including the periodic Dispatches) — the better to chart a show's ups and downs along the way. But to answer your specific question: This time of year, with mid-season shows that often have been in production for a while before they launch, I have the luxury of seeing
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