Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is not the same show it was when new executive producer Warren Leight was hired to run it.
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Since Leight (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, In Treatment, Lights Out) took the reins four months ago, veteran cast member Christopher Meloni has left the show and he's been replaced by two new faces: Kelli Giddish and Danny Pino. But Leight is looking at the positive. "We call it SVU 2.0 this year," Leight tells TVGuide.com. "I'm aware of how successful and well-liked this show is. I'm just trying to figure out how you rejuvenate it after 12 years."
In the expansive interview after the jump, Leight discusses how he plans to do just that. Plus: He gives us the scoop on how losing a partner will affect Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay), what we can expect from the new detectives and whether Meloni might return for a final goodbye...
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Send questions to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I don't agree that Patrick Jane killed the real Red John in The Mentalist finale. Bringing in a never-before-seen actor and calling him Red John is too easy and takes away from the drama of the show. Using an unknown "disposable" like this guy is indeed Red John's MO. "Who can Patrick Jane trust?" is the real central theme of the show.
As of this episode, he trusts the CBI team, finally telling them what he knows. He still doesn't trust LaRoche (what was in the plastic box?), which is probably a wise move. It could never have been Director Bertram — he was too worried about media and not about what went on. LaRoche certainly has some baggage, including killing the bomber and responding as he did when Jane was running off to spring the trap. ("Busy boy.") My guess is that LaRoche ...
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Martin Short, Aidan Quinn and Grosse Pointe's Lindsay Sloane will be among the actors with multi-episode arcs on the seventh season of Weeds...
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The lights aren't out for Lights Out executive producer Warren Leight, who is in talks to return to the Law & Order franchise as an executive producer and showrunner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Deadline.com reports.
FX cancels Lights Out
Leight, whose FX series was just given the axe, will...
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It had been a pretty even-keel season of the reborn American Idol — perhaps too much so — until the Pia bubble burst Thursday night. Maybe a shocking elimination like Pia Toscano's way-too-early ouster is just the sort of wake-up call Idol needs to shock some showmanship into the part of the show that needs it the most: the judging. I've enjoyed the raucous goofiness of Steven Tyler and the glowy glamorous warmth that is Jennifer Lopez, but cheerleading has its limits, and when the closest thing to actual criticism from the panel is Randy (of all people) damning with faint praise by merely saying "Good job," it's clear the judges aren't doing a good job. Or much of a job at all.
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I'm not sure we need a clone of Simon Cowell, whose blunt and condescending cruelty in recent seasons teetered on boredom with the process...
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