Post by filmnoir5 on Sept 8, 2006 7:08:44 GMT -5
"L&O(NBC) 10-11PM Starts Sept. 22
This is Law & Order's grungy warehouse set, so there must be an old white guy lurking around somewhere, right? We begin our search: To the left is eight-season vet Jesse L. Martin mucking his way through the filthy surroundings; to the right is a woman's ''dead body'' (wearing, it must be said, clothes actual prostitutes would find…obvious). Hmmm...for 16 seasons, there's always been a gentleman of a certain age in the show's ''Law'' half (think Jerry Orbach), paired with a younger, hotter partner (insert Martin). But not anymore. ''Suddenly...I'm the old guy,'' says Martin. ''She's the new hotness now.'' The ''she'' in question is Milena Govich (Conviction) as Det. Nina Cassady, the new junior partner to Martin's Det. Ed Green. Along with L&O's freshman ADA played by Alana De La Garza (late of CSI: Miami), these two women are the Next Great Hope of the Dick Wolf brand. And hope can't come fast enough.
After many fat seasons, times are looking a little lean in the Wolf den. As recently as 2004, Law & Order was the 13th-ranked prime-time series. But by the following year, L&O — facing its first serious challenger ever in CSI: NY — dropped to 24th. Once the shining patriarch, it ended the 2005–06 season as the family's Jan Brady (38th place with 11.1 million viewers), behind golden-child sibling SVU (25th place, 13.7 million) and ahead of Criminal Intent (41st place, 10.9 million). The situation behind the scenes was even more difficult: The death of beloved L&O vet Jerry Orbach in 2004 proved to be an omen of trouble. Since then, Elisabeth Rohm's assistant district attorney Serena Southerlyn left after outing herself as a lesbian (apropos of absolutely nothing); Rohm's replacement, Annie Parisse, lasted just a season and a half before dying in May's finale. ''She came to me last January,'' explains Wolf. ''She was frustrated and said, 'I feel like I'm delivering coffee.' [And]…I can't say she was wrong.'' Dennis Farina also got antsy, perhaps because he ''didn't really want to get back into TV,'' says Wolf, who agreed to retire his Det. Joe Fontana. Then came the news that NBC was moving the show for the first time in 14 years — from Wednesdays at 10 p.m. to Fridays at 10 — the precise time slot where two other Wolf series (Conviction and Trial by Jury) never made it out of infancy. ''It ain't sexy,'' acknowledges executive producer Nicholas Wootton of L&O's new berth. ''S---, I'm trying to stay on the bright side.''
Any one of these blows would have been a death knell (read: time to prepare the ''Best of...'' DVD boxed set) to a less durable TV show, but L&O's cast and crew sound...optimistic? ''You feel a sense of having been reinvigorated this season,'' says Wootton. ''There's a familiarity to it, but to me it seems like something new — and feel free to disagree with me entirely.'' No, Nick, we'll agree: De La Garza's Connie Rubirosa marks L&O's first ADA of color since Richard Brooks left the show in 1993. Govich's Cassady, meanwhile, is the first female detective in the show's history, and does she ever know it. ''They're really taking a chance on me,'' she acknowledges. ''I'm very aware of that.'' In anticipation of her new role, Govich took up martial arts, learned to shoot a gun, and returned home to Norman, Okla., to get hands-on training from relatives who carry badges. She may not need all the prep work, since her character enters as a Miss Congeniality type who earned her detective shield after foiling a beauty shop robbery — all while getting her hair done. ''People have a real opinion about her one way or another, before she even walks through the door,'' says Govich.
That's another thing: Sometimes we'll actually see Govich before she walks through the office door — away from the job, at home, or talking to her family. In fact, the show will focus on the characters' personal lives more than it has since Briscoe's daughter died in 1998 and Benjamin Bratt flirted on screen with then girlfriend Julia Roberts the following year. ''The first thing that Dick said to me was that he was taking a look at the first episode, I mean the way-back-in-the-day first episode,'' says Martin, who then nasally intones his best impersonation of his boss: '''I used to say that there was no character, and suddenly I realized when I rewatched the first episode that there's plenty of character!''' Okay, so that's two new cast members, one new time slot, more focus on character — oh, and did we mention S. Epatha Merkerson's Lieut. Anita Van Buren will get more screen time as she tangles with Cassady? ''I have actual anticipation'' about this season, says Wolf. ''Which may show the true fool that I am.''
Fool? Well, consider that there are people out there who have never known life without L&O. The reruns are the virtual wallpaper of their lives, with some version of the mother ship, SVU, or Criminal Intent on 50 times a week on four different networks. Such ubiquity leads to a particular L&O-centric brand of trivia that we'll call: Have I Seen This One Before? Explains Martin, ''I've got friends who've said to me they play this game when the show starts where they know it looks familiar.... They're halfway through the episode when they say, 'Oh, I did see this one, and I remember what happened — but I'm watching it anyway.''' That's great if you're aiming for cultural significance. It's disastrous if you're trying to woo viewers to new episodes. So in a sense, L&O is a televised Ouroboros, the mythical snake that eats its own tail. ''There are a lot out there,'' says Wootton, who's hoping this season's new faces will help jolt viewers out of their rerun stupor.
''I was really in favor of having this year be one where you turn on NBC and you know you're not on TNT, you're not on Bravo — you are absolutely watching a new episode of the new Law & Order.''
Such faith in the new Law & Order makes it easier to believe NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly when he says the network moved L&O to Fridays to protect it. ''We're playing the hand we've been dealt: Law & Order has been a fixture on Wednesday night, and we were having a harder time…giving it a lead-in,'' explains Reilly, acknowledging the fourth-place network's trouble battling Lost and American Idol on the night. So if the network is willing to move L&O, is cancellation the next logical step? Or will Wolf fulfill his dream of beating Gunsmoke's 20-season record? ''It's well on its way,'' says Reilly, who then slips into execu-talk of ratings and finances, while doing his best to sound like he's genuinely excited about this season. Wolf, for his part, is doing his grizzled-TV-vet best to sound like he doesn't feel slighted by the new schedule. ''Smart, empowered, incredibly attractive women are a pretty good combination for television,'' says Wolf. True, but that doesn't quite mitigate the gamble. As Martin puts it, ''What this new rhythm, this sort of younger, hipper, more character-based Law & Order is going to be...we don't really know.''
Source : Entertainment Weekly
This is Law & Order's grungy warehouse set, so there must be an old white guy lurking around somewhere, right? We begin our search: To the left is eight-season vet Jesse L. Martin mucking his way through the filthy surroundings; to the right is a woman's ''dead body'' (wearing, it must be said, clothes actual prostitutes would find…obvious). Hmmm...for 16 seasons, there's always been a gentleman of a certain age in the show's ''Law'' half (think Jerry Orbach), paired with a younger, hotter partner (insert Martin). But not anymore. ''Suddenly...I'm the old guy,'' says Martin. ''She's the new hotness now.'' The ''she'' in question is Milena Govich (Conviction) as Det. Nina Cassady, the new junior partner to Martin's Det. Ed Green. Along with L&O's freshman ADA played by Alana De La Garza (late of CSI: Miami), these two women are the Next Great Hope of the Dick Wolf brand. And hope can't come fast enough.
After many fat seasons, times are looking a little lean in the Wolf den. As recently as 2004, Law & Order was the 13th-ranked prime-time series. But by the following year, L&O — facing its first serious challenger ever in CSI: NY — dropped to 24th. Once the shining patriarch, it ended the 2005–06 season as the family's Jan Brady (38th place with 11.1 million viewers), behind golden-child sibling SVU (25th place, 13.7 million) and ahead of Criminal Intent (41st place, 10.9 million). The situation behind the scenes was even more difficult: The death of beloved L&O vet Jerry Orbach in 2004 proved to be an omen of trouble. Since then, Elisabeth Rohm's assistant district attorney Serena Southerlyn left after outing herself as a lesbian (apropos of absolutely nothing); Rohm's replacement, Annie Parisse, lasted just a season and a half before dying in May's finale. ''She came to me last January,'' explains Wolf. ''She was frustrated and said, 'I feel like I'm delivering coffee.' [And]…I can't say she was wrong.'' Dennis Farina also got antsy, perhaps because he ''didn't really want to get back into TV,'' says Wolf, who agreed to retire his Det. Joe Fontana. Then came the news that NBC was moving the show for the first time in 14 years — from Wednesdays at 10 p.m. to Fridays at 10 — the precise time slot where two other Wolf series (Conviction and Trial by Jury) never made it out of infancy. ''It ain't sexy,'' acknowledges executive producer Nicholas Wootton of L&O's new berth. ''S---, I'm trying to stay on the bright side.''
Any one of these blows would have been a death knell (read: time to prepare the ''Best of...'' DVD boxed set) to a less durable TV show, but L&O's cast and crew sound...optimistic? ''You feel a sense of having been reinvigorated this season,'' says Wootton. ''There's a familiarity to it, but to me it seems like something new — and feel free to disagree with me entirely.'' No, Nick, we'll agree: De La Garza's Connie Rubirosa marks L&O's first ADA of color since Richard Brooks left the show in 1993. Govich's Cassady, meanwhile, is the first female detective in the show's history, and does she ever know it. ''They're really taking a chance on me,'' she acknowledges. ''I'm very aware of that.'' In anticipation of her new role, Govich took up martial arts, learned to shoot a gun, and returned home to Norman, Okla., to get hands-on training from relatives who carry badges. She may not need all the prep work, since her character enters as a Miss Congeniality type who earned her detective shield after foiling a beauty shop robbery — all while getting her hair done. ''People have a real opinion about her one way or another, before she even walks through the door,'' says Govich.
That's another thing: Sometimes we'll actually see Govich before she walks through the office door — away from the job, at home, or talking to her family. In fact, the show will focus on the characters' personal lives more than it has since Briscoe's daughter died in 1998 and Benjamin Bratt flirted on screen with then girlfriend Julia Roberts the following year. ''The first thing that Dick said to me was that he was taking a look at the first episode, I mean the way-back-in-the-day first episode,'' says Martin, who then nasally intones his best impersonation of his boss: '''I used to say that there was no character, and suddenly I realized when I rewatched the first episode that there's plenty of character!''' Okay, so that's two new cast members, one new time slot, more focus on character — oh, and did we mention S. Epatha Merkerson's Lieut. Anita Van Buren will get more screen time as she tangles with Cassady? ''I have actual anticipation'' about this season, says Wolf. ''Which may show the true fool that I am.''
Fool? Well, consider that there are people out there who have never known life without L&O. The reruns are the virtual wallpaper of their lives, with some version of the mother ship, SVU, or Criminal Intent on 50 times a week on four different networks. Such ubiquity leads to a particular L&O-centric brand of trivia that we'll call: Have I Seen This One Before? Explains Martin, ''I've got friends who've said to me they play this game when the show starts where they know it looks familiar.... They're halfway through the episode when they say, 'Oh, I did see this one, and I remember what happened — but I'm watching it anyway.''' That's great if you're aiming for cultural significance. It's disastrous if you're trying to woo viewers to new episodes. So in a sense, L&O is a televised Ouroboros, the mythical snake that eats its own tail. ''There are a lot out there,'' says Wootton, who's hoping this season's new faces will help jolt viewers out of their rerun stupor.
''I was really in favor of having this year be one where you turn on NBC and you know you're not on TNT, you're not on Bravo — you are absolutely watching a new episode of the new Law & Order.''
Such faith in the new Law & Order makes it easier to believe NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly when he says the network moved L&O to Fridays to protect it. ''We're playing the hand we've been dealt: Law & Order has been a fixture on Wednesday night, and we were having a harder time…giving it a lead-in,'' explains Reilly, acknowledging the fourth-place network's trouble battling Lost and American Idol on the night. So if the network is willing to move L&O, is cancellation the next logical step? Or will Wolf fulfill his dream of beating Gunsmoke's 20-season record? ''It's well on its way,'' says Reilly, who then slips into execu-talk of ratings and finances, while doing his best to sound like he's genuinely excited about this season. Wolf, for his part, is doing his grizzled-TV-vet best to sound like he doesn't feel slighted by the new schedule. ''Smart, empowered, incredibly attractive women are a pretty good combination for television,'' says Wolf. True, but that doesn't quite mitigate the gamble. As Martin puts it, ''What this new rhythm, this sort of younger, hipper, more character-based Law & Order is going to be...we don't really know.''
Source : Entertainment Weekly