Post by Techguy on Jan 6, 2008 23:27:28 GMT -5
From Film Stew:
A Toast is in Order
With Dick Wolf’s long-running crime procedural having now reached legal drinking age in Canada, Mexico and many other parts of the TV firmament, our critic chimes in with a hearty, ‘Cheers!’
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 2:00 PM
By Shelley Gabert
Law & Order begins its 18th season tonight, making it primetime television's longest running crime series (and second longest drama series).
The special two-hour premiere features the debut of two new cast members, Jeremy Sisto and Linus Roache. Sisto (Six Feet Under) is Detective Cyrus Lupo, partnered with Detective Edward Freen (Jesse L. Martin) under the non-nonsense direction of their boss Anita Van Buren (played to perfection by S. Epatha Merkerson), while Roache joins the program as Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter. Cutter reports to Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), who has been promoted to District Attorney, replacing Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch.
The drama is returning to its longtime Wednesday night timeslot, where it first grew into a major hit. Rene Balcer, who created L&O Criminal Intent, returns as executive producer and head writer. He joined the show in 1990 and since Season Six had served as executive producer, having also written 61+ episodes of the show.
Casting director Suzanne Ryan is still with the show, too, helping put together the best crime-tinged repertory company this side of The Sopranos. This season, guest stars will include Lara Flynn Boyle (The Practice), January Jones (Mad Men) and Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy musical group).
But as any devoted fan of the show knows, while original cast members may come and go, the central show premise - cued by two lines of intro and the now iconic sound effect – hasn’t changed a bit. The first half-hour focuses on the detectives working the crimes on location in New York, followed by the efforts of the district attorney to try and convict the criminal(s).
Even all this time later, very little is known about the personal lives of the central characters. As a fan for many years, even of the reruns, I did stop watching the show during the past several years. It seems there was a conflict with another one of my must watch shows, but it could also have been due to a bit of boredom with the overkill of other Law & Order’s (I stopped watching SVU and never watched Criminal Intent).
But over the holidays, I tuned in to the 24-hour Law & Order rerun fests and found that I quickly was interested again. That's probably why the show is so strong, too; you can tune in for the first time or third time and still find the show both interesting and easy to follow. The fact that the show tends to steal its storylines from the current headlines has always made it relevant, anchoring our human frailties, emotions and justice system to the social consciousness, rather than to say the shiny close-up, quick cut lab work of CSI.
No matter how interesting forensics is, I just can't get that excited about the science of CSI, even though it's very important in solving crimes. On Law & Order, the cases reveal how the main characters feel about certain aspects of the law or human nature. I like to see how the detectives deal with their cases, because their humanity mirrors our own.
I also like Law & Order because just when you're tiring of it, boom! - a cast member leaves or dies, allowing new ones to breathe life into it. Still, I have to admit that as a major fan of Chris Noth, I stopped watching out of protest when he left the show. I didn't think the show could last without him, but it did. And I didn’t think anyone else could replace Michael Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney, but that seems foolish now, as it was this opening that allowed for the arrival of Waterston, now the longest running cast member on the show.
I do still miss Jerry Orbach and I never really got into the detectives of the last few years. I also am not, nor have I ever been, a big fan of Martin and Dennis Farina. Watching some of the reruns, I was reminded how incredible Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell were, as were Steven Hill as Adam Schiff, and then Diane Wiest. It's arguable that anyone can step into these roles and play them, which is one of the strengths of the show. But some have definitely left more of a mark than others.
So, long L & O story short: after a couple of years off, I'm tuning in again tonight, ready to be engaged once more. Hopefully, Sisto can deliver and make the show as interesting as it used to be, even with the tight, sometimes cryptic dialogue.
Sisto played a defense attorney on the 17th season finale, so it's an oddity that he's now back in a different and central role. Then again, when you’ve been on the air as long as the original Law & Order series has, you should be able to live by a very unique set of rules.
A Toast is in Order
With Dick Wolf’s long-running crime procedural having now reached legal drinking age in Canada, Mexico and many other parts of the TV firmament, our critic chimes in with a hearty, ‘Cheers!’
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 2:00 PM
By Shelley Gabert
Law & Order begins its 18th season tonight, making it primetime television's longest running crime series (and second longest drama series).
The special two-hour premiere features the debut of two new cast members, Jeremy Sisto and Linus Roache. Sisto (Six Feet Under) is Detective Cyrus Lupo, partnered with Detective Edward Freen (Jesse L. Martin) under the non-nonsense direction of their boss Anita Van Buren (played to perfection by S. Epatha Merkerson), while Roache joins the program as Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter. Cutter reports to Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), who has been promoted to District Attorney, replacing Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch.
The drama is returning to its longtime Wednesday night timeslot, where it first grew into a major hit. Rene Balcer, who created L&O Criminal Intent, returns as executive producer and head writer. He joined the show in 1990 and since Season Six had served as executive producer, having also written 61+ episodes of the show.
Casting director Suzanne Ryan is still with the show, too, helping put together the best crime-tinged repertory company this side of The Sopranos. This season, guest stars will include Lara Flynn Boyle (The Practice), January Jones (Mad Men) and Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy musical group).
But as any devoted fan of the show knows, while original cast members may come and go, the central show premise - cued by two lines of intro and the now iconic sound effect – hasn’t changed a bit. The first half-hour focuses on the detectives working the crimes on location in New York, followed by the efforts of the district attorney to try and convict the criminal(s).
Even all this time later, very little is known about the personal lives of the central characters. As a fan for many years, even of the reruns, I did stop watching the show during the past several years. It seems there was a conflict with another one of my must watch shows, but it could also have been due to a bit of boredom with the overkill of other Law & Order’s (I stopped watching SVU and never watched Criminal Intent).
But over the holidays, I tuned in to the 24-hour Law & Order rerun fests and found that I quickly was interested again. That's probably why the show is so strong, too; you can tune in for the first time or third time and still find the show both interesting and easy to follow. The fact that the show tends to steal its storylines from the current headlines has always made it relevant, anchoring our human frailties, emotions and justice system to the social consciousness, rather than to say the shiny close-up, quick cut lab work of CSI.
No matter how interesting forensics is, I just can't get that excited about the science of CSI, even though it's very important in solving crimes. On Law & Order, the cases reveal how the main characters feel about certain aspects of the law or human nature. I like to see how the detectives deal with their cases, because their humanity mirrors our own.
I also like Law & Order because just when you're tiring of it, boom! - a cast member leaves or dies, allowing new ones to breathe life into it. Still, I have to admit that as a major fan of Chris Noth, I stopped watching out of protest when he left the show. I didn't think the show could last without him, but it did. And I didn’t think anyone else could replace Michael Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney, but that seems foolish now, as it was this opening that allowed for the arrival of Waterston, now the longest running cast member on the show.
I do still miss Jerry Orbach and I never really got into the detectives of the last few years. I also am not, nor have I ever been, a big fan of Martin and Dennis Farina. Watching some of the reruns, I was reminded how incredible Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell were, as were Steven Hill as Adam Schiff, and then Diane Wiest. It's arguable that anyone can step into these roles and play them, which is one of the strengths of the show. But some have definitely left more of a mark than others.
So, long L & O story short: after a couple of years off, I'm tuning in again tonight, ready to be engaged once more. Hopefully, Sisto can deliver and make the show as interesting as it used to be, even with the tight, sometimes cryptic dialogue.
Sisto played a defense attorney on the 17th season finale, so it's an oddity that he's now back in a different and central role. Then again, when you’ve been on the air as long as the original Law & Order series has, you should be able to live by a very unique set of rules.
Patrick Roy, 2006 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame