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Post by annabelleleigh on Aug 31, 2009 10:52:20 GMT -5
L&O's historic 20th season will debut with an episode called "Memo from the Dark Side." It finds its inspiration from the Dick Cheney death squad stories in the press and promises to be riveting.
Season premiere: Friday, September 25, 2009.
AL
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Post by jeffan on Aug 31, 2009 13:15:52 GMT -5
Thank you Annabelle. This is a season I shall watch even though I'm way way behind!
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Post by DonnaJo on Aug 31, 2009 14:27:49 GMT -5
Thanks Annabelle! I'm as excited about this season opener as I usually am about the LOCI premier. Says so much about how fantastic the mothership episodes have been as of late. All thanks to its show runner, Mr. Balcer.
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Post by DonnaJo on Sept 5, 2009 17:36:10 GMT -5
Compliments of a poster at TWoP, a link to a press release about the Law & Order season premier (and other NBC shows). Hudson University continues to be the campus with the highest murder rate in the world. "MEMO FROM THE DARK SIDE"
09/25/2009 (08:00PM – 09:00PM) (Friday) : WHEN A WAR VETERAN IS FOUND DEAD IN A PARKING GARAGE, ALL SIGNS LEAD TO A LAW PROFESSOR WHOSE PAST WORK AS A LAWYER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE UNVEIL TORTURE DURING WARTIME.When young war veteran Greg Tanner is found murdered in a Hudson University parking garage, Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) connect the murder to law professor Kevin Franklin (Guest Star David Alan Basche), an attorney who formerly worked for the Department of Justice. But when the case is brought to court, it seems Tanner (Guest Star Creighton James) may have been more affected by the war than his discharge stated. Lupo and Bernard find that the pieces start to fit when Franklin’s memos from the Bush Administration are leaked. Also starring: S. Epatha Merkerson (Lieutenant Anita Van Buren), Sam Waterston (District Attorney Jack McCoy), Alana De La Garza (Connie Rubirosa), and Linus Roache (Michael Cutter). TV By The Numbers
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Post by annabelleleigh on Sept 17, 2009 13:27:52 GMT -5
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Post by DonnaJo on Sept 18, 2009 13:02:14 GMT -5
What IS that woman wearing? And why do Lupo & Bernard have identical facial stubble? In spite of all that, I am psyched for this premier episode. I really hope the show does well at it's new date & time. For me, 8:00 pm is fine. Just in time to snuggle up on the couch & get into a good story. And Mr. Balcer always delivers! ;D
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Post by dragonsback on Sept 18, 2009 18:23:21 GMT -5
I want something extraordinary , really extraordinary, from this season. Not just the longevity - Gunsmoke is a time mark, not an artistic tape meaure.
I want a Pro Se, or, failing depth, the creative romp of the marvellous LA/NY two-parter.
You the producers have got your money. Show me the goods.
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Post by annabelleleigh on Sept 20, 2009 15:41:31 GMT -5
DB, it's so good to have you (and your critical toughness) on board again.
AL
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Post by annabelleleigh on Sept 23, 2009 12:42:41 GMT -5
Today from Canwest, a short review of Friday's L&O season premiere. Boldface mine. AL --------------------- Law & Order still asking all the right questions
Entering its 20th season, crime series now is tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running dramatic series on televisionWednesday, September 23rd, 2009 Canwest News Service LAW & ORDER Season premiere Friday 8 p.m., NBC, CTV – - - "No series has been taken for granted and no series has been overlooked by the mainstream media more often than Law & Order. Yet, when Law & Order returns Friday night — unheralded and unannounced — for its 20th season, it will make TV history of a kind and not just because it is now tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running dramatic series in the history of television. The season-premiere, Memo from the Dark Side, co-written by Montreal native, Concordia graduate and longtime Law & Order veteran Rene Balcer, will address one of the most controversial issues of the day: whether the U.S. government can be held legally responsible in a U.S. court for the torture of terrorism suspects. Call it pre-emptive television. This isn’t a tale torn from the headlines, exactly, so much as a possible signal of times to come. The plot, in typical Law & Order fashion, takes numerous twists before the case lands before a jury. A young war veteran is found dead in a university parking garage. The evidence points to a law professor (guest star David Alan Besche), who once worked for the U.S. Justice Department, specializing in legal issues surrounding "enhanced interrogation techniques." True to Law & Order tradition, what seems clear at first is anything but once the case lands in court. Using enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects grates on D.A. Jack McCoy’s (Sam Waterston) sense of right and wrong, and he’s determined to take the issue to court, over the objection of his colleagues and superiors. "We’re looking forward, not backward," one doubter tells him. "We’re not looking to give aid and comfort to the enemy." McCoy retorts: "What are you accusing me of?" Law & Order doesn’t claim to have all the answers but there are few dramas on TV better at asking the correct questions, and entertaining at the same time. Balcer has been with Law & Order virtually from the series’ inception after a brief career working the night desk at a (now closed) Montreal newspaper. As tonight’s season opener of TV’s longest-running crime drama proves, he still knows the value of a good story." ### Find at: www.kelowna.com
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Post by dragonsback on Sept 23, 2009 21:15:37 GMT -5
No series has been taken for granted and no series has been overlooked by the mainstream media more often than Law & Order. Yet, when Law & Order returns Friday night — unheralded and unannounced — for its 20th season, it will make TV history of a kind and not just because it is now tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running dramatic series in the history of television. Nice, nice contemplative essay-let. IMO the snippet above proves another point that probably is not the author's intended one: Line inches of media mentions do not a TV hit maketh. Sure, Rene Balcer's latest battle cry "We will not be ignored!" is stirring, but he doesn't need TV Guide and EW heralding and hovering over L&O's shoulder to be noticed. (Okay, RB was referring to NBC execs and the new god-awful timeslot, but he must be feeling a tad underbooked with the mainstream media if he descended to an interview with Simon Applesauce) Twenty years, hundreds of episodes committed to memory by two generations, with the greatest airwave saturation of any show ever made - or likely to be made - in repeats, syndications, repurposings, re-this and re-that, and the pan-global markets (same formula to the 10th power.) This show is the stuff of TV royalty, not a scoop du jour. HM Queen Elizabeth vs Britney Spears. A fig to mainstream media, I say. A repurposed fig, too. Rene Balcer, Dick Wolf, all those involved with The Mothership: Let not your egos be troubled, nor let them be afraid.
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Post by Sirenna on Sept 24, 2009 8:34:23 GMT -5
What IS that woman wearing? And why do Lupo & Bernard have identical facial stubble? ;D LOL, I was so going to comment on that but you beat me to it! The mutton chops are so well tended; mown to resemble a the stubble of the overworked. But, I'm not fooled. Stubble never looked that even, that glossy or that soft! The hairdresser/mower even took out the edger for the tightly trimmed corners. (Always like Metella's discription of Goren's Reclining Beard period, LOL) Really, nothing makes a detective look more like an actor than cultivated rough edges.
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Post by annabelleleigh on Sept 24, 2009 11:56:05 GMT -5
...A fig to mainstream media, I say. A repurposed fig, too. Rene Balcer, Dick Wolf, all those involved with The Mothership: Let not your egos be troubled, nor let them be afraid... Hear, hear! AL
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Post by Patcat on Sept 24, 2009 12:10:55 GMT -5
It's easy to forget how radical and fresh L&O seemed when it first appeared twenty years ago. I'm not a regular viewer of the mothership, but I'm always impressed by how well put together it is when I catch an episode, new or old. Some seasons and shows are better than others, of course, but I'd put the best of L&O up against the best of any other drama and most of what passes for drama today. And it deserves to pass GUNSMOKE, whose appeal has always escaped me. ('Course, that could be because it was my father's favorite show and it was always on on Monday nights.)
Where is this description of Goren's Reclining Beard? Sounds fascinating. Some day I will subject you all to my theory about hair and the quality of Sherlock Holmes movies.
Patcat
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Post by annabelleleigh on Sept 24, 2009 12:15:55 GMT -5
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Post by jeffan on Sept 24, 2009 14:19:06 GMT -5
Thank you for the video link Annabelle but I can't watch it from my location. No matter, I'll be watching the whole episode soon! Patcat - you can subject me to the quality of Sherlock Holmes movies and all his incarnations anytime!
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