Law & Order returns

Back-to-back episodes with the new cast last night. Overall, I'd say it was an improvement over the last few lame years. Both the new additions -- Jeremy Sisto as the new cop and Linus Roache as the new ADA, were solid. The show had a grittier feel, with some hand-held camera work and lawyers' offices that had a more realistic, messy and cramped look, for instance. I like Jack McCoy as the DA. Interestingly, his attitude seemed to be, "they forced me into this job, but I'd rather be trying cases," which is probably similar to Waterston's attitude as an actor. Still not crazy about the writing, although the first episode at least tried to come up with the old L&O twist at the end, but overall, it looks like they've breathed a little life back into the show.

 

I turned on the first one halfway through and was drifting in and out of sleep during the second, but I kind of liked what I saw of McCoy's mentoring role with the new DAs. For somebody who's been on the show as long as he has, it's a good way to breathe life into the new cast.
More importantly, THANK YOU GOD for showing NBC the light and moving this show back to Wednesday night. I hadn't seen it in a couple years since they gave it the Friday night death sentence.

Also, did they ever explain why/how McCoy became the new DA? Did he run for the office? Did Branch resign or get fired? I've been away from L&O a while now, and the DA cast changes were never really well-referenced. Hell, I still don't know what happened to Adam Schiff and he's been gone for years.

 

They referred to McCoy finishing out Branch's term, so he wasn't elected. They didn't say why Branch left, or if they did, I didn't catch it. And Schiff's character left to work on a Holocaust project with Elie Wiesel, I believe.

Agree completely with getting it off Friday nights. I think the move back to Wednesdays might have been a sign that NBC liked the changes in the show and didn't consider it a dying warhorse anymore.

 

I thought the second episode was far stronger than the first. Roache is a great addition and McCoy's dissatisfaction with his new gig is going to make for some fireworks.

 

The second episode reminded me of those stories that started off with one thing (kidnapping) and ended up being a totally different thing (energy price fixing).
I did like Linus Roache, reminds me a little more of Ben Stone than Jack McCoy (liked the line about "you had Woodward and Bernstein, we have Geraldo" in the first ep) Sisto is good. Wish they explained why Green's previous partner bailed and what happened to the guy he was working with before Lupo arrived.

 

I'm as happy as anyone the show is back on Wednesdays and I hope the changes will keep it on that night. But duly note the only reason it is back on Wednesday is because NBC had nothing left in the tank due to the writers' strike. It was supposed to air on Sunday nights once the NFL telecasts ended. But thanks to the strike and the lack of any new episodes for any shows, NBC moved it to a better time slot, and, as well, moved new episodes of L&O Criminal Intent back from USA over to NBC again on Wednesdays as well, to air before Law and Order. And that starts next week -- so it'll be Criminal Intent at 9 EST and plain old L&O at 10 EST. There was a story about all this a month ago.

 

That's true, I forgot it was originally going to air on Sundays. But any move out of the Friday night cemetery could be seen as a vote of confidence.

And how about the medical examiner going blonde? You know Lenny Briscoe would have had a smart-ass line about that.

 

Out of the whole franchise this year, I still prefer watching Law and Order SVU. The pairing of Stabler and Benson (Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hagarty) is the best. This season, the writing has been phenomenal.

Criminal Intent is good too, even better since they brought Chris Noth onto the show.

 

I think Rogers looks very weird.

 

Missed the episodes. Rogers as a redhead is milfiriffic. Hope I'll have a chance to judge the blond look. And canchick, the writing on SVU has been in latter-day ER land, and that's not a compliment.

 

And she's not afraid, so be very afraid.

 

dooley, I disagree with you on SVU so we can agree to disagree on this. ER is a lost cause now and I would never put it in the same breath as SVU by a long shot.