Its gotten to the point where we can start playing 7 degrees of Law and Order.

At some point or another everyone in hollywood has been connected to that god damn show.

theorellior: I'm waiting, somewhat fatalistically, for the next "big thing" in TV to come along, so we can look back at the 00s as that crazy decade with the police crime-scene shows and Attention Whores On Parade.

Expect L&O is also on the list of top shows of the 90's as well. I loved the season premiere; I hope they go somewhere with Jack McCoy vs. the Bush Administration.

Hey, Richard Belzer is a union guy. It's in his contract that he shows up every year.

UNC_Samurai: Expect

*Except

I can spell good, me.

I love Law & Order. I'm glad they renewed it.

/I'm walking while I post this
//No one but cops and lawyers sit still while talking

UNC_Samurai: Expect L&O is also on the list of top shows of the 90's as well. I loved the season premiere; I hope they go somewhere with Jack McCoy vs. the Bush Administration.

Doesn't being a constant douche get tiring after a while? Go troll on the politics page.

Eh, I like Law & order even when it's bad. The original, mind you. L&O: Rape Fantasy and L&O: Vincent Donofrio is Batman never appealed to me.

I still get a kick out of watching it. It's not high entertainment, but it's a solid hour long drama for me.

/Three words, "Jack farking McCoy"
//Damn is he ten kinds of awesome

Law and Order is awesome, because they discovered one formula and stuck with it.

That is, don't get carried away and focus on the private lives of the characters and become a soap opera. The cases are the main subject.

Swampthing in Korea: Law and Order is awesome, because they discovered one formula and stuck with it.

That is, don't get carried away and focus on the private lives of the characters and become a soap opera. The cases are the main subject.

After watching several episodes of L&O, I can definitively say the show sucks for this reason. Most of the cases are retreads of "real" cases and the characters are flat and shallow. Homicide: Life on the Street (especially the first four seasons) spoiled me, I guess, into looking for three dimensional characters.

Swampthing in Korea: Law and Order is awesome, because they discovered one formula and stuck with it.

That is, don't get carried away and focus on the private lives of the characters and become a soap opera. The cases are the main subject.

They're starting to stray into that ugly territory you mention with this "Van Buren has cancer" arc that's pervading every episode this season. It's time to either cure her, kill her, or stop mentioning it. I didn't care who her husband and kid were before, and I still don't.

olddeegee: Wait, speaking of Batman. Isn't Mike Cutter Bruce Waynes Dad?

Yes he was in Batman Begins.

ANYWAY

L&O is still very good. Why not keep it going, if it isn't broke...don't go fixing it..or cancelling it.

CSI blows....

that is all.

Swampthing in Korea: Law and Order is awesome, because they discovered one formula and stuck with it.

Too bad House hasn't done the same thing.

I would love the show ten times more if every episode wasn't "RIPPED FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES!"

devildog123: I haven't liked L&O since Jerry Orbach died. They nevver managed to replace him with anyone close to his caliber.

That being said, since I haven't watched a new episode in years, have they run out of rich/politically powerful people to kill/blame? For a while there, that was pretty much every episode.

I like Mariska Hargitay in SVU.

She is one of the few female actors who can pull off the "tough female" role convincingly, without losing her femininity or acting butch.

nopokerface: L&O:C.I. is just a Sherlock Holmes redux, but I still like it. And Goren, is no more unrealistic a character than Hannibal Lecter, you did like Silence of the Lambs, didn't you?

/didn't you?

It's not that he's unrealistic, it's that he's not entertaining. He's House without the misanthropy. Holmes without the eccentricity. Grissom without the funny geekyness. Even the other team on C.I. is more entertaining, only because of Jeff Goldblum's awkward charisma.

It's not bad with Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson. This is probably the first time Sisto doesn't play a dick to the tenth power and Anderson was flat out scary on The Shield.

coltsbills: He's Goren with the schizophrenia?

... which never comes up. He occasionally talks about his mom and has odd mannerisms, and occasionally does the "talk through what the villain did with creepy sympathy" that every cop show does. House's misanthropy is his defining characteristic, and is the best part of the show. And either way, his schizophrenia isn't really entertaining. House is entertaining. Holmes is entertaining. Guys like Castle and The Mentalist bring nothing but cockyness (and sexual tension, in Castle's case) to the show, and they're still more entertaining than Goren because they're fun to watch.

nopokerface: This: Even the other team on C.I. is more entertaining, only because of Jeff Goldblum's awkward charisma.
I've only seen part of a couple Goldblum episodes, but I can't see him as a cop. I'll give him another chance though. But, no Chris Noth....none.

That's the point of the character. Rich kid raised by shrinks decides to be a cop instead of being something his parents would be proud of. He's Castle with a badge.

I liked the show for years, but it evolved into a circle-jerk of archaic, paternalistic liberalism. All the murderers in New York are rich, white and usually attractive? Yeah, keep ignoring the genocide in the inner-city and it'll go away, I'm sure.

I think The Wire showed you can accurately depict crime without resorting to stereotypes.

I'll be the "Law & Order" apologist and say that the show has gotten dramatically better in the last two season.

Towards then end of Jerry Orbach's tenure, the plots increasingly became about rich people killing each other. Every week the third richest family in New York City was involved in a murder and cover up. Orbach's replacements, Dennis Farina and Milena Govich were diasters, and further dragged the show down.

But since Jack McCoy was made District Attorney, the quality of the scripts has improved night-and-day. It took years, but the show finally found a new cast. Jeremy Sisto is a perfect fit for the show. Linus Roache and Alana De La Garzais are a good team, and most surprisingly, even Anthony Anderson is convincing in his role.

Most importantly, the writers have gone back to what made the show a hit in the late '90s: Jack McCoy being a total bad ass, taking on the establishment.

coltsbills: theorellior: MightyPez: L&O: Rape Fantasy and L&O: Vincent Donofrio is Batman never appealed to me.

Every time I see D'Onofrio's character on Criminal Intent I just want to slap the ever-lovin' bejeesus out of him.

Why?

He's a big bug from another planet.

It's one of the few shows that I'll actually watch.

Been getting old series and watching those instead.

Watching St-Elsewhere and Hercules at this point.

I just find it pretty sad that either a good series gets cut short, or that once in a while I'll learn of a short lived series (many never making it through more than 1 season, or are mini-series that never made it to the full series status) that I never heard of, that got canceled due to bad timing, terrible placement in schedule, no advertisement or anything, while there's a hundred extremely crappy shows that makes it through multiple seasons.

Examples?

The Crow
Journeyman
WitchBlade

and the other shows that do have an "ok" run, but leave you wishing for more. ex. Millennium, Lexx.

and then the shows that you wish would never end. (Married with Children)

nopokerface: thornhill: Dennis Farina

I realy liked him on that show.

I like Farina in any show. He's a perfect wise guy.

Reading over the thread I realize now why the show has lasted so long. No matter what it transforms to from season to season, somebody likes it. You might hate the latest season, but give it time and it'll be back to what you enjoyed before.

The show hasn't been any good since lenny left.

Doink.....Doink

I'm still upset about Jill Hennessy dying in that car crash.