May 31, 2007
Election Year Politics Force Law & Order Changes
Now that Law & Order has been renewed for four more seasons, shakeups to the cast have been expected. And the most notable one is that Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, is leaving the show to pursue a presidential campaign. We hope the writers work that in!
Law & Order producer Dick Wolf said, "I've spoken to Fred today, and although he told me he has not made a firm decision about his political future, he felt that given the creative and scheduling constraints of the upcoming season, he asked to be released from his responsibilities to the show. I will sincerely miss working with him on a regular basis, and I obviously wish him the best of luck with whatever the future holds." Hmm, this sounds more like a brilliant way to leave the Law & Order cast - though having your last episode be the one where you reveal to viewers that you're a lesbian is even better.
As for cast changes, the Hollywood Reporters says that Sam Waterston's Executive ADA Jack McCoy might take over as DA (whoa!) and that the detective played by Milena Govich may not come back. God, we miss Jerry Orbach. Our idea: Make McCoy the DA and bring back Paul Robinette, as played by Richard Brooks, as Executive ADA! Our second choice for EADA: Carey Lowell's Jamie Ross.
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Well, considering that the show has basically been reduced to little more than a politically correct fantasy universe where only white males are criminals, why not cast Charles Barron as th D.A.?
L&O is totally a fantasy universe. I assume Fred Thompson's character, Arthur Branch, is a Republican. And this is the Manhattan DA?!?!
Exactly. How it would it all work without a white man at the top to personify "the man"?
L&O is totally a fantasy universe.
I'm going let you in on a secret. Law and Order is a television show. Maybe the creators felt like trying something different after 10 years of Adam Schiff being a clone of Morgenthou.
They should move the Chris Noth from L&O:CI back to the regular L&O.
Bring back Ben Stone! Stone For DA!
Jack Macoy never ran for DA because he wasn't a political animal, as all of the DAs kept reminding him. So how would that work out?
Lowell's character is already a judge (shown in a few episodes) and Brook's character was shown to have become a hothead attorney who handles politically charged cases.
I'd say make Bebe Neuwirth the ADA. Her show may have been the only one of the L&O franchise that failed but I liked her in it.
Am I getting older, or is the Jack McCoy character increasingly out-of-it? Seems he keeps pushing for perfect endings, and is oblivious to the real world.
Confused, you reminded me of this quote from Amy Poehler on a recent episode of SNL:
"NBC announced Monday it will once again renew its long-running drama series Law & Order. Which, as near as I can tell, is about a kindly old grandfather who teaches cynicism to a series of supermodels."
I like cross promotions. Let McCoy and pals face off against Spader and Shatner at Boston Legal.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Matt - ROTFyouknowtherest! Cynical or idealistic can be debated, but the supermodels comment is perfect!
Re: cross-promotion - the reg L&O characters would be flummoxed by the BL characters - but I'd love to see Goren & Eames deal with them!!
I agree with the theory of bumping McCoy up to DA (I mean, fer Krissakes he's been an ADA for how long?) More to the point, I'd love to see a mostly bald, late 30s early 40s, loud, noxious, driven, ambitious, crusading, exasperating, mob-bashing DA. You know, someone in the mold of Rudy when he took down the Westies and smacked the crap out of the Fish Market - you know, before he went mad with power. Too bad Stan Tucci is already signed on for ER next year - he'd be pitch perfect.
McCoy has been an ADA for a long time but in real life no one in Manhattan has had a chance at been DA for 40 years as Morgenthau will die in that office.
Ally McBeal and The Practice (before it spun off Boston Legal) cross promoted, L&O cross promoted with Homicide and within L&O, the mothership cross promoted with SVU. However, for my money, the best cross promotion scene in the annals of L&O was the one in Trial by Jury when all of the ADAs (L&O, SVU, CI. TbJ)sat at a meeting with Fred Thompson as DA. That was great, as I've seen the ADA of CI or SVU meet with Thompson only once. McCoy seems to be the only one that is shown meeting with his DA regularly on camera.
As for Stanley Tucci playing an Italian American anti-Mafia prosecutor. That's an inspired idea.
who cares? Law and Order died with Jerry Orbach