Law & Order, the TV kind

[GePap]

We have had various threads on other TV shows, and yet none (as far as I know) on one of American TV's most sucessful dramas. Now, i have no idea if this show has wide sindication outside of the US and Canada, so for those that have never seen it, or heard of it, a very brief synopsis: A 1 hour drama set in NY that examines a single crime from the vieewpoint of police detectives and Assistant Distric Attoerney's.

NOw, the show has been on at least 11 years and has created 3 spin-oFf, one of which failed, two which are themselves very popular. It has also gone through several cast changes.

So, doy ou like L&O? watch it regularly?
Any cast rpeferences? and what about the spin-offs?

I watch this show regularly. It is one of my favorite dramas.
As for cast and characters: I like Sam Waterston's ADA better than Moriarty's, and the current Junior ADA, played by Elizabeth Roehm (any connection to Ernst?) better than any of the other female ADA's until you get to Henessy. As for the Cops, I like the Lenny character most, and like the Lieutenant.

As for the spin-off, I watch L&O: SUV (specail victims Units, dealing with sex crimes), specially the Ice-T and Richard Belzer characters. I hate CI (criminal intent) because it breaks form the formula too miuch and Mr. D"Ofrio is a ham and overacts badly, in my opinion.

[Boris Godunov]

L&O rawks!

I watch the reruns on TNT occassionally. It's great because they show episodes from all over the place, in no sort of seasonal order. So you can see extras who were murderers in earlier episodes being witness/judges/cops/etc. in later episodes.

Waterston is awesome, one of the main reasons I like the show. I don't care for the new ADA (the blonde), I liked her predecessor better (who is now on Crossing Jordan, I believe).

Yeah, Lenny Brisko is the best cop. I liked Benjamin Bratt as his sidekick a lot, but also like the newest guy (the black cop, can't remember his name).

The bail hearing judge is da bomb!

[MRT144]

i used to be addicted to it when i was like 16-17, id watch it when i got home on A&E, and then watch it on TNT, then Watch it later that night on A&E again. then god permitting one of the new EPs was out. brisko and the character chris noth played, that were the best imho.

[Edan]

Re: Law & Order, the TV kind

Originally posted by GePap

So, do you like L&O? watch it regularly?

I used to watch it somewhat regularly (when I could) until around 97 or 98. By that point I thought the series was becoming a bit stale (and a little formulaic) having run so long - I've been watching a handful of episodes each season since then (plus I got the season 1 dvd set, and the computer game), so I guess I'm still something of a fan.

Any cast rpeferences?

I think I like the Briscoe/Logan/Kincaid/Stone (or McCoy) team the best cause that was when I was watching it the most and when I think the show was hitting it's prime. I think I prefer Stone to McCoy.

[chequita guevara]

Which spin-off failed?

I prefer CI to SVU. I don't think that they could handle another show with exactly the same format as the original L&O.

I have noticed that there's one thing that seems to be consistent in the show. In the scene before the opening credits, Lenny always has to make an ironic comment about the dead person.

[DinoDoc]

I like them all.

[GePap]

They tried a L&O were you followed a real trial. They ahd about 2 episodes before it disappeared. I forget the name, but ti came out aboutt he time of CI.

I forgot to say that I thouroguhly miss Steven Hill's character. Diane Laine's DA was almost simply a whinny contrarian, discussing law theory and not so much trial strategy (though the DA on this show almost alwasy seem to think what is going on is not so good). Fred D. Thompson is better, but he barely shows up.

[chequita guevara]

Well, Fred does have a full time job in the U.S. Congress.

[Edan]

Crime & Punishment.. I think I caught the last half of an episode of it once. I enjoyed it, though it's easy to see how the show failed to capture an audience.

[Boris Godunov]

Yeah, Stephen Hill's DA was the best. I thought the woman who followed him was ok, just unremarkable. Her best moment was standing up to the ***** of a judge who wanted a harsher sentence sought for an accountant who had (unintentionally) induced someone to try and kill the judge.

[Ming]

I used to love "Law and Order"... but the DA's now suck big time. We would watch the first half an hour and love it, then would be bored to tears for the second half and hour... so we've stopped watching it. We still watch some of the reruns with the old cast.

SVU is our favorite. Most of it is cop related with very little action ever happening in the Court Room. The cast of characters is wonderful.

CI is just the opposite... It's a one man show, and he is simply incredibile in the role. It's high on our viewing list.

[Kropotkin]

Law and Order is aired late nights in Sweden on a rubbish channel. It has never gotten anything close to prime time as far as I know. kind of strange really as the parts that I've seen has been pretty good for 3 am-TV.

This in a country where the biggest channel shows one hour with two "the nanny"-episode re-runs between 19-20 on friday...

[DinoDoc]

My favorite L&O episodes (Which is a very tough pick for me) were the Homicide crossover.

[Edan]

Re: Law & Order, the TV kind

NOw, the show has been on at least 11 years

It's on it's 13th season.

[GePap]

I guess you mean the change from Stone to McCoy: that was 7 years ago, no?

Does anyoen even remember the actor how played the first old cop? I know Paul Sorvino had the role season 2.

I can't stand D'Onofrio in his role in CI: he chews up the scenery in a bad way for me.

As for SUV: the male partner fo the main duel (I can't remember their characters name's) is a bit too high strung: you would think he would have shot someone already and gotten suspended. I like how they brought back Dan Florek to be the Lieutenant.