There are few things more dependable than turning on the TV at any time and finding Law & Order delivering a solid hour of TV entertainment. And of course, a steady rotation of attractive female ADA's. The latest one ranks up there w/ Angie Harmon. I'm curious to see how the LA version turns out.
I started watching the show thanks to reruns on TNT a couple years ago. The episodes without the old detective are not so good; once he left the show, it really died. BTW, Angie Harmon takes the bait for hottest ADA. And did anyone notice how all the ADA were female?
CI hasn't failed in the sense that it is still on with new eps being made. and one could argue that by replacing Vince D'onofrio with a better known actor (Jeff Goldblum) that they are actually still on the upswing.....I don't necessarily agree since I loved Vince's Goren, but he wanted more time to pursue other interests, such as theater and movies, it had nothing to do with the quality of the show. also, CI in general doesn't concentrate as much on the actual lawyers except in how they can facilitate the whimsys of the oddball detectives that CI is built around
That's kinda the reason I've never really gotten into CI (although I didn't like Goren that much anyway). I like the balance of the cop/lawyer stuff. SVU is still sorta light on this but had more engaging leads and storylines. (sex sells!) I still think cancelling this was a mistake. I think Bruce Wayne's dad was doing an alright job as the new lawyer, and the new detectives weren't really that bad, but still a step down.
"Must See TV" era finally comes to a close, as far as I'm concerned. With 8 million viewers a week, I'm suprised this show couldn't have gone on forever if you could keep down cast salaries and Dick Wolf wasn't such a hardass. The premise is simple enough (Cops, DA, NYC) that it will be back on NBC some iteration or another, not sure why everyone involved couldn't have just kept it going like Fox manages to do with the Simpsons: particularly since both were such great templates for social commentary. Perhaps the lack of character development/backstory is where Law & Order failed in comparison to SVU and Criminal Intent. I'll miss this and I still miss West Wing.
CI basically dropped the DAs and shifted authority-figure to the Captain. Will miss Bizarro Elliot Gould and nice to see the love interest from Robin Hood slowly morphing into Rhea Perlman.
