TVSquad

As I recall, Julia Roberts' character on L&O was *not* guilty. She was a witness, not the accused. But she *was* evil. Eeeeevillllll!

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I remember seeing the actor who played Jonesy from Carnivale on CSI. He turned out also to be guilty. I told my roommates that since he was semi-famous, he had to have been the one who did it.

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I hate to state the obvious but, "DUH." Of course any guest star is going to be, at the very least, accused of a crime. The suspect is the one who's on the screen the most. For "Law and Order," if you make the guest star anything other than the accused you'll see them on the screen for two seconds playing the corner grocer saying, "Yeah I saw him, he bought two mangoes and this really big knife."



I realize it's a bit of a spoiler to see the guest star at the beginning, but the only other character that gets as much screen time as the suspect is the dead guy.

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I didn't get that job on CSI because I'm a "celebrity." (I'm not) I auditioned for it, just like everyone else, and earned the job based upon my audition.



That's a pretty significant difference.

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Magnum PI broke that stereotype quite a bit, although it wasn't a cop show. Carol Burnette showed up as a PI helping to solve a crime. Frank Sinatra did as well, although the twist was that he was out for revenge against his grandddaughter's killer. Frank wound up killing the guy in cold blood, so maybe he could be considered guilty there.



i recall Mickey Dolenz showing up on Mike Hammer when the Monkees were making a come back. I don't believe he was the villian, but I feel guilty remembering something so obscure.

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Thanks for making my point for me, Wil. It's one thing to see Julia Roberts and expect her be all over the screen the whole episode. It's another to see a 'real' working actor who got a job.

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Does that mean Malcolm David Kelley is gonna be guilty on SVU? I knew I couldn't trust that kid!



http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/12/30/losts-walt-on-next-weeks-svu/

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Wil. You are famous. you were on Star Trek for God's sake. Why in the world are you wasting your time posting on blogs? Dude you were taken away by the traveller to become something more than human. Don't waste your time on us.

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Wil, clearly you do not understand the modern day definition of 'celebrity'. It's kind of like the change that has happened to 'supermodel'. There used to be like 3 supermodels, now everyone and her sister is a supermodel. And if you ever wonder what it takes to qualify as a 'celebrity', take a look at Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Poker, Celebrity Blackjack, The Surreal Life, etc etc etc. For goodness sake, Wendy Pepper is a 'celebrity'.



http://www.bravotv.com/Celebrity_Poker_Showdown/Players/



Being a regular on TNG must qualify one as 'supercelebrity' if that is how we are setting the bar.

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Bad writing runs rampant on TV dramas, so it's no surprise to me that the guest star on L&O is usually the killer. That's par for the course and just one of many reasons why I don't watch them. Except for L&O: Sports Utility Vehicle, which I watch only because Chris Meloni, Lee Tergesen's cellmate and lover on Oz, is on it. And because I'm trying to ferret out if there's a vast conspiracy that is keeping Lee Tergesen from guesting on SVU.



Everyone on Oz has been on SVU. Some several times. I'm beginning to think there's some New York state law that states Oz actors HAVE to be on L&O. Freakin' Oz extras have been on SVU, but not once has Tergesen been on. What's up with that?



Now that "Wanted" (Tergesen's series on TNT) apparently won't be returning next season (according to internet rumors), I am hoping that the TV Casting Gods will cast Tergesen -- while he still has long hair -- on SVU. This is really important. At no other time is Tergensen likely to have hair this long while being available to guest-star on SVU. I want to see Tergensen and his long hair on SVU. Why with the long hair, you ask? Because he looks incredibly hot with it that long, I answer. :P



He and The Hair (tm) have already been on L&O: The Mothership this season, so why not SVU? Is that too much to ask?



If Tergesen's a guest star on SVU, I won't care that I'll know from the start that he is the one whodunit. I just want to watch Tergesen, The Hair (tm), and Meloni chew up the scenery together. A girl can dream, can't she? :P

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I don't think there is a single actor that ever appeared on Oz, even if it was only as a background extra in the visitor room, for three seconds, in only one episode, that hasn't appeared at least once on one of the Law & Order's.

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What was great about 'Murder, She Wrote' and before that, 'Burke's Law' was that there were so many famous guest stars in each episode, you never could be sure who'd turn out to be the murderer.



Although as a kid, I worked out a system to figure out 'Burke's Law' - if the guest star appeared in 3 different scenes, they'd be the guilty party.

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Sorry, Toby, but I have to disagree that there was ever anything great about 'Murder, She Wrote'.

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Yeah, the Julia Roberts guest-starring bit was pretty lame, but Fred Savage on SVU was excellent. That was one of the best episodes they've done. And it's true that everyone knew he'd done what they said he'd done--but that wasn't the point. There's more to Law & Order than just figuring out who did it (though they have done many very good whodunit episodes); it's the twists and turns of how they're going to catch the "perp" that makes it interesting. I'm not especially willing to give CSI credit for not resorting to stunt casting (Quentin Tarantino directing? The popular song [Madonna & Radiohead, to name a few] product placement?). For one thing, something tells me that Caruso won't let anyone upstage him.



While I'll admit that Matlock was my favorite show when I was 10, and my view of crime shows staring aged stars is somewhat compromised as a result, Murder She Wrote was awesome.

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The big guest stars on shows like Law and Order have never bothered me, because the casting seems a lot more natural than a show like Will and Grace, which had big name stars (Madonna, Cher, Kevin Bacon, etc) just as stunt casting and ratings, and it's one of the things that killed the show.

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