Jeremy Sisto will replace Milena Govich as a detective on the original version of Law & Order. Sisto was on NBC last season in the failed series, Kidnapped, and is perhaps best known for his role as Brenda's crazy brother, Billy, on Six Feet Under.I'm not sure how they're going to write his character into the show, considering the actor guest-starred on the season finale last month as a defense attorney. I didn't see that episode (apparently my Jeremy Sisto radar was turned off) so I don't know if he had any sort of background as a detective, or if L&O will just ignore the fact that he guest-starred and recast him as a detective by a different name.
It's a bittersweet announcement, really. Jeremy Sisto is a terrific (and super hot) actor, yet he has taken a role on a show that has dropped in the ratings and almost wasn't renewed this season.










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2007 @ 11:34AM
Joel Keller said...
Wow, talk about irony: Govich was one of the few non-Kidnapped stars to show up for the Kidnapped premiere at the NYTVF. Now Sisto is taking her job. Very odd. So much for loyalty and support, huh?
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6-01-2007 @ 11:39AM
LM said...
everyone knows Sisto will always be knows as Elton from the movie "Clueless"
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6-01-2007 @ 11:39AM
Buckly said...
So was Milena Govich fired? I kinda stopped watching near the end of the season so I wasn't sure if they wrote her out or not. I'm excited about Sisto, but I didn't think Govich was so bad.
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6-01-2007 @ 12:07PM
Tom C. said...
"I'm not sure how they're going to write his character into the show, considering the actor guest-starred on the season finale last month as a defense attorney."
There is a precedent for this. Jerry Orbach played a defense attorney on one episode before returning as Lenny Briscoe a season or two later. S. Epatha Merkinson played the mother of a victim (I think) a few years before she came back as Lt. Van Buren. And one of the assistant DA's played a stripper. I think all they'll need to do is get Sisto to shave.
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6-01-2007 @ 12:11PM
OjNK said...
Please, it may be quicker than normal but how many actors have been on L&O umpteen times playing different characters, even ones who would go on to be cast regulars??
Its getting hard to find an actor who started their career in the last 15 years that HASN'T been on at least on episode of L&O, they've just exhausted all the unused talent! :)
And horray for dropping Govich. Her play on the 'tough but pouty' cop was absolutely painful to watch.
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6-01-2007 @ 12:17PM
Hank said...
Yet another cast change, for a show replete with them. It's also not unprecedented for this show to cast an actor who appeared once in a different role as a lead. S. Epatha Merkson played a distraught mother before they replaced Dann Florek; the late Jerry Orbach also played a defense attorney in an early episode. The only string that they don't break is when someone leaves the show, I have not yet seen them cast again a someone different, i.e. Richard Brooks has been back repeatedly as a defense attorney.
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6-01-2007 @ 12:49PM
The Midnight Penguin said...
I'm not sure that I feel that good about Sisto's addition. At least I know that the network won't cancel L&O midseason. I like watching him and hope he brings a lot to the season, but I doubt his addition is going to bring too many additional viewers along the way. Hopefully the stories get better this next season.
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6-01-2007 @ 1:07PM
Jeremy Lacey said...
Another two examples are when Ice-T played a pimp that Chris Toth's character was after in that Law & Order tv movie. Also current ADA Casey Novak on SVU played a rapist in a season 3 episdoe and was convicted by the previous ADA
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6-01-2007 @ 1:54PM
Steve said...
...and, of course, the mighty Jerry Orbach, who played a defense attorney himself in an earlier season.
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6-01-2007 @ 1:55PM
Preach said...
Wow, Govich's already gone? Now that was fast. Don't get me wrong, it's the right decision, as her character was more than just a little bit awkward, but hopefully they will do the right thing and bring her back for at least one episode, and give her a proper sendoff on-screen (kill her, let her quit the job or get transferred), but DON'T let her just disappear with a quick "Yeah, she transferred to another precinct" like they did with Dennis Farina.
And Sistos a good choice, great actor, and will be a good addition to the cast. I just wonder why they didn't just bring back Michael Imperioli as Detective Nick Falco. He was Jesse Martin's replacement when he was filming "Rent", so he would've been a good fit too. That way they would've had someone the viewers already knew. "The Sopranos" will be over in two weeks, so it's not as if Imperioli would have much to do then ;)
And as the others have said, it's not unusual to have actors come back and play different characters over the years. Imperioli played a crook in 1996, before he became Detective Falco. Daniel Hugh-Kelly did 6 characters over the years, Dylan Baker (Spiderman) 4, Zach Grenier (Touching Evil) 5, Paul Schulze (CSI) also 5, Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos) 4, David Zayas (Dexter) 4, and you could keep that list going for quite some time.
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6-01-2007 @ 3:26PM
Porchland said...
I wonder if Sam Waterston's character will become DA or interim DA replacing Fred Thompson and moving another actor into the ADA spot.
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6-01-2007 @ 4:39PM
Cole said...
This may work I loved Jeremy Sisto on the season finale, and on his recent stint on Numb3rs, and Milena Govich character was horrible, not the acting just the character. I don't think she did anything to endear herself to to any of the other chracters on the show, and i think she may be the reason is was almost canceled.
Don't get me wrong the constant 'ripped from the headlines' thing didn't help but neither did she.
Sisto and some original wiritng may be just what the show needs to get back on top.
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6-01-2007 @ 6:50PM
BigTed said...
I'd like to see them bring Sisto up against "L&O: Criminal Intent"'s Vincent D'Onofrio, just to find out whether anyone can tell the two beefy, shaving-challenged, hard-emoting actors apart.
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6-01-2007 @ 8:43PM
PurpleSlog said...
They'll cast him as a new character. They have done that a lot before.
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6-03-2007 @ 9:45AM
Gatorchick said...
I like Jeremy Sisto and hope the show gets a boost, I'm just happy Criminal Intent is back with D'Onofrio..(Thank-you USA)!
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6-04-2007 @ 10:48PM
sna said...
I am DELIGHTED that Govich is gone. I stopped watching the show this year because she was so painful to watch. Not only couldn't she act, but the attempt to use her chest as some kind of lure just didn't work. She just didn't have ANY sex appeal at all--and the show's core audience was simply not tuning in for that kind of pandering. I always felt that S Epatha was embarrassed to act with her. And there was NO chemistry between her and Jesse Martin.
I too wish Michael Imperioli had been hired--he's a terrific actor and is authentic New Yawk.
Sisto is an actor though--so I hope he fits it.
I also wish they would put the show back where it belongs--on Wednesdays at 10. Word is it will be on Sunday nights after football ends. Why is it that NBC wants to kill the show. Can't there be at least one show on broadcast TV that appeals to people over 14?
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6-05-2007 @ 6:22PM
irisgarden55 said...
I emailed NBC about that Milena Govich character after the 3rd episode to oust her. She never looked like a cop ala Jerry and Jesse. NBC is to blame for their low ratings with those horrible ripped from the headlines shows. Most nauseating was the Ann Coulter type story line with Charlotte Ross. That one plus the following week's story about finished this viewer. Yuck!
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