TVSquad

Wow, is this right? Jesse L. Martin was on Law and Order for nine seasons? How could that be? Where has the last decade gone? I feel really old.

Martin was indeed on the hit NBC drama for that long. He left last season, in a storyline involving a gambling addiction, a murder, and a court trial. But now he might actually be coming back to the same network. Martin is in negotiations to play the James Purefoy's sidekick on the midseason replacement series The Philanthropist, about a rich man who helps people with his dough. The character's name is Philip Maidstone.

Martin must really like NBC. He's also going to be in a new Muppets movie this Christmas season on the network.

It will be interesting to see how big this sidekick role will be, because you would think at this point that Martin would be getting or going for the lead roles, not the buddy ones.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• So how did Jesse L. Martin leave Law and Order the other night?
• I reviewed the Stingray DVD recently, and Jaime Weinman has some interesting facts about the show.
• Former NBC reporter Arthur Kent is suing Universal Pictures and the makers of Charlie Wilson's War.
• Cablevision might be buying The Sundance Channel.
• PBS' Jim Lehrer is recovering from heart surgery.
• Gary Coleman is going to appear on another daytime court show, this time with his wife.
• What were the best seasons of ER?

Bad news for fans of both Jesse L. Martin and Law and Order: the star is leaving the NBC show.

Reports say that Martin will film one more episode of the NBC show before leaving. He had originally signed to do 13 episodes this season but the writers strike interrupted those plans. He will be written off the show, but there's no word yet on exactly what that means (quitting the force, getting killed off, abducted by aliens, whatever).

And if you're thinking about auditioning for a role on the show, you're out of luck: they've already found a replacement.

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.

There are all sorts of media reports swirling around lately that NBC is considering canceling Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Both series are suffering from consistently low ratings and it wasn't a good sign earlier this year when NBC moved the original Law & Order to Siberia Friday nights. NBC reportedly met with L&O creator Dick Wolf earlier this week to discuss the series' futures, and both are considered "on the bubble", though Criminal Intent is more likely to see a renewal than the original Law & Order. A decision isn't expected until early next month. (SVU is safe, by the way, with its stars earning mega bucks next season)

This is the original Law & Order's 17th season and, even though it has reached legendary status as far as television series go, it is time for it to go. I think the Chevy Chase episode proved that. It feels tired and stale. There are way too many "ripped from the headlines" episodes and can anyone even keep track of who the main detectives are anymore? The series has gone through so many stars that it's getting hard to keep up. Plus, I think it became about "sexy" detectives and lawyers, rather than the original, more gritty characters played by Chris Noth, Paul Sorvino, Michael Moriarty, and Jerry Orbach.

Do you think Law & Order's time is up?

A show of hands here, please? Who thought that we would be talking about the 17th season premiere of NBC's Law & Order when the show first premiered back in September of 1990? Just as I thought . . . not that many hands. Yet, here we are, about to talk about the season premiere of the longest running crime series and the second longest-running drama series in the history of American broadcast television.

Granted, no one remains from the original L&O cast, but that really isn't what brings back viewers week after week. It's the uniqueness of the show that grabs them. It's a style that no other show has successfully duplicated. Even its siblings Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent have gone a different route in the way crimes are shown being investigated. That's why the original remains popular to this day.

So, with kudos out of the way, let's talk a bit about what you can look forward to in the season premiere. Be warned, slight SPOILERS ahead after the jump.

After two seasons, Dennis Farina is leaving his role as Detective Joe Fontana on the long-running NBC hit Law and Order. He's going to pursue other projects and work on his production company.

This is probably a good move for Farina. He's a good actor (he's one of those actors who is good in everything he's in, even if what he's in isn't that good), but Law and Order wasn't the best showcase for him. It's not exactly a show that leaves room for meaty acting or character development. It's all about the crime, the investigation, and the trial, and there's no room for anything else really. Besides, the show has really gone downhill, with all the "ripped from the headlines" cases.

No word yet on who will replace him.