TVSquad

(S01E01) I thought I had a good idea of what to expect going into this short series. I caught all of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, though its first season was terribly disappointing when you think of what you'd expect from the directors chosen. Masters of Science Fiction doesn't necessarily focus on the directors, basing the "master" part of the title on, well, anything that makes it a science fiction story. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Linus Roache, who starred in NBC's Kidnapped, has joined Law and Order as an assistant district attorney. His character will replace Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), who moves to serve as New York district attorney. McCoy (Waterston) replaces D.A. Arthur Branch, who was played by former real-life senator Fred Thompson. Thompson left the series to explore a possible presidential bid.

Roache also appeared in Canterbury's Law, a midseason pilot for FOX starring Juliana Margulies as a lawyer who doesn't mind bending the rules. It's unknown at this time whether or not Roache will appear in both series.

Roache's other credits include the movies Batman Begins and the TV movie RFK, in which he played Robert F. Kennedy.

According to the entertainment reporter over at Fox News, actor Bradley Whitford "almost" got the role as the new Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Sam Waterston is vacating that position to play the District Attorney, now that actor Fred Thompson is leaving the show to run for president.

Everybody got that? Good.

Sam Waterston wants a promotion. For the last 13 years Waterston has played Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on the long-running (some say too long) NBC drama Law & Order. Now that co-star, and former U.S. Senator, Fred Thompson (who played District Attorney Arthur Branch) is leaving the show to run for president of the United States his job position is now open. And, it seems that Waterston's McCoy wants to move into the slot.

According to an anonymous source close to the show, Waterston is negotiating to have his character step into the D.A. role when Law & Order returns at the beginning of 2008. How McCoy would slip into the position, as well as his replacement, have yet to be determined. When asked to confirm this news L&O creator Dick Wolf as well as Waterston declined to comment.

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?

The Mayor of Television (hey, they had an election for Mayor of Television? Why didn't anyone tell us??) has invented the Law and Order Fantasy League Game. Basically, you guess which "ripped from the headlines" story one of the Law and Order shows (the original, Criminal Intent, and Special Victims Unit) is going to ripoff write an homage to. Will it be Michael Richards? The O.J. Simpson book controversy?

But you can't just guess which show is going to do which plot and be done with it. You have to tweak it a little bit, so it's "original" (cough cough). So, maybe a former sitcom actor says some nasty racial remarks, only this time it's not at a comedy club, it's at a private party. Or maybe a former pro baseball star (not a football star! accused of killing his parents (not his ex-wife and her friend!) decides to create a web site (not publish a book!) showing pics of the murder scene and how he might have done it.

The Mayor's idea for a Michael Richards-inspired story is more elaborate than mine, and would fit the L&O world nicely.

[via TV Tattle]

I think one of our readers made a joke about this in the comments, but now TV critic Alan Sepinwall suggests (perhaps jokingly, perhaps not) that since Leblanc is now out of a job, maybe he should be hired for Law and Order.

"Hey, McCoy...how you doin?"

That's just one of the many casting suggestions that Sepinwall makes in the wake of departures from Dennis Farina and Annie Parisse. How about Mickey Rourke, or Don Johnson, or maybe even Mario Lopez or Geena Davis?

Come on readers, you know you want to make suggestions of your own...

[via TV Tattle]

Unlike her appearances on Friends, Kathleen Turner will actually play a woman when she appears on tomorrow night's Law and Order. She'll play Rebecca Shane, a fancy pants defense attorney who faces off against A.D.A. Jack McCoy. She represents a privileged high school student who may or may not have killed another fellow student in desperation to graduate.

51-year-old Turner currently lives in London, where she is starring in the Edward Albee play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Apollo Theatre. She was recently quoted as saying that she's ready to move to London permanently because Americans don't appreciate older women.

Once NBC returns to regular programming following two weeks of Olympics (Feb. 10-26), the line-up is going to look a little different. It's moving around a few shows, including Law and Order and Las Vegas, and adding some new mid-season shows to the mix. Get 'yer TiVos ready, here are the changes:

• Deal or No Deal, nightly at 8 pm from Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3
• The Apprentice, Mondays at 9 pm, starting February 27
  
• Conviction, Fridays at 10 pm, starting March 3
• Las Vegas, Fridays at 9 pm, starting March 3
• Teachers, Thursdays at 9:30 pm, starting April 6 (replacing The Office, which has a season finale on March 30)
• Law and Order, Wednesdays at 9 pm, starting March 22
• Heist, Wednesdays at 10 pm, starting March 22