TVSquad

"You always made me feel safe, John."

Perfect. Beautiful. That line was delivered by Carol Kane to Richard Belzer on last night's season finale of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A bit of history. Kane played Gwen Munch, the conspiracy-minded ex-wife of Belzer's Detective John Munch. The last time the two of them played those roles was more than a decade ago, not even on the same show.

When last Detective Munch fans saw the pairing, it was in 1997 on Homicide: Life on the Street. And they picked one hell of an episode to bring her back. Fans of Belzer know he was having fun with the black helicopter crowd before he brought that particular obsession to his character, and last night's episode was tailor-made for him, even if he wasn't really in the forefront of the plot.

I figured they would do this, for nostalgia's sake if nothing else. It seems pretty likely that Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is going to outlast the parent that spawned it (because let's face it, sex sells!). Still, it was nice of NBC to renew Law & Order for a 20th season, allowing Dick Wolf to match Gunsmoke at twenty seasons.

Of course, now he's going to be angling to surpass the series next year. Even more ambitious would be a push to outdo Gunsmoke in episodes. With word coming down that L&O got a 16 episode commitment, it's just falling further and further behind.

This doesn't come as a surprise, does it? NBC has ordered an 11th season of Law & Order: SVU. It isn't a surprise because of all the shows on NBC's roster – not including ER, which just had a celebrated swan song – are struggling in the ratings. Law & Order SVU is the lone exception, still drawing nearly 10 million viewers and at least keeping NBC challenging in the Tuesday night ratings.

It's not as strong as it once was, but what show is on NBC? It would have been network hari-kari to let SVU hit the road.

It feels like a sweeps moment -- a big name star guesting on a long-running show. But it's not set for sweeps. It is, however, a special occasion and a reason to do something festive. So, on April 29, Robin Williams will make a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU in part to celebrate the 200th episode of the intense NBC crime drama.

The Oscar-winning actor (for Good Will Hunting) is no stranger to television, as we all know. Till the day he dies, he'll be Mork. Na-noo, na-noo. As an alien from the planet Ork, Robin Williams was catapulted from obscure comic actor to overnight sensation thanks to the Garry Marshall sitcom Mork & Mindy. It was the beginning of a stellar career.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ ANY FARTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW SEASON OF SVU!!!!

The big news about the season premiere of NBC's Law & Order: SVU is not that it is the show's 9th season, or the fact that Cynthia Nixon guest-stars in a pretty chilling role. The big news is that Mariska Hargitay cut her hair! How could she? Frankly, I loved her long locks.

But, I guess that she didn't, and they seem to be back to pre-season 7 length (don't ask me how I know this). Plus, even after the events of last season's finale, her character Olivia Benson still seems to be partnered with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). From the promo you'll see after the jump, they'll need to work very closely together.

Just a reminder that Mariska Hargitay returns to Law & Order: SVU with tonight's episode. This is the post-pregnant Hargitay that will appear, not the pregnant, puffy jacket Mariska that was shown in the season premiere.

However, it's not like she walks right back into the squadroom and goes 'Hey everybody, I'm back! Let's get some coffee'. If you remember from the first episode of the season Mariska's character, Detective Olivia Benson, went undercover to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group based out of Oregon. In tonight's episode she returns to New York to assist A.D.A. Casey Novak in presenting evidence in a rape case. Of course, this could impact the work Olivia has been doing on the West Coast.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like the idea for an SNL, Mad TV, or Conan O'Brien sketch, but it actually happened on yesterday's season premiere of Sesame Street. Here's the video.

Now, I'm all for edgy humor and irreverence, even on kids shows, but I think this is an odd choice. I mean, Law and Order: SVU is all about sex crimes, many of them involving children, and that's the show that Sesame Street decides to lampoon? Will kids even get it, or is this something more for parents (I assume the latter). It's called Special Letters Unit, but it's still a bit odd, though enjoyable. They even use the show's sound (they call it "chung chung"), and that's the original cast doing the voices for their puppets too.

Next on Zoom: a tribute to Deadwood.

Update: You might have trouble playing the video (not sure why, though I know YouTube is down right now). Here are some screen caps and more from the episode.

So I'm doing the daily "What's On Tonight" post, and I see that The Sci-Fi Channel has three episodes of Law and Order: SVU on. Um ... can someone tell me why (and don't say it's because NBC owns the Sci-Fi Channel).

Is this a new show that has a similar title? Does the SVU actually stand for Space Visitation Unit? Is Mariska Hargitay an android?

"In outer space, the people of Earth are represented by two separate but equally important groups: the Space Visitation Unit, who investigate claims of alien visitors, and space attorneys, who prosecute the evil aliens. These are their stories."

As if having all the Law and Order shows on USA and TNT 90,000 times a week wasn't enough.