TVSquad

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jeff Goldblum's disappointing start on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. My basic point was that he hadn't really found his character yet - that he hadn't gelled with the series - and he wasn't getting any help from poorly written episodes like the atrocious "rock star" opener.

After watching this week's episode, I have to say, everything was much improved, all around. Granted, the poetry was just as bad as the rock music from Goldblum's debut episode; they managed to force Goldblum playing piano into the plot yet again, and the ending confessional was overly dramatic.

But the bad poetry wasn't quite as distracting as the music in the first episode, the piano playing was at least tangentially related to the plot (although still a stretch), and fans of the series in all its forms must have learned to forgive the dramatic confessions years ago as part of the show's style.

So, I'm watching a new episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA Network this past Sunday and, like all upstanding Americans do, I was flipping through the channels during a commercial break. As I passed by these channels at the speed of light my eye caught something on Bravo. It was another episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Not a new episode, mind you, just a repeat of a repeat of a repeat that Bravo airs during their Sunday night block.

Now, you're probably saying to yourself 'So what? Cable channels are allowed to air whatever they damn well please.' Well, after lecturing you about your tone of voice I would mention that you had a point. But, thanks to the wonderful world of corporate synergy, your argument would not meet the mustard. You see, Bravo is under the huge umbrella known as NBC Universal, which is the same company that owns USA Network, which is currently airing new episodes of Law & Order: CI on Sunday nights. With all of this information at hand the following question comes to mind:

Who the hell is programming these networks?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who assumed the HBO nightly series In Treatment, featuring Gabriel Byrne, Blair Underwood, Josh Charles and Dianne Wiest among others, was pretty much going to be a done in one. I really enjoyed the tension they managed to create with essentially two or three people sitting in a room and talking, and while critical acclaim pretty much affirmed that I am brilliant (like I needed their help), the ratings didn't follow.

While official word on the show's fate still hasn't come, what is trickling around is that HBO is this close to signing Law & Order: Criminal Intent executive producer Warren Leight (see me holding my fingers really close together), with the intention of putting him on In Treatment should it get the pick-up, which ups the odds of said happening tremendously. I can't imagine the show costs a tremendous amount to produce, aside from paying the top-notch actors they brought on board. Aside from Byrne and Wiest, we'd likely be looking at a new cast of patients with all new conflicts.

Just when you think it's over, they pull it back in! Actually, I think this is great news and nothing to bemoan. USA Network has ordered 16 new episodes of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. The third spin-off from NBC's venerable -- 18 seasons strong -- Law and Order, CI moved to USA -- part of the NBCU family -- last year after six years on NBC. What's the difference between the shows on NBC and the shows on USA? Absolutely nothing. The quality of the show and the talent in front and behind the camera has remained the same, so I'm really happy that there'll be new L&O: CI in the future. I prefer scripted drama to more reality TV.

Last night, USA Network invited some of their favorite advertisers -- and a few reporters -- to their upfront presentation, held at The Modern, a sleek restaurant and lounge located at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was an opportunity for USA and NBC Universal executives to crow about the network's continued success as well as let advertisers know what's coming up in 2008 and how they can combine their advertising message with the unique "characters" that USA offers.

All that's well and good -- be ready for more product placement and ad pods that other networks have recently adopted -- but the best part about an upfront presentation are the stars that the network drags out to schmooze and booze with those advertisers. And USA brought the big guns, including Tony Shalhoub from Monk, Debra Messing from The Starter Wife, Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell from Burn Notice, Dulé Hill, James Roday, and Corbin Bernsen from Psych, Kathryn Erbe and Chris Noth from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the WWE's Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and Mary McCormack from the network's new show In Plain Sight. I got to speak to a few of them; audio of those interviews is after the jump.

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]

This past issue of USA Weekend offered up an interesting article on the type of people who watch the three versions of CSI and Law & Order. Being that each version of CSI and L&O are fairly unique, different categories of people can be defined for all six shows.

For instance, the article says that fans of the original CSI, which takes place in Las Vegas, are voyeurs who have a secret dark side and are attracted to mysterious types. If you watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent you are an analyst. The article defines the fan of CI as someone who grew up reading Sherlock Holmes novels. If you watch the original Law & Order you are a traditionalist who is probably a bit ticked off about Dennis Farina's replacement on the show.

Personally, I'm an analyst all of the way, with a little bit of the SVU protector. If you want to find out a little more about yourself you can view the complete article at this link.

Actress and singer Rita Moreno, who has won every major entertainment award in the industry, is returning to television as the mother of Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I fondly remember Moreno from The Electric Company, but recently she's appeared on television in guest roles on other Law and Order series SVU and Trial By Jury, and also played Sister Peter Marie on the HBO series Oz. No word on whether her role will involve a lot of singing and dancing and teaching the detectives on the series about words and spelling, though if any writers for the series are reading this, feel free to use that suggestion.

(S06E01) Since I already provided an early look at the season premiere of Criminal Intent I'm not going to do a full blown review. However, I do want to touch on some of the items I left out for the sake of not spoiling it for the rest of you (ain't I so sweet?).

What actually made me think that this season would be a little different from the last five (other than cast changes) was the beginning of the show. As those of you who have watched the show know it usually begins with scenes of all of the potential suspects in the crime that will be investigated, followed by the discovery of the victim. Not this time around, though. Although one potential suspect is shown (the victim's boyfriend) the main focus is on the victim herself being pursued by her murderer, then being attacked. It is actually a bit intense, and quite bloody.

At least, they have a whole lot of Law and Order: SVU and Law and Order: CI. You'll have to click over to TNT to catch repeats of the original Law and Order. Starting September 11, the USA network will devote thirty-five hours a week to those two spin-offs, which according to the New York Post is about seventy to eighty percent of the network's primetime lineup. I didn't bother to check the math, but I'll take their word for it. Either way, that's a lot of dead bodies found in strange places. This new schedule is tentative for now, but if they choose to go with it, you'll be able to catch the two series from 6 to 9 on weeknights, and in a six-hour marathon on Saturday nights from 7 pm to 1 in the morning. On Sunday nights you can wind down with two more hours starting at 11 pm.

[via Popwatch]

Göre Yakup. Well, that's a rough translation of what According to Jim would be in Turkish. And, you're asking, why the hell would we want to say According to Jim in Turkish (or English, for that matter)? That's because the long-running ABC sitcom will be reversioned for Turkish audiences.

Now, you're probably asking yourself, "What the hell does reversioning mean?" First, stop swearing. Second, as far as we can tell, reversioning is when the rights to a show are bought by a foreign producer, who then develops the show for their own audiences. We've done it here plenty of times for shows like All in the Family, Three's Company and The Office (all British imports) and international producers have done it for American shows like Friends. In this instance, according to an article in Variety, Jim is being reversioned by Turkish producer Medyapim for local broadcaster ATV. Medyapim has already formatted another ABC sitcom, the recently canceled Hope & Faith, for its local market.

FOX isn't the only network that is jumping the gun in front of the May upfronts to make an announcement about the upcoming fall season. In what comes as no surprise (even though there were rumors that one of its members was on the cancellation bubble) NBC has renewed all three series in the Law & Order franchise: the original, SVU, and Criminal Intent.

All three series have been solid ratings draws this season on a network that is trying to find its way back to the top. SVU is having the best season out of the three with viewership of about 14 million per week. The original Law & Order is second with over 11 million and Criminal Intent, which went with a rotating cast this year and is up against powerhouses The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives, is pulling a bit under 11 million.

Next season will be the 17th for Dick Wolf's original Law & Order, which makes it the longest-running television drama currently running (far ahead of ER's 12 seasons). SVU will mark its eighth season and Criminal Intent will begin its sixth season in the fall. There is no word on whether the current rotating cast of Criminal Intent (Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe as detectives Goren and Eames one week and Chris Noth and Annabella Sciorra as detectives Logan and Barek the next) will continue into next season.

[via Zap2it]

 

 

Whoopi Goldberg will be returning to television for the first time since Whoopi was on NBC a couple years ago. She'll be guest starring in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent for May sweeps in a role that will most likely be recurring. Goldberg will play Chelsey Watkins, an evil foster mother who goes up against Detective Mike Logan, played by Chris Noth. Goldberg seems to be playing this up, insisting her role will be the baddest ever on Criminal Intent. I assume she means the character will be bad, not her acting. Though maybe she did mean her acting, and she's going for some kind of award for bad acting. You never really know, you know? This sounds promising, but Criminal Intent still remains my least favorite series of the Law and Order franchise.

NBC is adding a dozen shows to Comcasts's On Demand service, starting in May. That means you can buy the show for $.99 after it airs, in case you missed it. Unfortunately, it's not for everybody. In fact, it's not for many of us. The deal is only valid in markets (aka 'cities') where your local NBC affiliate is actually owned and operated by NBC. For instance, here in Portland, our NBC affiliate is owned and operated by BELO Corp., so no luck here. Eh. TiVo is better, anyway.

The shows hitting VOD are: