TVSquad

(S01E04) "Just resign already, will ya?" - Sam, after seeing Nixon on TV

Well, it's probably not the main reason, but it looks like Sam finally figured out one the reasons he's in 1973 - keeping an eye on his mother. Last week, after Windy mentioned to Sam that maybe 2008 is the dream and 1973 is reality, it got me wondering if any of Sam's family would be around. Of course, that was quickly confirmed when Sam saw his father (Cobra!) and his young self heading off to a Knicks game at the end of the episode. Now, I'm no expert on the whole space-time continuum thingy... but isn't the world supposed to blow up or something when you see your past self?

(S08E20) Usually I would say that if Elliot Stabler gets naked, it's gonna be a great episode. I wouldn't call it "great", but it was "good". It's surprising, really, because the topic was incredibly emotional. A man killed his wife and children because his lies were getting out of hand. It's a believable premise because we've seen it played out too many times in the news media (even though L&O didn't promote this one as "ripped from the headlines").

The episode was Elliot-centric, which usually means his family is somehow involved. It was. He saw a man who was bored with his life in Staten Island, so he started making up a new life for himself complete with a fiance who thought he was a CIA agent. Of course, it imploded and, as Dr. Wong said, family killers are so narcissistic that they can't live with the shame of being caught in their lies.

Law and Order creator Dick Wolf and NBC Universal have snatched up the rights to the book The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia. The book tells the true story of two New York City copes, Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, who secretly worked as murderers for the mafia. The book was written by William Oldham and Guy Lawson. Oldham worked for the NYPD alongside Caracappa, but didn't find out about his partners secret life until later. He launched an investigation, despite very little help from the NYPD, and both Caracappa and Eppolito were eventually arrested.

The book will be developed into a television project produced by Wolf and Tom Thayer, though whether it will be another Law and Order series or something else entirely isn't known just yet, according to Variety. Meanwhile, several movie deals are also being worked out to bring the story to the bigscreen.

Brett Ratner, AKA The Man Who Killed The X-Men, is bringing his poisonous talent to FOX. Whoa- sorry. Guess I'm still a little angry about The X-Men III: The Last Stand. Ratner and writing partner Neil Tolkin are producing a series based on the popular book, Blue Blood. The book is written by a Harvard graduate who decided to go into the family business of law enforcement (the author also writes for The New Yorker). Reviews of the book were positive, saying that the author, Edward Conlon, shows a side to the police force that is never accurately portrayed on television or in movies. The book chronicles Conlon's days as a rookie and goes up through 9/11.

Connie Nielsen will guest star on the last six episodes of Law and Order: SVU this season, while Mariska Hargitay goes on maternity leave. The actress is having a boy and her maternity leave begins next month even though she's not due until mid-June.

Nielsen will play an NYPD detective who fills in when Det. Olivia Benson goes on "special assignment". That storyline is pretty typical of SVU, which seems to have shied away from personal storylines for any of its cast members lately. Most of Nielsen's acting credits are in movies. She was in Gladiator, The Ice Harvest, and One Hour Photo. Looking at her IMDB resume, it looks as though SVU will be her first crack at episodic television.