John's Blog

Two things I just can't get enough of: Law & Order, and hot women in bikinis. This clip of L&O: Special Beach Unit gives us both!

And since we're on the subject, I just saw a tidbit on Law & Order that mentions that Rene Balcer will return to the mothership from L&O:CI for next seasons' shows. Hopefully this portends good things creatively, although sadly there will be no J.T. Dolan penned episodes to look forward to. This year wasn't their best effort, and there are plenty of folks who say the shark is circling. But still, a bad L&O is certainly better than much of the other "crap" that's out there.

Speaking of crap, the other day I was watching TV with my mom, and she ask "Do you mind if we watch 'Crossing Jordan'?" I did, but in the interest of being nice, we watched anyway. Although I love Jill Hennessey, I've never felt the love for this show. The season/series finale featured a plot where the cast was in a plane crash and stranded on the side of a mountain. I was rooting for them NOT to get rescued, since that would have made a better conclusion to my way of thinking, but they went for the safe and saccharine "everybody lives" ending. Bummer.

This week's final L&O episode had many of the elements that remind me why this season's shows have been frustrating. Although I thought the addition of Milena Govich was a good choice, she hasn't lived up to my expectations. It still seems like the writers don't know what do do with her, and she doesn't bring much to the party. In the past, they've always had a good mix of a "strong" partner with a less seasoned one, and as much as I like the quiet strength of Jesse Martin, he doesn't ad the right chemistry to this formula.

The whole "ripped from the headlines" thing is getting kinda' old and worn out. Taking really high profile stories and re-tooling them doesn't seem like the fun it once was, when they did it with local or more obscure incidents. Did we really need two story lines inspired by Anna Nicole?

And the use of big name guest stars like this week including Harry Hamlin, Jeremy Sisto, and Jeffrey Tambor is also a distraction. It's like watching The Love Boat in a courthouse, although they could redeem themselves on this if they were to cast Gavin McCloud in the role soon to be vacated by Fred Thompson.

But the final blow for me came in the closing moments of the show, as the ADA was making the closing argument. After waving the knife used to commit the murder she stabs it repeatedly into a book on the desk to make a dramatic point. In the final shot, they bring the knife into focus briefly, and we get to see the "Analon" logo clearly. What, we have to include product placement in L&O now too? It's bad enough that Syler has to melt GE toasters on Heroes, and that The Office has blatant placement for Staples & Chilli's (even though Scranton, IRL, doesn't have a Chilli's franchise). In the past Dick York has said that "If somebody wanted to integrate a product into (our) story, I would find that risible", but with his back to the wall and eager to see his show reach the 20 year mark, he may have been more vulnerable to the corporate pinheads.

Let's hope they get this series back on track, and that it is successful in it's attempt to unseat Gunsmoke as the longest running TV show. And in the process keeps this "L&O Acting School" in business as well....

Tags: TV, L&O, videos, humor, pointless rambling