Tag: Procedural Junkie (1-10 of 13)

Oct 13 2011 02:00 AM ET

'Law & Order: SVU': T. R. Knight's creepy return to television

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Image Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

The last time we saw him on our TV sets, T. R. Knight was playing Grey’s Anatomy‘s beloved Dr. George O’Malley before he met an untimely end in 2009. In his first television role since (he’s been continuing a successful stage career), Knight plays somewhat against type: George O’Malley was the bumbling, baby-faced surgeon with a nervous smile and horrible luck with women; his latest character, Gabriel Thomas from last night’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is an alleged (SPOILER ALERT!) “power-reassurance serial rapist” with a neck tattoo — sure, the tat is of a yin-yang symbol — but still, a neck tattoo pretty much never screams “nice guy.” Gabriel sure looks like George, but that’s where the similarities end. Like George, Gabriel’s into blonds, but only of the submissive variety — that would certainly exclude Izzie Stevens. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 22 2011 01:30 PM ET

'Law & Order: SVU' season premiere: What did you think of the new detective?

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Image Credit: Will Hart/NBC

Phase One of the great post-Chris Meloni SVU experiment began last night with the premiere of Law & Order: SVU‘s 13th season. Kelli Giddish — last season modeling a short-lived leather jacket on last season’s gone-and-forgotten Chase — strolled into the SVU offices as Amanda Rollins, a detective from Atlanta. Her debut was remarkably choreographed: She made sure to pay fealty to reigning Cop Queen Olivia Benson, noting, “I’ve studied a lot of your cases.” (Which, metaphorically speaking, can be translated as “I’ve got a major in ‘caring too much about a case’ with a minor in ‘awesome pre-commercial one-liners.’”) L&O vets Stephanie March and Linus Roache swung by to make the torch-passing feel vaguely ceremonial. READ FULL STORY »

May 25 2011 12:45 PM ET

Should 'Law & Order: SVU' just end already?

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Image Credit: Will Hart/NBC

The twelfth season of Law & Order: SVU ended just a week ago, but the invincibly popular series has turned completely upside-down in that time. In the wake of reports that Mariska Hargitay would be limiting her time on the show next season, EW confirmed last night that Christopher Meloni will not be returning to SVU in the fall. Of course, the Law & Order franchise has weathered cast changes before; witness the parade of wry detectives on the original series, or the curiously protean Criminal Intent (which was really three series in one: a gonzo procedural starring Vincent D’ Onofrio, a bland procedural starring Chris Noth, and a desperately underrated curio starring Jeff Goldblum.)

It’s a fair bet that Dick Wolf is already auditioning beloved New York character actors to replace Meloni, and the head of NBC has talked openly about seeking someone (Jennifer Love Hewitt?) to take over for Hargitay. But would you want to watch an SVU without its original stars? READ FULL STORY »

May 16 2011 06:55 PM ET

Would you watch 'Law & Order: SVU' without Mariska Hargitay? (What if Jennifer Love Hewitt replaced her?)

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Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.com; Will Hart/ NBC

With Law & Order: Los Angeles officially rebooted into oblivion and Law & Order: Criminal Intent halfway through its final season, we are fast approaching a cultural moment that once seemed unthinkable: a TV landscape with only one Law & Order series still in production. But Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has always been the impervious panzer tank of the franchise; while its brethren vacillated through various cast changes, the SVU team has essentially held steady since the show debuted in 1999. (There were more cast shake-ups in one miserable season of LOLA than in over a decade of SVU.)

Not even the SVU juggernaut is immune to the ravages of time, though, and it looks like series star Mariska Hargitay will be stepping back from the series in its upcoming 13th season. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 11 2011 03:00 PM ET

Lunchtime Poll: Which sultry steely-eyed 'Law & Order' ADA is the best? Angie Harmon? Jill Hennessy?

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Image Credit: Virginia Sherwood/AP Images; NBCU Photo Bank/AP Images; Chris Haston/AP Images; NBCU Photo Bank/AP Images

The original, subtitle-free Law & Order was, in many ways, a grittily realistic cop show. The cops were cynical and world-weary. The crimes were stark and brutal. Men were cruel, women were suspicious, and Sam Waterson was Sam Waterston. But the show had one weird, kinky flourish: The mandatory quota which required a wry, sultry, steely-eyed actress clad in monochromatic skirt suit to play the role of Attractive Assistant District Attorney. The most famous Law & Order ADAs (LOADAs?) were Angie Harmon’s Abbie Carmichael and Jill Hennessy’s Claire Kincaid, and your preference for one or the other is a personality-defining decision, on par with Beatles/Elvis, Superman/Batman, and Shakespeare/Marlowe. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2011 02:07 AM ET

'Southland' season finale: 'I'm a cop.'

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Southland-finaleImage Credit: Doug Hyun/TNTLook below the surface, and Southland is one of the quietest shows on television. On last night’s season finale, there was a car crash, a rooftop chase, some bloody gunplay, and a brutally extended fight sequence. One man was shot to death, and another fell off a building. A child was born. At one point, a skimpily-dressed hooker climbed up onto the hood of a cop car and loudly demanded $10 while beating her fists against the windshield wipers. It could play as bombastic, but Southland never feels over-the-top. Even though the finale delivered big emotional payoffs for most of the main characters — and even though the show’s future is still currently up in the air — the show ended its third season on a thoughtful note. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 7 2011 02:00 AM ET

'Breakout Kings' Premiere: Cops and criminals unite! Also, clichés galore.

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breakout-kingsImage Credit: Mitch Jenkins/A&E Breakout Kings, which premiered last night on A&E, is unfortunately not a Breaking Bad spin-off. It’s a cop show. No, wait, I’m wrong. It’s a cop show about cops who aren’t cops (seriously, ask them) because they’re convicts! But still cops. So, yes, it’s a cop show, but it’s (trying to be) a little different. If Guy Ritchie were stuck in solitary confinement for a month and forced to watch nothing but NYPD Blue and Ocean’s Eleven, this is the television show that he would produce on the 31st day. (Irish fighting sequence? Check. Fast talking criminals? Check. Quick camera moves with freeze and titles to introduce characters? Double check.) It’s a bit formulaic, but what can you expect from such a well-trodden genre? It feels like cop shows have been around since Zworkin patented the kinescope. In a world currently showing three CSIs and three Law & Orders, do we need another detective show? And more importantly, will this fill the Jeremy Sisto-sized hole in our hearts?

READ FULL STORY »

Oct 29 2010 12:25 PM ET

Katee Sackhoff on 'CSI': Starbuck steals the show

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Katee-SackhoffImage Credit: Monty Brinton/CBSKatee Sackhoff debuted on last night’s CSI in the potentially-recurring role of Detective Frankie Reed. Her hair was dyed a dark shade of red  — leading to a brief moment of Ginger Dominion when she shared a scene with Marg Helgenberger — and she was in full-on take-no-prisoners mode. Describing a victim, Reed said, “His card says investment strategist. Hole in his head says Exit Strategy.” Hey, coming from Sackhoff, it sounded funny. Can she become a CSI full-timer, like, now?

Sackhoff didn’t have a whole lot to do last night, but she played well off the twisty plot. Nick recognized the dead man — he was the father of a missing girl the CSI team had searched for (without success) years earlier. Two girls had gone missing that day … and the dead man had started an extra-marital affair with the other girl’s mother. The best moment of the episode came when the CSI team broke into the mother’s house: Reed deadpanned, “I’ve been working on my sensitivity,” right before she kicked the door in.

Sackhoff’s had a tough year. Her character Dana was pretty much universally despised on 24, and then she ditched a recurring role on True Blood for a procedural show that never made it past the pilot stage. Personally, I think it’s in CSI‘s interest to nail her down for a regular role. I’m predisposed to enjoy CSI: Original Blend, but last night’s B-plot — an extended commercial for Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular in which a girl was driven into a homicidal sexual rage by a T-Rex robot — seems to indicate that the show could use some new blood.

What did you think about Sackhoff on CSI, PopWatchers? Is red hair the new fake-brunette?

Oct 25 2010 10:55 AM ET

TV Fashion: How are your favorite crimesolvers overdressing today?

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People on TV dress well. They dress outside of their purported salary range. They dress outside of anyone’s salary range. Nowhere is this reality/fantasy divide more clear than in the Procedural Land. Medical examiners wear high heels at a crime scene. Henleys are the shirt of choice for the well-manicured crimefighter on the go. Yeesh, the characters  on NCIS: L.A. basically look like employees at a Silicon Valley start-up company, solving crime as a team-building exercise. As viewers, we accept that TV people dress several fashion levels above their actual profession. If every character dressed normally, it would be depressing. It would be like the BBC without an accent. Not that! Anything but that! See below for a helpful visual analysis of what articles of clothing your favorite gumshoes and attorneys are wearing RIGHT NOW…

CRIMINAL-INVESTIGATOR-FASHIONImage Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS; Neil Jacobs/CBS; Randy Tepper/Showtime; Bob D'Amico/ABC; Michael Muller/USA; Vivian Zink/NBC; Jeffrey Neira/CBS; Monty Brinton/CBS READ FULL STORY »

Oct 19 2010 10:46 AM ET

'Hawaii Five-0' Bingo: Week 1

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alex-oloughlin-hawaiiImage Credit: Neil Jacobs/CBSSteve McGarrett started off last night’s episode of Hawaii Five-0 sleeping next to the most perfect woman ever. She’s a Navy lieutenant who catches bad guys, is a great cook, likes her steak bloody, doesn’t seem to mind if you disappear for 36 hours at a time, and is played by Michelle Borth, last seen in flagrante on Tell Me You Love Me. Steve and his dream girl were all set to skip breakfast. They rubbed noses. They kissed. “I think I’m vibrating,” says Ms. Perfect. CBS, I know it’s 10 p.m., but behave yourself! Oh, wait, no, hahaha, it was just the iPhone. The Caller ID proclaimed: “Governor Jameson.” Thanks, Uncle iPhone!

Shenanigans ensued. The first bad guys of the evening were girl-enslaving gangsters, but then the real bad guys were Filipino terrorists. Meanwhile, the Steve/Danno flirtation reached a new high level of low geekery: Steve asked Danno if he ever made it to the Double-Pretzel level of Ms. Pac-Man. Danno: “Triple-Banana, bitch.” God, these guys are awesome. In the end, the evil Coach Tanaka was captured, the diplomat’s daughter was saved, and Steve treated his ladyfriend to a roast dinner on the beach. Except, uh-oh, they got too distracted by each other’s ridonk hotness to finish dinner! So, to recap the narrative arc of the latest episode of Hawaii Five-0:

1. Steve McGarrett had hot glamorous sex with the perfect woman.

2. Steve McGarrett solved a mystery and defeated terrorism in the Philippines forever.

3. Steve McGarrett had hot glamorous sex with the perfect woman on a beach.

Click forward for this week’s Bingo Board!

READ FULL STORY »

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