wknt3
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On 5/17/2024 at 12:17 PM, Spartan Girl said:
Hey now, her father wasn't so bad. In fact, I was rooting for him to take Maddy and leave his crazy narcissist wife (and Olivia) for parts unknown!
You don't want that. It's only going to result in Benson tracking them down by saying it's a parental abduction investigation, violating about 57 NYPD protocols, jurisdicational boundaries, and state and federal laws, with only Fin and Carisi being allowed to momentarily suggest it might not be the best idea before shrugging and going along with her, and then in the end finding them almost single handedly before saying just the right words to bring them all back together so they can all tell Liv how special she is while Carisi has to do all the actual work of keeping them out of jail. Haven't you watched this show in the last decade?
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On 5/17/2024 at 7:13 AM, baldryanr said:
Yeah, shouldn't the gun have sunk to the bottom of the river immediately? They know exactly where it went in. Or if they dredge the bottom are they going to pull up hundreds of other guns?
Well, the divers say there's a shallow shelf that drops off. Runs 20 feet out. Pretty deep after that. Maybe he didn't throw like a girl? Or maybe the new guys don't want to be stuck with a decades old cold case?
20 hours ago, blackwing said:I agree that Connie Shi should be promoted to series regular. I know it's always been the L&O formula to have senior detective, junior detective, lieutenant, executive ADA, junior ADA, DA as the six regular cast members. But why? Can't we have three detectives? Yee's role seems to be that of computer jockey who reviews surveillance footage, but I'd like to see her in the field.
19 hours ago, shapeshifter said:With the expanded importance of computer technology in crime solving (like AI), it makes sense for Yee to have a bigger role. But how can it be done in a way that is interesting to viewers?
I doubt it's going to happen. We should just be happy they have decided to folow the mothership casting talented actors in the "recurring third detective who delivers exposition and joins in on stakeouts" role following in the tradition of Profaci, LaMotte, and Cordova.-
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20 hours ago, tennisgurl said:
I cant tell if the show just hates the law side of the show or if they just need an army of strawmen for St. Olivia to fight against to show how awesome she is. This happens in a lot of message heavy shows that also never want their hero to ever be wrong, they so badly want their protagonists to look good and to get whatever their message is across, they make literally everyone else on the planet look like unreasonable assholes.
I would say it's mostly the latter combined with some of the first, and all mixed in with some general poor writing. In some ways this show is the mirror image of Blue Bloods - everyone outside of the main cast are incompetent or evil reactionaries and misogynists instead of incompetent or evil woke leftists. And the show has always had a complicated relationship with the district attorneys who prosecute the offenses which has only been dragged down by Warren Leight who hated writing courtroom scenes being in charge for so many years. Plus these writers don't seem capable of mastering the nuance required for antagonists to be good people carrying out flawed laws.
Of course this episode was written by Julie Martin whose sole job seems to be catering to Mariska's whims so it was likely all about playing the old hits to make Benson look better.-
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The Good:
Fin. It was nice to see him getting a lot of focus and Benson actually respecting him and his experience.Carisi. He was great as usual and also got of solid material including scenes with Fin and Bruno.
The COTW. Like last week it was nothing that hasn't been done before, repeatedly and better, but it was a solid story and a nice team effort and it was competently executed.
The Bad:
It seems like they're falling back into the bad habit of everyone in the DA's office other than Carisi being a political hack. And showing a complete lack of self-awareness from Benson and nobody around her able or willing to call her out - she's never been hesitant in the past giving orders to ADAs.
Speaking of the legal side, Warren Leight was terrible with shitting on the DA's office and not caring about the legal element of the show, but at least he could write some good dialogue and seemed to have watched some other Law & Order. PS did great selling the wooden dialogue, but I can't believe this was written by what is supposed to be the A team. For instance it would have flowed better and felt more realistic to have Carisi say something like "Satan is doing just fine Pro Se" in reponse to the line about playing devil's advocate. Much like the victim's sliding door this script could have used a good polish at some point.
Benson as action hero, saving the day while the highly trained SWAT team members just stand around following her lead. And again - we are just supposed to forget her record in previous hostage situations?The ending. Maybe it was the needed trade off to let us get such a team effort in the A plot, but it was a total waste of time. I mean usually at least the shipper pandering gives us a nice dose of Christopher Meloni, but he was literally and figuratively just phoning it in. At least hopefully this closes the books on Maddie and her family for good.
Overall this was a blandly competent ending to subpar season. In context it seems like that somebody at a high level realized they were going off the rails again and the season ended with a bit of course correction, but that has served mostly to show how tired this series is and how much it needs to end if they aren't willing to actually do something new and different.-
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22 hours ago, IvySpice said:
And this was also part of the idea of workhouses in Victorian Britain; they were intended to be so hellish that no one would ever go there unless they were literally lying in the gutter.
Or in other words - "Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
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18 hours ago, txhorns79 said:
I think at least the New York County DA refrains from prosecuting because they really are busy doing other things (they oversee hundreds of attorneys and a huge office), and their presence at the prosecutor table would immediately turn a case into a spectacle.
Correct. But there is nothing in NY law that would prevent a DA from prosecuting a case themselves. It is routing in smaller counties although less common in larger offices - usually reserved for cases that are extremely high profile and politically sensitive, where losing is likely to result in the DA losing an election (i.e. LEOs killed in the line of duty) and would probably take up all of their time and attention in any case.
8 hours ago, Raja said:Well Mr. Baxter came to an office where Price was the acting DA and prosecuting a case, so how hard can it be?
But they made it pretty clear that Price was overwhelmed and it seemed like he was doing a pretty bad job of running the office. And as always it was more about the budget than anything else - they weren't going to spend the money to bring in another attorney, And even this writing staff wasn't going to try to get us to believe that Maroun was lead attorney on a major case.
7 hours ago, paigow said:Baxter fired everyone EXCEPT Price & Maroun...
So you're arguing he can't be THAT concerned about image and politics?
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The Good:
It was good to see most of the squad involved and contributing to the case. The teamwork with Benson and Fin was particularly welcome and it was nice to see Fin back in the role of voice of reason, making it feel like the writers at least knew they were stretching the suspension of disbelief.The guest cast. Some nice performances that showed that they haven't forgotten how to direct restrained and naturalistic performances.
There was actually a glimmer of self-awareness that maybe Benson could be less than perfect and have problems other than caring too much.
The COTW. It felt like old school SVU in a lot of ways, even if it couldn't reach those heights by virtue of the story having been done so many times before and the same old fatal flaw of not being able to have the protagonist actually be fallible and flawed. But it was still a solid story and competently executed.
The Bad:
The opener. It felt like something rejected from one of the lesser seasons of Criminal Minds or that made it to a subpar CBS procedural a decade ago. The flashback added nothing and the bar scene simply recycled the same tired tropes they have done so often of St, Mariska preaching to her wayward flock. I think Rollins' return brought back some bad habits in the writers' room.
In the end of course Benson was right all along. I really miss the old days when Benson or Stabler could be the lead, and be heroic but flawed and actually wrong even when they won.
They never really came up with a reason for why a skilled FBI profiler never made the connections and came to the conclusions Benson did. There were some suggestions that maybe it was about reopening old wounds, but it was the one glaring plot hole for me.
The preview for the finale. Another big shootout? Is Benson once again going to magically save the day with an incredible shot or action heroics after completely f-ing up tactically and charging into a situation that would make Custer decide discretion was the better part of valor?
Overall this was a solid, even good episode. Let's hope the finale continues the recent upward trend.
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The Good:
Fin and Bruno. I wish they were the leads from the jump, but their scenes were the best part of this episode.
Carisi. He had some good bits, and was well written, especially for a Rollisi episode, and a "Carisi goes in the field" episode. They even actually had Carisi saying he couldn't prosecute the case because he was involved in the investigation!They remembered how to write Benson as the lead without making her Batman solving crime almost by herself with just a few sidekicks.
Rollins. They actually wrote her fairly well and she managed to avoid the usual psychodrama pitfalls as an investigator. Still don't buy her as a profiler, but they managed to make her believable as an investigator.
The COTW. Interesting motivation and MO. Nice flow and squad dynamics too.
The Bad:
It was cheesy 80's cop show ridiculous that Rollins could just work a case because she didn't have anything better to do.Did the history department at Fordham force Rollins out because she was tarnishing their image by presenting "Braveheart" as factual? It's kind of a minor thing really, but this show used to be pretty good about research - even if the story was monkey in a basketball OTT ridiculous the factoids and references were usually accurate.
They couldn't go a whole episode without at least some of "Benson the all knowing guru" bit. I mean they couldn't at least go with the theme of the episode and have her telling the victim the perp would never take her freedom?
Overall this was a solid episode. It could have gone off the rails easily, but they actually took a flawed premise and executed it well instead of botching a solid concept like most of the season so far. And I liked that the ending seemed to be seriously backing off the Rollins return tease. I mean even if KG took a significant paycut and went part-time it would still mean going backwards plus losing some of the more interesting new characters and having enough bodies for the weeks when co-leads are off to save money. Maybe this "new thing" will be some sort of role that gives her a reason to guest star without us needing to forget everything we know about her to believe she has the job?-
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How much you want to bet the perp is another powerful rich old white man?
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2 hours ago, slowpoked said:
I just read the article. She does confirm Kelli’s departure was out of her hands:
But Wolf still has the final call. Which means that Hargitay couldn’t stop him from writing Kelli Giddish off the show at the end of Season 24, after she’d portrayed Det. Rollins for 12 years. “Kelli is my favorite actor to work with,” Hargitay says. “Kelli is my heart. It’s a sore subject. I have a lot of say on the show, but I didn’t have enough there.”
Hargitay says she fought to keep Giddish and is trying to get her back next season. “I don’t like not being listened to, especially when I’m right,” she says. “That relationship was one of the most powerful relationships in television because you saw these two badass women, so flawed and so there for each other.”
2 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:Interesting, I had a feeling that Mariska didn’t want Kelli Giddish to leave, Mariska seemed to push for more Benson/Rollins scenes - I always figured it was a cost cutting move by Dick Wolf and network executives. It will be interesting to see if she comes back to SVU, I doubt she will given how cheap the show is, I mean they won’t even bump Bruno up to opening credits even though he’s in almost every episode.
I thought we pretty much always knew Mariska didn't really like it, but she wasn't willing to do what was needed to keep her - take a pay cut or do some sort of deal with NBCUniversal where she produced her own docuseries about abuse or her work with Joyful Heart so she made the same salary, but Dick Wolf didn't have to wait for the reruns to recoup his costs like every other producer in network television. And seeing as how Mariska has shown no inclination to put her money where her mouth is and there really is much they can do to earn more money from the network run short of some sort of truly horrendous product placement ("I think we found our suspect Captain. Her driver for the CarshareEats delivery we found outside her apartment was fired from Door Dash becuase their background check found he was on the registry. Another Carshare Eats perv? That's why I stick with HelloFresh. The foods a lot healthier and it's safer too!") or making streaming illegal on Thursdays, I don't see that changing. And it was actually the right move creatively - as bad as the show is today it would be worse if we had Rollins instead of Bruno etc. I mean I don't want to even think about what the Maddie arc would have been like...-
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4 hours ago, Dimity said:
Annie Potts says she was 'shocked' by Young Sheldon cancellation: 'Such a stupid business move'
I guess I am really surprised that some of the actors involved would have been surprised! I mean from the time YS went on the air we all knew, barring a major retcon, that George dies when Sheldon is 14. That always seemed like a natural end date for the show.
I think that some/many of the cast just figured they would find a way to keep the gravy train rolling even if it meant "freezing" time despite the young actors obviously aging. I mean as much as I agree that this is a good creative and business move (you leave the audience wanting more and have two winners plus a new spin off that has good odds of being profitable while preserving the value of two hits) I'm not sure I would agree if it meant I stopped getting big checks while working with a great cast and some all time greats as guest stars and recurring. It must be especially hard emotionally given all of the disruption with COVID and the strikes. I probably would prefer to keep having fun and making lots of money and then criticize the bosses after they keep it going too long myself.-
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On 4/26/2024 at 2:57 AM, Iguessnot said:
This episode was so tedious, I can't watch again, but was the guy's whole defense that he should be absolved from kidnapping and all other charges because the girl liked his baths and watching stars?
I had almost forgotten that there was a sex doll element to this story. Was that mentioned lately?
Given how bad the episode was, I'm going to assume there was no solid reason as to why the mom was sexting the perp and why the dad was rather blasé about the issue.
The mom was treating that lock of hair like a relic of a dead child or an appendage he cut off. So many strange acting choices.
On 4/26/2024 at 8:59 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:The sex doll element was dropped rather quickly. Which is a shame because that whole plotline is something the writers on this show would have explored back in the day. The doll was modeled after a picture of Maddie that was privately shared online. How the manufacturer got that picture of Maddie was never explored. Was it a friend or family member who sold it to them? Was it found on the web because privately shared online is actually meaningless? Did this rise up to the level of a crime that can be prosecuted? I know this is SVU and not the Mothership, but Jack McCoy would have found a way to prosecute the doll manufacturer. And back when this show still cared about the Order side of the title, one of ADAs would have agreed with Jack.
Yes that is the sort of angle that could make devoting the bulk of a season to a single case worthwhile. They could have done a Carisi-centric episode devoted to this facet of the case. In my perfect world where they actually had the cojones to let this case go unsolved, or at least wait until the end of the season they would have found the connection and it turns out to be a dead end, but they still prosecute the perv who found/shared the picture and the manufacturer. Just one of many wasted opportunities this season. There about a million ways they could have gone and all of them are more interesting. I mean do a simple two-parter or go all out and have the squad hit one dead end after another and go for an entire season before they solve it and/or Maddie turns up dead in the finale. Anything would be better than superhero Benson Taking!It!Personally! before ultimately saving the day as usual, but dragged out over several episodes.-
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On 4/25/2024 at 1:23 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:On 4/25/2024 at 4:34 PM, Toonces464 said:
Very disappointing. I have Peacock and will still watch, but this show belongs on network TV and more than 10 episode seasons.
Counterpoint: It could be a good thing if it means something more like this season with a fully planned out and coherent arc with some smaller COTW stories as well along the way. Also they are more likely to be able to get big names to guest as mob bosses at a price Dick Wolf will pay. Also it could lead to fewer unneeded SVU crossovers in the OC episodes. And perhaps this will lead to more of the franchise library at Peacock on a long term basis and perhaps resources going to the mothership or a revival of Hate Crimes.
Counter-counterpoint: It could mean that Meloni is contactually obligated to spend more time telling Benson how she is the greatest most special cop and person ever and pandering to the shippers on SVU during sweeps.-
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On 4/16/2024 at 2:53 PM, FozzyBear said:
I’m struggling to articulate something that’s been bugging me since the reboot started. Even though I know logically the episodes are the same length they always were, they seem so much shorter. It’s like nothing really happens but it takes up the whole episode. In old L&O there would have been an investigation, some comedy business with Lenny, an interrogation scene, new information to change the investigation, an arrest, a scene with Skoda, a legal debate in Adam’s office, a tense cross examination, Jack having a temper tantrum about something, more investigation, a surprise twist at the end of the case, and then a little stinger in the elevator to wrap everything up. Now it just seems like there’s no twist, no development, nothing actually happening. What are they doing to fill the time? Just me?
On 4/16/2024 at 3:13 PM, dubbel zout said:I think the running time of the reboot is a bit shorter than it was.
On 4/17/2024 at 6:03 AM, dttruman said:No, it's not you. It seem like there are maybe less scenes that are shot on locations with less extras. I didn't use a stop-watch or anything, but it seems like there is more time set aside for commercials, than what they had started with back in 1999.
I believe there are a few different things going on here. The first is that newer episodes are shorter. If you look at Peacock the early episodes of SVU are listed at 43/44 minutes while the last few seasons are 41/42 minutes. It doesn't seem like much, but it does have an impact. The second is that budget cuts mean that there are fewer characters and less fieldwork. What used to be done with interviews on location is now done showing surveillance camera footage in the squadroom. While this saves money - fewer speaking roles and location shoots, it also changes the feel of the episode and how much is happening, especially since combined with 2 minutes less story time we often have less of the initial stages of the investigation where the detectives are looking at multiple suspects and ruling them out. Finally there is something I have heard a few writers and showrunners talking about on various podcasts - network executive interference and the vogue for "second screen" storytelling. This is an assumption that viewers are also looking at their laptops, tablets, or smartphones while watching so shows need to repeat important story points and avoid important plot points being shown instead of told. So that means even if we had the 2 minutes back they wouldn't be as dense - because it is more expensive and because the suits feel like that kind of storytelling doesn't suit today's viewer. After all it's not like there is any evidence that the old style works perfectly well with modern viewers who are watching as background while doing other things as well as more attentive viewers. I mean to prove that you would need decades of leading viewership numbers on all sorts of networks and platforms and how could you ever get that?-
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22 minutes ago, wknt3 said:
I don't think they are really worried about being too depressing. It's not like they've shied away from dark moments. Just all about the practical issues of being able to fit the technical elements. It is actually much harder and more expensive to shoot on a stage set up like an actual NYC "affordable" apartment.11 minutes ago, Raja said:Go to the museum for the I Love Lucy set.
I am not saying it can't be done. Just that it is harder. Especially on a set that is not used every week and where it is not a priority like with Lucy or "The Honeymooners" or Louis CK's show. For something like we are talking about where it is not a priority having room for crew and equipment to allow for various blocking the director might want makes it more practical and cost effective to be unrealistic.-
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On 4/13/2024 at 10:46 AM, cfinboston said:
It's necessary suspension of disbelief that everyone in a NYC based prime time TV show is living in an apartment that would cost at least $15,000/month.
22 hours ago, tessabq said:It would be too depressing if the characters lived in apartments they could realistically afford.
I don't think they are really worried about being too depressing. It's not like they've shied away from dark moments. Just all about the practical issues of being able to fit the technical elements. It is actually much harder and more expensive to shoot on a stage set up like an actual NYC "affordable" apartment.-
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22 hours ago, dttruman said:
Another reason to ask, is Benson a detective, an advocate, or a crisis counselor?
Yes she is all of that and more. Investigator, advocate, counselor, legal theorist, scientist, psychologist, sharpshooter, teacher, ethicist, psychic, wine connoisseur, mother of the year, and more.
She is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. She is 32 flavors and then some. She's a sinner, she's a saint, she does not feel ashamed. She's your Hell, she's your dream, she's nothing in between. You know you wouldn't want it any other way..
7 hours ago, farmgal4 said:I think they should just go ahead and change the name of the show to “Law & Order: Benson” or just “Benson.”
6 hours ago, wknt3 said:
6 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:Yes, but titles normally do not fall under copyright laws.
It wasn't about copyright it was about the OG Benson's look of disapproval. Because Google Image Search came up empty for "Robert Guillame flipping the bird"...-
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55 minutes ago, farmgal4 said:
I think they should just go ahead and change the name of the show to “Law & Order: Benson” or just “Benson.”
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The Good:
Carisi. He had some good moments this week and was about the only one who wasn't completely sucked into the Benson vortex.It wasn't a two-parter.
The promo for next week at least has some potential.The Bad:
Benson, Benson, Benson. Another episode where she is the expert in everything and everyone else is just there to handle the details. And she alone has the power to find both justice and understanding. And she has the gall to talk about the perp having a messiah complex?
The heavy handed editing and musical cues. It's not like the writing didn't already make everything else abundantly clear so we don't need to be beaten over the head. All it did was undercut the great job the actors did making the material almost tolerable.Yet another Maddie episode that adds nothing new unless you consider elevating the rehashed material to a new level of unbelievablity new.
After episodes with characters absent who would have added something to the story we have everyone here this week, with most of them not getting anything significant to do. We could have easily given Curry, Velasco, Bruno and/or Fin the week off since they contributed nothing of significance either plotwise or thematically.
in an episode of overused, overdone cliches we have another hostage situation where Benson saves the day by completely disregarding procedure. And they make it worse by not actually taking a chance to go for either surprise or nuance - they could have either had mom kill the creep with Benson complicit, or actually ended the scene with Benson arresting the mom instead of merely mentioning it in dialogue and brought to the forefront that she was in the wrong.
The ending. Benson whispers and makes it all better and the victim cries tears of gratitude while Mariska shows that she cannot do nonverbal acting well at all any more.
Overall this was a steaming turd of an episode. Bad pretty much from start to finish. A bad idea executed poorly. And while I like being right, the writers really didn't need to prove that last week's episode was merely mediocre and that they were capable of producing a special and unique kind of bad and that the Benson worship dial went to 11.-
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On 4/15/2024 at 2:17 PM, DoctorAtomic said:
. Was the Wyoming vegetable Gene from Bob's Burgers?
On 4/15/2024 at 6:46 PM, vibeology said:Yes. He was there along with Mark McKinney as the peach, Fred Armisen as the Sweet Potato and Tomatillo, Nick Kroll as the Cantaloupe and Coconut and Cecily Strong as the Ginger and Orange. I loved picking out the voices.
And Amber Ruffin as the shopper! Talk about an all-star comedy sketch...-
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9 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:
The Benson worship has been extreme in many episodes since MH became an executive producer, but this season it seems to have gone to all time high, matched only possibly by season 18, which we all know was a mess. Almost every episode now has Benson worship and portrays Benson as some majestic beacon of light and hope, it’s been this way in almost every episode this season. But this was just more nauseating than most both because of Benson coercing confessions and going rogue and because of the Noah scenes, which were worse than usual Noah scenes and that’s saying something, plus the plot didn’t make much sense and took a backdoor to Benson crap, usually there’s at least a case that’s somewhat interesting being dealt with, this was just stupid, cringeworthy Benson worship from start to finish. This one definitely goes in the SVU Hall of Shame IMO, and I don’t agree that most season 18 episodes were worse - season 18 was pretty dismal for the most part but I only recall a few episodes over the years being as cringeworthy and as hard to sit through as this one.
I am not going to go back and rewatch Season 18 to find specific examples as I don't hate myself that much, but I think even astute viewers such as yourself forget how terrible it was as only a few episodes such as "Imposter" were memorably bad. Something like 17 were the same plot and Benson was doing almost all of the investigative work, plus the scripts were even worse than this as far as plot mechanics were concerned - it wasn't even that they took short cuts to get from A to B while focusing on Benson, things just happened and you couldn't even figure out what might have been cut as too expensive or not focused on St. Liv. This week feels like pages were not shot or lost in the edit - repeatedly in my Season 18 posts I mention that it felt like the script was a rough draft where there wasn't even a blank to fill in and figure out what was missing.
I guess my argument is that the Season 18 episodes were worse, both because of how repetitive they were (I see I went relatively easy on "Imposter" as after the last few episodes of Season 17 and the first couple episodes I was relieved to see an episode that was unquely bad ) and because they were probably even more Benson-centric with her lecturing the squad and the brass, doing more of the legwork herself, and not having anyone challenge her at all - the scene where Carsisi points out that she went too far for example would not have happened or she would told off Barba and they would have presented him as wrong. Perhaps in time I may agree that this is a standout bad episode, but right now it just seems like a mere D/D- episode that is more proof that they have lost control of Mariska again and that there are many equally bad or worse pieces of crap SVU has put out in the past 7 or 8 years.-
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On 4/11/2024 at 11:12 PM, Xeliou66 said:
One of the worst SVU episodes ever. Period. Just an hour of St Olivia worship with Benson being more unbearable than ever complete with Mariska’s horrible overacting. The plot was just a sidebar to the Benson worship - just pure cringeworthy awfulness from start to finish. Benson saving the day, Benson taking it personally, Benson in another hostage situation, Benson threatening a suspect and coercing a confession and it gets glossed over and we’re still supposed to think Benson is some kind of hero instead of a loon who is unfit for duty, and worst of all the Benson/Noah discussions to give Benson more drama and allowing her to play super mommy. The worship and complete focus on St Olivia has reached its all time high this season and is dragging down the show terribly. And as if this week wasn’t bad enough, next week we are in for round 2 of Benson taking it personally.
I feel like this is slightly overstated. The Benson worship was just as bad and probably worse in Season 18 and there have been previous episodes that have been equally and more Mariska publicly gratifying herself in a much more horrific way than any of Munch's various subway weenie waggers that kept him in court for just about every episode Cragen was in for 3 seasons. "Something Happened" comes to mind as does the whole Mariska as a literal angel scene. And I would say most of Season 18's episodes were worse and there has been enough utter crap in the last decade that this probably doesn't crack the bottom 10.
QuoteJust pure awfulness from start to finish, and it looks like we are in for more of it next week. Just a horrible, cringeworthy episode that was 100% a Benson circle jerk.
And this is probably slightly understated so I guess it all balances out.
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On 4/12/2024 at 6:37 PM, marc20 said:
One note....this revival has little to no sense of humor, a pretty major component and plus of the original
although points last night for the writer who had within minutes the detectives saying "put down the burrito" and then "put down the "weapon" (I forgot what he had)
A sense of humor is a big part of real world police work too. I think there is still some snark and one liners, but unfortunately this another problem that I suspect is caused by NBC/Dick Wolf mandates and not anything that could be fixed bringing in new writers or a new showrunner. TPTB want the new shows to be more like present day SVU than the original run and there is very little humor there these days since the lead does not have the chops to pull it off. Also they like to show us the crime in the opening scene instead of discovering the body during stereotypical NYC moments that were often little comedic gems. The other big opportunity for comedy was during witness interviews and those have been dramatically pared back because it saves money on hiring actors for those small speaking roles - which I strongly suspect is a big reason for almost entirely eliminating the cold openings where passers by find the dead body too. Where it is a matter of weak writing is on the legal side although part of that is also structural with less time for anything not essential to advancing the plot and a seeming reluctance to have the same number of recurring experts and distinctive arraignment judges which is where a lot of the courtroom humor came from.-
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6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:
Yes. Pretty much the same writing for Maroun as for Serena Southerlyn, especially in this episode.
But if this is Maroun's swan song, her penultimate line cannot be:Can it?
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* Serena Southerlyn departed L&O mid-season in "Ain't No Love" (S15.E13, aired January 12, 2005).
Isn't it obvious which way they would go?
Spoiler"Is this because I'm Lebanese?"
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Season 23: The One With All The Chase Scenes
in Law & Order
From your lips to NBCUniversal's ears regarding the chases every episode! And yes we do need some more regularly recurring characters in the auxiliary investigative support roles.
I can see where you are coming from. As I said before it's probably not going to happen. She is a good actor and someone is needed in the role since I don't see them moving away from using video footage to save money on speaking roles for witnesses and more location shoots. It also does reflect reality in some ways - my work is law enforcement adjacent at times (more often than I would like) and I find that investigators do actually seem to be prioritizing video - it's easier and generally more reliable than dealing with people. But the same reason they use her so much is the same reason they won't bump her up - it saves money to have her under contract, but not main cast. If they are going to promote her - reveal she has been going to law school at night and have her replace Maroun...