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Stephen Colbert cancels ‘Late Show’ episodes after suffering ruptured appendix Somebody should tell Stephen that just because they won the strikes doesn't mean he HAS to use all the health insurance money this year...

Why I have heard was that NBC execs wanted somebody younger and "hotter" than the producers intended and that Govich was a bit of a compromise - a known quantity by Dick Wolf whom the network suits found acceptable. But there was still bad blood with the production team in not being given a free hand in casting decisions, as they felt (with some justification) they had demonstrated a better track record than the network in that department. Many? Other than Claire it was always pretty clear that Jamie and Abby would not put up with that sort of thing. As you mentioned Serena was a lesbian and I cannot see Jack McCoy being interested in anyone as bland as Borgia. Heck I think even Logan would probably take a pass...

Respectfully disagree. For all of his many faults, Dick Wolf has never been about the eye candy and has always been willing to cast outside of the network box - as long as the talent doesn't get too uppity or too greedy. I am under the impression that this was casting imposed on the show by the network, and had nothing to do with the actress (who has done a lot of work for DWP since) or with it being a woman. It also didn't help that the writing had been going down hill for awhile and hit a nadir that season.

Perhaps. I could see the conversation between NBC and Dick Wolf - NBC Exec: We need to go younger with the cop side. Dick Wolf: And cheaper. NBC: Maybe someone a little more attractive. Dick Wolf: And cheaper. NBC: We need to connect with a younger demographic. Dick Wolf: And cut costs. Jr. VP of Programming: But isn't the creative problem the legal side? And the writing not really thoroughly exploring the issues and social and political debates like the original run? Dick Wolf: WTF kid? They are cheap and never question the scripts. What else matters? NBC: And they are young and attractive. Moving on, we need to come up with some sort of plan for Organized Crime so Meloni keeps showing up on SVU...

I've met 4 JD/MD's in my life. 3 of them started out as MDs and later went back to law school (2 were forensic psychiatrists and 1 was working in hospital admin and basically got so fed up dealing with insurance and malpractice lawyers she decided to get the piece of paper she needed to tell them to piss off. I only know one person who did it as a combined program to try to achieve some lofty goal and they are one of the most insufferable, bat crap crazy people I have ever met in my life. To be fair the combination of the pressure to succeed, the stress of the pace of the program and the fact they are in their 30s with a great job, but $425,000 in student loan debt would probably push anyone over the edge...

All of this is correct. Plus one of the things John could have mentioned, but chose not to in keeping the segment length down to less than the complete running time of Doctor Who is that one of the areas where these chains cut corners is not utilizing armored car services as other operations that deal in similar amounts of currency do, but forcing store management to carry large amounts of cash to the bank. So they are often carrying large amounts of money, especially if they are picking up change as well. A fair number of the robberies you hear about are for larger amounts than the typical register stick up - often tipped off by some of those abused workers who are watching 1/3-1/2 of their annual earnings being carried around with minimal security. There is also the fact that without enough staff to carry out the basic functions of operating a retail store there is more money for even those register stick ups than at other locations that abuse their staff, but at least care about the bare pretense of respectability such as fast food or convenience stores since once of the things that gets skipped along with taking out trash and bathroom breaks is putting extra cash into the safe.

Most likely because it will be produced continuously (without a long hiatus) and if they were to call it two shortened seasons there are cast or crew who would need new contracts. There are only two reasons television networks do anything - money or ego. And since it would sound more impressive to have another season it must be about the money.

I suspect we'll get an appearance or two from Rollins along with two or three of Stabler - part of the plan to keep the Benson stans happy at any cost. I highly doubt Muncy gets replaced - the plan seems to be that instead of another regular we will fill the slot with recurring characters. I mean do you expect Dick Wolf to not buy a larger yacht? Or Mariska to take less up front salary? At least it is better than trying to go a whole season with 3 1/2 characters...

Yeah unless there is a big casting surprise coming I am thinking that this is spin. Some combination of trying to hide the stupid reasons for the decision and trying to make sure that it is known this isn't about any sort of misconduct. I think the writing is the problem more than the acting. Although sometimes replacing characters can be part of rethinking the writing and coming up with a new dynamic. I really doubt the problems are Eid's fault except that he's willing to put his name on a product he damn well knows is not up to the standards of what he wrote for the original run. There is less time per episode, lower budgets, and I get a strong vibe that there are some network execs trying to "modernize" the show in ways that are not helpful. Plus in the modern television landscape I suspect that many of the mid and low level writers who would have previously been working on the legal side are being exploited by the prestige shows on streaming in the hope of getting a deal for their own series instead of making more money putting up with Dick Wolf's bullcrap in the hope of becoming a showrunner for a highly rated, but unhip procedural and then getting a deal for their own series.

Only fair. After all I've used this anonymous account to roast HBO bosses ever since the merger...

Hey! That is an insult to the hardworking Dick Wolf Productions and network executives and their thoughtful and well reasoned approach to scheduling and licensing deals...

SNL has loved the stunt casting for a long time and that's not going to change. Give Lorne a time machine so we have Belushi, Farley, Hartman, etc. with writing by Smigel, Franken and Davis, Tina Fey, et al. hosted by Robin Williams, peak Alec Baldwin, and everyone who they never manged to have on and should have, and they would still go for the surprise appearance by big names. Are they more eager to do so with the SAG strike meaning their top picks for hosts can't actively promote their projects so they are going with friends of the show and less "traditional" choices. Probably. Would having Margot Robbie hosting the premiere make them less eager to have Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce show up? Not a chance.

@possibilities right now...

And actually it the geography gets even weirder as I was just thinking about something I thought I remembered and looked it up (unfortunately I do not have @Xeliou66's encylopedic recall of episodes and their content) From "Publish and Perish" via https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=1392&t=54406 So apparently at that point they were thinking of the squad as Manhattan South Homicide even though more of the cases and the precinct house itself were in Manhattan North Patrol Borough!

Not necessarily. My personal theory is that Munch has the ability to travel between different universes. It explains how he appears in series that seem to be completely incompatible and also why he is both a little bit "off" and surprisingly sensitive at times. If you were aware last Tuesday you were felt and talking to a giant alphabet letter you would probably be the same way, wouldn't you?

That's a good comparison - except that at least at one point Kanye actually had some great material. This was a low energy performance of C - work at best. And I FFed too as soon as I knew it was coming up - I completely missed Taylor Swift at first and was really confused when Pete was thanking her. I thought it was some sort of joke before I saw she was actually there.

I know I'm a broken record here, but since TNT stopped airing the series I honestly don't believe anyone airing the series has given much thought to the content. Even networks that theoretically should care like Sundance. The syndicated cuts with censoring designed so that the episode can air at 6pm in Omaha without drawing too many complaints leave more time to air Medicare commercials and happened to be easily available when digital subchannels started proliferating so that is what is aired. I believe that the 15th became the favorite "dirty" precinct partly as a wink towards the competition at NYPD Blue. Don't have any citation, but I do remember that when Lt. Fancy got pulled over by a racist cop they wer from the 2-7... It's complicated as the real-life NYPD keeps adjusting their approach and shifting responsibilities between precinct detective squads and specialized units based on the Patrol Boroughs and who takes the lead on which cases when. In the beginning it seemed to be more of a precinct squad that even dealt with some serious non-homicide crimes. It migrated to more of Manhattan North Homicide before eventually seeming to range over just about all of Manhattan from Harlem to Wall Street.

Possibly also beneficial to anyone who sees the caller ID pop up during a meeting. I'm sure if he ducks out to take a call he'd rather have some network VP see the code name and assume he is talking to Steve Carell and not Mo Rocca....

I have not seen the episodes or anything else on Charge. But given what is described here including sloppy cuts to commercial, it is probably a matter of greed/sloppiness rather than any moral qualms. The people who make the decisions about buying and selling the "content" don't actually care about anything other than the money, and if they save a few bucks by not having to pay anyone to keep track of what edits are actually being sent so much the better. So there is no actual logic to what is censored etc. - they made the cuts at some point for somebody who cared - and it was what was in the file when they sent if off. TBH I'm really surprised at this point that one of the digital subchannels or cable overnight packages hasn't broadcasted CI in a foreign language for a week or two without noticing...

Yeah some reason. Can't possibly imagine why they would promote one more than the other...

And only Fenway is a desolate post-apocalyptic wasteland...

Given the news the last couple of weeks it seems like they needed to add some more to the warning...

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