Approach The Bench: Law & Order General Discussion Thread

[WendyCR72]

TV Guide's site released next Wednesday and it looks like the 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. showing that'll be on the 23rd is a one-time thing as the 30th has the marathon starting at 11 a.m. and going until 1 a.m. on Thursday (which has been the usual time frame for shows on ION that have marathons, so I'm thinking this may be the permanent time).

[Ailianna]

I watch L&O on three stations, TNT, WE, and Sundance.  And I don't have a good sense of exactly what episode I watched on which channel, but I keep seeing the same episodes repeat within a few days of each other.  I can't figure out if it's the same channel showing the same episodes at different times (repeating the morning at night, for example) or if the different channels are just inexplicably showing the same ones at close to the same time.  Anyone else seeing this?

[CoderLady]

I watch L&O on three stations, TNT, WE, and Sundance.  And I don't have a good sense of exactly what episode I watched on which channel, but I keep seeing the same episodes repeat within a few days of each other.  I can't figure out if it's the same channel showing the same episodes at different times (repeating the morning at night, for example) or if the different channels are just inexplicably showing the same ones at close to the same time.  Anyone else seeing this?

 

I am, too. I don't understand it -- there are over 400 episodes of the show but the three stations that show it show the same dozen or so over and over. Sigh.

Edited September 19, 2015 by CoderLady

[BW Manilowe]

OK... On TNT this morning, they started the "Rey & Debra are separated" story arc, with Rey telling Lennie in 1 of the eps Debra wanted him out of the house (because of the thing with Jennifer Garner's hooker character in the ep where a bunch of the cast watched the execution of a convict they'd apparently been instrumental in imprisoning, then Jill Hennessey's character was killed by a drunk driver while driving an off-the-wagon Lenny home at the end), then Rey gave Lennie his sister's phone number in another ep since he was gonna stay with her until he could find his own place.

My question is... Did they make as big a deal when Rey & Debra reconciled as they did when they separated, & did I just miss that, or what?

'Cause I know Rey & Debra eventually reconciled, or seemed to have--I mean, the "exit" for Rey/Benjamin Bratt was written as he left because Debra's MS had gotten to the point where she needed more help than not to function & he was going to take care of her (& their daughters). But it just seems like they went from separated to "magically" back together before/by the time Rey/Benjamin Bratt were written out.

[Ailianna]

No, there were comments about how they were going to counseling, and working things out. 

 

I love though, how only on L&O can two lines of dialogue or so in two episodes be a "big deal".  This show lets them have personal lives, but keeps them out of the workplace, as they should be.  I do miss that quality on Dick Wolf's new shows sometimes.

[GHScorpiosRule]

OK... On TNT this morning, they started the "Rey & Debra are separated" story arc, with Rey telling Lennie in 1 of the eps Debra wanted him out of the house (because of the thing with Jennifer Garner's hooker character in the ep where a bunch of the cast watched the execution of a convict they'd apparently been instrumental in imprisoning, 

 

You keep saying the bolded (emphasis mine), but her character wasn't a hooker.  She was a grad student.

[Ailianna]

She was kind of a naughty grad student, which is how you know she isn't hooking to pay for school.  The only females who are secretly hookers appear to be very wholesome, whether they are college girls hooking for a shoe company, suburban housewives hooking for some excitement, or models who couldn't make it. 

[Maherjunkie]

Buuuut, we do get the Betty Broderick story--"Wages of Love" at least.

I never saw this-did they switch it out at the last minute?

[BW Manilowe]

You keep saying the bolded (emphasis mine), but her character wasn't a hooker. She was a grad student.

My apologies. If I refer to the ep again, I'll try not to do that. I guess my brain's never really sure how to describe her since she did sleep with Rey in the ep. Apologies for any offense taken.

[Ailianna]

Sundance is having a Lenny Briscoe Appreciation marathon starting Thursday at 6 pm ET and continuing on Friday.  The adds are full of great Jerry Orbach expressions and moments. 

[WendyCR72]

The L&O palooza is apparently this week only on ION. CI returns to Fridays next week, 10/2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. SVU moves to Saturdays on the 3rd from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m., and the Mothership will be on a short window late Saturday night from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m.

 

Will this pattern last? Who knows? ION seems to be all over the map!

 

ETA: TV Guide has edited its listings and The Mothership will also air on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. until 1 a.m. Thursdays. I assume this is the permanent time, but keep an eye out.

[jaytee1812]

Someone must've heard me complaining about needing my Lennie Briscoe fix. Seasons 6-10 have just been added to iTunes in the UK.

[alynch]

Just watched "Aftershock" (aka the Dead Claire episode) on Sundance and noticed for the first time that Sundance has been speeding up the video on older episodes in order to fit in more commercial time. Now I'm kind of annoyed since that's one of the more insidious ways of butchering a show in syndication. It's disrupts the whole pacing, but so subtly that most won't notice. It's really obvious in that episode though since the whole thing is built around a series of quiet, thoughtful conversations, so it just seems really weird that they'd all be talking so fast.

Edited November 14, 2015 by alynch

[stonehaven]

I don't have cable...nor do I want to..but I do hope..someday...someway...ALL of Law and Order gets picked up for streaming on either Netflix or Hulu...I know you can BUY episodes and seasons but that get's to be pricey after awhile...I wish Netflix hadn't dropped the eight seasons they did have...

That was better than nothing..Hell, All of CSI can be on Hulu..why can't L&O?

[BW Manilowe]

Regarding the ep which involves the death of a teenage fashion model & takes place in both NYC & Baltimore, & involves at least Richard Belzer's character, Detective Munch, from another show...

How does it turn out, who did it/why, & all that stuff?? Since it was a crossover ep with another show, they never show the end as a Mothership ep & I don't think the show with the 2nd part is in syndication anymore, & I've never seen the end.

Thanks for any help... I'm not that eager to search out a DVD set just to find out the ending!

[alynch]

Regarding the ep which involves the death of a teenage fashion model & takes place in both NYC & Baltimore, & involves at least Richard Belzer's character, Detective Munch, from another show...

How does it turn out, who did it/why, & all that stuff?? Since it was a crossover ep with another show, they never show the end as a Mothership ep & I don't think the show with the 2nd part is in syndication anymore, & I've never seen the end.

Thanks for any help... I'm not that eager to search out a DVD set just to find out the ending!

 

That's one of the Homicide crossovers, a show which has been frustratingly absent from the streaming services for years. Looks like that episode is available on YouTube for the moment though.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2T1HMvsaec

[BW Manilowe]

I still hate Jamie's ex, Neil (Neal?) Gordon! I think he's an even more abhorrent character than many of the villains on the show. Every time I see the trilogy about the dismemberment/beheading murder of the movie studio executive that spanned Hollywood & NYC, the story arc where Jamie gets engaged to remarry that guy David, & who knows what other episodes, I'm painfully reminded of it. He's a controlling, likely self-centered, SOB (& probably other very negative things I can't think of).

He keeps threatening Jamie with custody suits involving their daughter, Katie, usually because of something involving her work/being a working mother, in general/allegedly not spending enough time with Katie--yet he seems to not realize that Jamie *needs* to work to provide for Katie (& the same would hold true if he had custody--he'd have to work to provide for her too) &, like him, her chosen profession is the Law. And that can be a time-consuming thing, with some cases.

I really don't like his "It's OK for me to do this, but not for you to" attitude, or the whole "you can't enter into a serious relationship with another man" thing, or so many more things about the way they created that character to be. A few times, when I initially watched after he was introduced, I was afraid he'd either kidnap Katie or even harm/kill Jamie.

[Spartan Girl]

Not to mention his clients were legitimate scumbags. I really despised him when he tried to use the custody agreement as a way of exporting Jamie to take off the death penalty at the end of the trilogy. It didn't work, but Jamie was right, he was a bastard.

[BW Manilowe]

Not to mention his clients were legitimate scumbags. I really despised him when he tried to use the custody agreement as a way of exporting Jamie to take off the death penalty at the end of the trilogy. It didn't work, but Jamie was right, he was a bastard.

He didn't even seem to get--or he conveniently forgot--the imposition of the death penalty wasn't even up to Jamie. It was *Adam Schiff* who, as Jack & Jamie's boss, decided who did or didn't face the death penalty as a possible sentence (like Nora in Teenage Wasteland, where the group of teenagers ordered Chinese food, weren't able to pay for it, & kiled the Chinese guy who ran the restaurant & delivered it) Neil/Neal just took everything out on Jamie professionally because he could. And then, once Adam attached the death penalty to the case, *the jury* deliberated over the recommended sentence & *the judge* ultimately imposed the sentence--*not Jamie*.

His issues with his client in the trilogy facing the death penalty should've been taken up with Adam Schiff, not used as another way to threaten Jamie with losing custody of Katie. And he shouldn't have gloated about flying the same flight as Jamie & Jack in First Class, in the Hollywood case, when Jamie & Jack were in cramped Coach (nor should he have probably even flown First Class, & probably charged it to the movie studio/the guy he was defending--but that's a whole other rant about the character).

He also shouldn't have blown his stack & threatened Jamie & Jack when they started looking at his client as the murderer, after Jamie told him the client wasn't even on their radar a day or so before. He should've remembered crap happens & he'd perhaps gone back & looked more seriously at someone he initially discounted in cases as well (though I think his practice was on the defense side of things instead of the prosecution side). That whole "I'll come down on you like a ton of bricks", to Jamie & Jack if they charge his client (in the trilogy), thing was really unprofessional to me.

And there are so many other abhorrent things about Jamie's ex that, again, I can't think of right now.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I still hate Jamie's ex, Neil (Neal?) Gordon!

 

Well, I'll be damned, that is who I thought it was. The actor who played Neil is Keith Szarabajka (try saying that five times fast), and he was on the Mothership once before in the third season's Consultation. where he played a separate character named Harry Sibelius.

[roseha]

I just watched two late episodes tonight that I recorded maybe last week on ION:   "Strike" and "Personae Non Grata".  Especially in the second one Linus Roache is so brilliant as Cutter.  When L & O ended I was really sorry that more fans hadn't come to realize how good he was (at least that was what I felt).

[wanderingstar]

Refuge, Part 1 has one of my favorite quotes. An uncooperative witness says the following about Abby:

 

"That girl...she has heart like KGB."

 

Ha! Too much truth!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Refuge, Part 1 has one of my favorite quotes. An uncooperative witness says the following about Abby:

 

"That girl...she has heart like KGB."

 

Ha! Too much truth!

 

And since there's no UO thread, I'll say it here. I liked that Abbie could be a hard-ass, especially in the face of Jack's annoying tendency to be wishy-washy. Jack could be pretty tough when he wanted to be, but he could also be quick to cut a deal. Must have been Adam's bad influence. ;-)

[BW Manilowe]

Since they're talking about Aftershock in another thread, I'll ask this question about it, which I'm curious about. When Claire goes to see the law professor, whom I think was also 1 of hers as a student, she calls him "Mack/Mac", & he says her mother wants her to come by for dinner again soon. So, besides apparently being 1 of Claire's law professors, he's also her father/stepfather/the unmarried partner of Claire's mother?

[Maherjunkie]

I took it to mean yes, her father.

[BW Manilowe]

Since Claire calls him by his name, or a nickname, I was thinking he's more like her stepfather or the partner of her mother. I mean, if he were her father wouldn't she probably have called him some form of "Dad" instead?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I didn't think too much into it, like her mother's boyfriend/partner.

 

I was a youngin' then, so just assumed he was her stepfather. Because why would a boyfriend say something about her mother to Claire?

[Maherjunkie]

I assumed they had an impersonal relationship and he was her father.

[GHScorpiosRule]

He wasn't. His character's last name was Geller.

[Spartan Girl]

I recently watched "Panic" and I love the part where it becomes evident that the accused shooter is covering for his daughter, and Abbie tries to get her to confess and the guy pounds on the table threateningly while Abbie just glares back at him with an awesome bitchface.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Watching on Sundance now, and I can't remember the episode title, but the one where Abbie is prosecuting the woman suspected of burning her mentally disabled son to death is on. The woman's lawyer is spouting some nonsense about how he's insulted to have to address Abbie as an officer of the court, and she's just got this expression that's like. "No, what's insulting is that you have a law degree."

[BW Manilowe]

Every time I watch the ep where they're trying to locate, then incarcerate, the guy with HIV (or maybe it's full-blown AIDS) who's going around having unprotected sex with women & not bothering to inform them they could contract HIV/AIDS from him as a result (& at least 1 female character in the ep did), I laugh at the singsong-y (that's how it sounds to me) way Sam Waterston delivered the lines where he was telling the Judges on the Appeals Court what the guy said to the girls to convince them into having unprotected sex with him ("Hey, Baby, I don't use... It's better..."), & why it's so imperative to get him off the streets.

Then I wonder why Waterston chose that line delivery, as opposed to a more "normal/serious" sounding delivery. Considering the seriousness of the issue, & McCoy even agrees it is serious, the way that set of lines was delivered always surprises me.

Edited December 27, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[Ailianna]

Have you only seen it on stations that silence certain words?  The real quote is "Hey Hey Baby, I don't use rubbers. It's better bareback".  And I think the intonation is to emphasize that it's a quote, and it's a con.  To distinguish it from something McCoy would actually be saying.  I've heard other people do that.  And it is a fairly ridiculous thing to say!

[BW Manilowe]

Have you only seen it on stations that silence certain words? The real quote is "Hey Hey Baby, I don't use rubbers. It's better bareback". And I think the intonation is to emphasize that it's a quote, and it's a con. To distinguish it from something McCoy would actually be saying. I've heard other people do that. And it is a fairly ridiculous thing to say!

I've seen it on stations which air the quote in full & which air it with "objectionable" (more adult) words silenced. Your explanation makes sense, thank you. And it is a fairly ridiculous thing to say--whether the guy trying to get the girl(s) is saying it or Jack is (but I still think it's more ridiculous coming from Jack, since the guy he's quoting is a sleaze).

Speaking of "silenced" words, there was an episode on WE's binge-a-thon last night where Abbie's use of the word "vagina" was deleted from the audio track, for heaven's sake. I think it was in the ep where the guy who was (mostly) pretending to be mentally ill to get close to a girl who really was mentally ill was believed to have raped & murdered her, but it turned out the sex was consensual--I think--& he killed her at her request because she was afraid of what would happen to her when, like, her parents died. I know it was that word because the same ep aired with the word intact on 1 of the other channels I get which carries the Mothership show (either TNT, Ion, or WGNAmerica... my cable provider--Comcast/Xfinity--carries Sundance Channel here, but it doesn't seem to be in whatever package we're currently paying for, at least not at the moment... they change what channels are in what packages a lot though, so maybe we'll get it sometime).

Edited December 28, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[paigow]

Jimmy Kimmel could run his own marathon of Unnecessary Censorship....

[WendyCR72]

I see on WE's upcoming schedule that it will be showing Seasons 1 and 2 later in the month! Cool. I ADORE Lennie, but I also liked the show's beginning years, so it'll be nice to see those again, as they seem to be more rare where syndication is concerned.

[BW Manilowe]

Is Jack from NYC? I thought he was, but I was watching a rerun of the episode Pledge, on TNT overnight Monday night going into Tuesday morning (the 1 where the guy who went off the deep end after a sorority member rejected him at a college mixer killed the housekeeper & the son of 1 of the former sorority sisters he additionally blamed for his rejection) &, at 1 point, he & Connie (I think) were talking about the whole "elite sorority sisters rejecting the advances of men they felt were 'beneath them'--like with the killer in the ep" thing, & Jack made some comment about how "the girls from Lakeshore Drive never had the time of day for a cop's son either" (presumably a Chicago cop's son), as if he knew it from personal experience.

That confused me because, at times, Jack has also said things that made it sound as if he was a native New Yorker. Like the thing about, something like, if you're from 1 part/borough of NYC & play stickball, you also oughta know the rules they use in another part/borough of NYC.

Edited January 13, 2016 by BW Manilowe

[Ailianna]

His father was a Chicago cop.  That's explicit in "Aftershock" at least.  However, the comment he made was more in the way of a saying or aphorism than personal experience--"If you're going to play stickball in Kinarse, you'd better know Brooklyn rules."  Just that you need to know the home court rules.

[Moose135]

"If you're going to play stickball in Kinarse, you'd better know Brooklyn rules."

Canarsie...

[WendyCR72]

WE has "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" on, aka one of the pilots. Talk about going waaaaaaaaay back!

[GHScorpiosRule]

WE has "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" on, aka one of the pilots. Talk about going waaaaaaaaay back!

 

Ahem! Not one of the pilots, but actually the unofficial pilot! One only has to see how...thinner Dzundza looks and the more than the buzzcut hair on his head. Not to mention Noth's full, wavy, lustrous mane...

 

What?

 

And Adam isn't the DA.

[WendyCR72]

Now is "Subterranean Homeboy Blues". Always trippy to see Chris Noth/Cynthia Nixon together a good eight years before Sex And The City.

[spaceytraci1208]

I get so excited when the WeTV marathons loop back to the early days. Mike Logan and Ben Stone...hell yeah!

[wknt3]

WE has "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" on, aka one of the pilots. Talk about going waaaaaaaaay back!

Watching right now. Can't believe I totally forgot William H Macy was in this episode.

[WendyCR72]

Watching right now. Can't believe I totally forgot William H Macy was in this episode.

 

He seemed to usher in some good shows, Law & Order, and he was in the pilot (as well as recurred throughout) of ER, too.

[BW Manilowe]

Did anyone know WE was airing a Mothership "Binge-a-Thon" today (Thursday) between 10AM & 6PM Eastern? I didn't, until I looked at my TV listings online a few minutes ago & it was basically too late to get any enjoyment from it (I was able to see the entire lineup of eps listed & they all appeared to have aired in 2001, by the way). I wonder if it was just a 1-off or it'll be a regular daytime thing on Thursdays now (this is the 1st Thursday I've noticed it).

[WendyCR72]

Did anyone know WE was airing a Mothership "Binge-a-Thon" today (Thursday) between 10AM & 6PM Eastern? I didn't, until I looked at my TV listings online a few minutes ago & it was basically too late to get any enjoyment from it (I was able to see the entire lineup of eps listed & they all appeared to have aired in 2001, by the way). I wonder if it was just a 1-off or it'll be a regular daytime thing on Thursdays now (this is the 1st Thursday I've noticed it).

 

It was also on last Wednesday all day in L&O: CI's usual time, but I attributed that to House being on all day and night, last Saturday, preempting L&O's Saturday evening slot. (And CI was moved to Thursday last week.) Sounds like WE is all over the scheduling map.

 

Maybe the Mothership is getting preempted again on Saturday...

 

ETA: Zap2It's listings (which are updated better than TV Guide, sadly) says this is again the case: House is on all day and night Saturday, the 30th.

[BW Manilowe]

It was also on last Wednesday all day in L&O: CI's usual time, but I attributed that to House being on all day and night, last Saturday, preempting L&O's Saturday evening slot. (And CI was moved to Thursday last week.) Sounds like WE is all over the scheduling map.

Maybe the Mothership is getting preempted again on Saturday...

ETA: Zap2It's listings (which are updated better than TV Guide, sadly) says this is again the case: House is on all day and night Saturday, the 30th.

Thanks for the info. Online, I use Titan TV's listings. They seem pretty accurate, plus they let you see each channel's schedule for the next 3 days (by clicking on either the channel number or network icon). I just wish I'd known/thought to check WE's 3-day schedule at some point yesterday, so I could've seen at least part of today's "Binge-A-Thon".

[WendyCR72]

According to Zap2It, the same flip/flop is happening the second week of February: But this time, as a week or two ago, the Mothership will air all day on Wednesday, February 10th. L&O: CI moves to Thursday that week, just posting so people won't miss the next marathon.

 

I do wish WE would settle on what days which shows air.

[GHScorpiosRule]

And this is why I DVR the channels that air my show!