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Michael Logan: Alpha Male, Hothead, Shit-Stirring In Style!

WendyCR72
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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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I love this ish stirring, hot headed, running afoul of TPTB characters, that's why Mike Logan, Bobby Goren and. Eliot Stabler were my favorite male character from the L&O Trilogy.

You have great taste in TV cops, Happytobehere! As for Mike Logan on CI, I wish he had his "Eames", so to speak. Barek was brief - and a bit flat - and Wheeler seemed far too young to be a true peer. Falacci barely counted, being his "Bishop", a la temporary.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

Let me preface this by saying I also loved Elliot Stabler. HOWEVER, Mike and Bobby come out on top, because they never broke any laws or egregiously violated anyone's constitutional rights that Elliot did, all in the name of T!I!P!

Yeah, I pretty much stopped watching SVU after Meloni got shafted--that is, his character did, and I put the blame all on Leight's feet. The pissy, passive aggressive douche.

Ahem Got some of my classic Hot tempered Mike Logan in "Maltese Cross" last week, which I watched again last night.

Sigh....

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Happytobehere

Happytobehere

Let me preface this by saying I also loved Elliot Stabler. HOWEVER, Mike and Bobby come out on top, because they never broke any laws or egregiously violated anyone's constitutional rights that Elliot did, all in the name of T!I!P!

Yeah, I pretty much stopped watching SVU after Meloni got shafted--that is, his character did, and I put the blame all on Leight's feet. The pissy, passive aggressive douche.

Ahem Got some of my classic Hot tempered Mike Logan in "Maltese Cross" last week, which I watched again last night.

Sigh....

I agree about the hothead thing with Stabler and yes it went to far, especially when different people took over the show. As for the hothead, I found it to be rooted in untreated PTSD from the military, which was referenced briefly when he talked about how he stepped over the line into abuse with his own daughter. I thought that moment and his pull back from it contributed to his OTTness with abusers. I too stopped watching when Meloni left because quite frankly with Belzer all but phased out, he was the only thing anchoring me to the show.

As for Mike no way to talk about that absent the behind the scenes stuff, which is a shame because for me, he really was an iconic character who represented the working class .

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Maherjunkie

Maherjunkie

As for Mike no way to talk about that absent the behind the scenes stuff, which is a shame because for me, he really was an iconic character who represented the working class .

Maybe I haven't had enough caffeine but what do you mean by absent behind the scenes stuff?

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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That confused me a bit, too. Maybe it's referring to long-rumored tension between Wolf and Noth from the latter's time at the Mothership. (Although it must have resolved since Noth ended up on CI in the end.)

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

(edited)

Wasn't Noth a coke-head and that's what got him fired first time around? I thought that might be what it was in reference to.

 

I have never heard that rumor. From everything I've read (at the time it was going on) and seen in interviews, it was due to creative differences, and that Wolf cared more about the story than the characters. This is proven by the many, many cast changes over the 20 years the mothership was on the air. I think money might have also been an issue.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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Donny Ketchum

Donny Ketchum

You know, I only saw his last appearance in "Last Rites" about a month ago.  And I have to wonder -- what was it about what Driver did to him and Wheeler that made him feel compelled to retire?  On the L&O shows, cops get screwed over by DAs all the time, but keep plugging along.  Logan just . . . quit as a result of what happened.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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You know, I only saw his last appearance in "Last Rites" about a month ago.  And I have to wonder -- what was it about what Driver did to him and Wheeler that made him feel compelled to retire?  On the L&O shows, cops get screwed over by DAs all the time, but keep plugging along.  Logan just . . . quit as a result of what happened.

 

Well, a rumor I read - and I have no idea how true it is - is that the L&O: CI writers felt that they wrote all they could for Mike Logan, so his story ended here. Other things I read said Chris Noth wanted to leave. So, what it comes down to is, we'll never know, and Logan having enough in "Last Rites" was just a way to tie up his story and usher Chris Noth out.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

I meant what about the story in that episode made Logan, not Noth, want to retire.

 

I think it was the fact that this twat of an ADA, kept getting away with prosecutorial misconduct in each episode she appeared in, and there was no one to reign her in or sanction her. Unlike on the mothership, where it would be Stone or McCoy, and even judges would sanction them.

 

With this one? She got to look like the honorable ADA, who was a seeker and provider of justice, and not the political animal she was.  It also didn't help that Logan didn't have the support of his captain. Something that would NEVER have happened on the mothership.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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It also didn't help that Logan didn't have the support of his captain. Something that would NEVER have happened on the mothership.

 

Well, Ross was a political puppet, too, so big surprise there. I bet Deakins would have had Logan's back.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

Well, Ross was a political puppet, too, so big surprise there. I bet Deakins would have had Logan's back.

 

Yeah, that was the biggest issue I had with that blowhard. And for sure Deakins would have had Mike's back. Or hell, if Carver were still there, he would have stepped in and done something.

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rujasu

rujasu

The thing is, Carver is actually a great example of how to do a character who can butt heads with the detectives without coming off like he's the enemy.  It was clear at times that Carver was skeptical of Goren's methods and was sometimes frustrated with him, but it was clear that they were on the same team.  Ross comes off more like the incompetent boss who shouldn't be in his position, and while that might work on The Office, it's not so great on a crime show.

 

Deakins had Logan's back from day one.  He did with all of the detectives.  Carver had a different relationship with them, but you always knew Carver was an honest, by-the-books prosecutor.

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Maherjunkie

Maherjunkie

I heard Chris wanted more money then too.  They froze their pay because of the strike previously, but not this time.  They could have kept on with the crime stories for Logan.  There was never a lot of character reveal anyway.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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It occurred to me when discussing Logan and his CI partners...with the exception of Barek/AS, they were both a hell of a lot younger than Chris Noth. (At least it was made sort of a running joke with Logan ragging on Wheeler's youth.)

 

Julianne Nicholson was born in '71.

Alicia Witt was born in '75.

Chris Noth was born in '54.

 

Noth and Sciorra weren't too far off as she was born in '60, so only six years, which was around the same age discrepancy between VDO/KE, just as an aside.

 

But it makes me wonder if the show wanted Logan in a "surrogate father/partner" angle with these women or if it was the usual case of Hollywood wanting younger women versus older.

 

Then again, there was 20 years difference between Jeff Goldblum and Saffron Burrows, too.

 

Just stuck out to me, for whatever reason.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

Well, I know that by Season three in the mothership, before they cast Orbach, Noth was hoping to be the senior partner instead of the younger partner. This was revealed in the Season 3 special features/interviews.

 

So I don't think Noth minded being the senior partner when he joined CI. At that point, I would have raised my eyebrows if he'd been partnered with someone older, considering how many years he'd put in as a cop, let alone detective.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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Well, I know that by Season three in the mothership, before they cast Orbach, Noth was hoping to be the senior partner instead of the younger partner. This was revealed in the Season 3 special features/interviews.

 

So I don't think Noth minded being the senior partner when he joined CI. At that point, I would have raised my eyebrows if he'd been partnered with someone older, considering how many years he'd put in as a cop, let alone detective.

 

Oh, @GHScorpiosRule, I'm not saying Logan should be a junior partner after so many years. You're right in that would just be odd at this point. But his partners were just so much younger. Maybe it was the same on the Mothership, but even when Logan was the young hothead, he didn't seem soooo much younger than his partners, to me. Noth must exude an older vibe for me.

 

Just saying I'm surprised he was never paired with older women or whatever.  :-)

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rujasu

rujasu

Maybe it was the same on the Mothership, but even when Logan was the young hothead, he didn't seem soooo much younger than his partners, to me. Noth must exude an older vibe for me.

 

On the other hand, Mothership certainly had a habit of pairing Jack McCoy and his increasingly gray hair with a neverending parade of twenty-something female assistants.

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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GHScorpiosRule, I'm singling you out as we both have been guilty of watching the cesspool of General Hospital, and it came to me: Poor Mike Logan shares his name with a certain sell-out soap journalist. LOL! No idea why it never came to me sooner, and soap ML predates L&O ML, and now I feel sorry for the L&O version.

 

Just a little something that struck me out of the blue.  :-P

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule


As everyone here and on the mothership, knows, Mike Logan is my Jam * and I will take him anyway, anyhow, that I can, because despite what Dickless said, or even Noth himself said when he left CI (about wringing about as much as he could from Logan and nothing was left--Bullshit), I love him. The most layered character in a show that was just a procedural and not as serialized as other shows that followed.

*radishcake coined this phrase and I'm stealing it.

I never expected such a response! (Do you feel your sarcasm meter going off, GHScorpiosRule? LOL! After Goren, as I said, I did like Logan...and I appreciated him even more after Nichols arrived.

 

I'm sure I know not of what you speaketh, Wendykins.

 

I just remember being so irked when Noth said what he did. Considering that he didn't play Mike Logan from 1990-2007 continuously, like Orbach played Lennie from '93-'04, or hell, or Munch from Homicide to SVU as the same character...there was still some life left in Logan. Dickless shoulda had him go back to the 2-7 among 'family' so to speak; even if McCoy had been a dickwad to him the movie that never happened!

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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I just remember being so irked when Noth said what he did. Considering that he didn't play Mike Logan from 1990-2007 continuously, like Orbach played Lennie from '93-'04, or hell, or Munch from Homicide to SVU as the same character...there was still some life left in Logan. Dickless shoulda had him go back to the 2-7 among 'family' so to speak; even if McCoy had been a dickwad to him the movie that never happened!

 

I know Logan wasn't the brass type, but I did wonder how he could have worked in some position of authority. Would his hothead self try to temper procedure...or would he become like the ones he never liked?

 

I do think there was more to tell, but I guess Noth thought differently.

 

I also wonder if S9 would have gone okay had HE been the character going solo rather than alternating with G/E. Then again, the ratings may not have cratered then as I'm pretty sure they did which allowed VDO/KE to return to begin with, so maybe that was for the best.  :-)

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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No. Logan didn't have the temperament to work in a position of authority. Because he didn't play the game...that is of politics. And everyone from Lt. on up, had to play the game.

 

Yeah, I know. But then you think change has to start with someone, you know? But I guess Logan wasn't the ideal candidate.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

I just see it as Logan being "hardened" after years on the job. After a while, like it or not, one tends to become desensitized after all of the violence they see, I'm sure.

 

I agree. I also don't think quotes are needed around hardened, but I see why you did it.  Also, by this point in time, Mike's been a cop for over 15 years, and has seen a LOT of shit go down. Pardon me if I'm not offended that Mike called Skater a "thing" or that he was a thing that was a junkie.

 

When it comes to people that he needs to show sensitivity to, he does it very well. As we saw in "Senseless" and even "The World's Fair."

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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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Yeah, but he didn't even know his story yet.

 

Maybe, but Logan isn't the only one to ever make snap judgments. I did like the rare moments of vulnerability rather than that flip hard exterior he gave, a la "To The Bone" where he actually talked with old friend (and one-time flame?), Liz Olivet. It was cool seeing them together on CI, and it was good that history was mined for Logan's problems with this case. Especially since Logan was so rare with the vulnerability, unlike Goren, who seemed to drown in it for a while!

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

(edited)

Mike has always been empathic; especially when it comes to kids. Now, we didn't see too much of it in CI, but there's "Indifference", "The Serpent's Tooth", The Buzz Box one just to name a few off the top of my head from the mother ship.

 

I'm not going to complain over the fact that he wasn't in tears over Skater's death. It's not as if he wanted to blow the investigation. He, along with Wheeler, worked to find out the people responsible. Hell, at least he wasn't wearing rose colored/fanawe glasses when investigating.  And to bring it back to the mother ship (sorry!), season one's finale, he admired that IRA terrorist pig, but didn't stop doing his job to find out who murdered his fellow prisoners.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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WendyCR72

WendyCR72

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Yeah, "Indifference" is another great example of Logan having empathy. (On a side note, he REALLY should have been part of that revisit in S15 since he worked the original Lowenstein case. While it was good to see Cragen, it wasn't the same thing.)

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