Law & Order: Criminal Intent - General Discussion

[WendyCR72]

Speaking of SVU, did Olivia ever get raped or did she just fight off a guard?

 

She's tortured every season or so it seems, so I'm not sure. I think she was assaulted at some point...but by the guard? No idea. Not watching with any sort of regularity.

[WendyCR72]

If anyone was streaming L&O: CI (or the Mothership L&O) on Netflix? Forget it. As of 10/1...poof! You have to go the DVD route (or buy streaming via Amazon). Greedy idiots. Yet SVU is still up. It sucks. I loved having it at my fingertips!

[WendyCR72]

No idea why, but a site devoted to TV tropes and Network Decay (i.e. channels that start as one thing only to drift elsewhere a la MTV - which we are talking about in the Network Talk forum in the MeTV thread as a brief digression) has devoted an entire page to tropes on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which are kind of fun. Check it out.

 

There are some spots with seemingly fractured sentences/white spaces. Drag the mouse over them as this seems old, and they were spoilers, I guess.

[WendyCR72]

UGH, snowstorms. So here I am...and it looks like a lot has been skipped. "Dead" was on just last week, so we should still be in S2. But we're in S3 with Bishop episodes.

[WendyCR72]

Apparently, Cloo is also doing CI marathons on Mondays or this upcoming Monday, anyway.

 

Still say there should just be a L&O channel, running all of the Mothership and its spinoffs, successful (CI, SVU) or not (TBJ, LA).

[Maherjunkie]

What's this crap about Cloo dumping the show?  What are they putting in its place?

[WendyCR72]

I don't get Cloo, but I checked their site and, yep, it's having a "Goodbye CI" marathon which is in progress. No idea why it's being dropped since, according to Syndie Ratings, it's still in the Top 25.

 

And wow, the whole SERIES is being shown as a goodbye - all day, all night, everyday until 3/31, when the series has its end with To The Boy in the Blue Knit Cap..

 

But then, Universal now has its own station which shows it, it still runs on USA in odd hours, and as of now is still on ION. I have read that Cloo is being dropped in a lot of markets because its programming is redundant. So maybe it's trying to branch out.

 

ETA: I looked up April on the site which goes to mid month as of now, and SVU is also nowhere to be found. Looks like Cloo is divesting itself of the two. In place of L&O:CI looks like MacGyver, of all things. What that has to do with Cloo, I don't know. But it also looks like a lot of the schedule will be filled by Cloo movies and marathons of Ghost Whisperer (another show that makes no sense here), House, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, COPS, NCIS, and CSI.

 

Here are the April listings thus far.

[WendyCR72]

Even more curious: ION is having CI on this Friday as usual, but April 3rd, Cold Case is airing (in what looks to be like a long marathon). I don't know if it's a one-time deal or if ION has dropped it, too. Time will tell. USA and MyNetwork listings remain intact so far. (USA seems to be showing it in the early mornings in mini marathons on Saturday mornings).

[Maherjunkie]

I was planning to drop Universal but maybe now I should keep it.  

[WendyCR72]

I was planning to drop Universal but maybe now I should keep it.  

 

Well, actually...I looked that up last night and no CI there either, now. So I don't know if the syndication deal is up, if the show is just taking a break from these channels, or what. Like I said, too soon to tell if the ION preemption next week is long term or for the one week...and USA and MyNetwork are still airing it into April. So, time will tell what is happening.

 

It would be all sorts of odd if the show is phasing out of syndication since it is consistently in the Top 10 [of the Top 25] in terms of syndication ratings, even usually ahead of SVU, which surprised me a lot.(What shocks me even more is the Mothership is nowhere to be found in the Top 25.)

[WendyCR72]

ION has updated their schedule, and it looks like they are also resting CI. It's still on the site, but there are no listings beyond the current marathon. I figured as much as I didn't see any ads with a day and time. As of next Friday, Cold Case has CI's slot.

 

Repeats are still continuing on USA and MyNetwork.

[WendyCR72]

Not strictly confined to this show, but I found the Top 100 shows up to August 2014, so not long ago. Interesting to see what shows are successful. If you're a geek like me and are curious as to what ranked, here you go!

[WendyCR72]

I do wonder if something happened with licensing of the franchise or - since they have aired a lot - if it is just getting "a rest" (minus USA in the middle of the night and MyNetwork in prime time) as I have noticed besides CI getting a rest, SVU, which has also aired on the Cloo and Universal stations as CI has/did, is also nowhere to be found there.

 

That surprised me since SVU is still airing but yeah, gone.

 

Of course, syndication adds new stuff yearly, so I can see where other options may get a chance, too.

[WendyCR72]

Putting this here as it's more of a general nature. But insomnia has its uses. I've been watching CI late night on USA, and while it does skip around in chunks (some of S5, then some of S3 as an example), within the chunks are in order. Well, "On Fire" (the one where Deakins sees Frank Adair in prison after his cronies on the outside smear Deakins via e-mails) was on, and it occurred to me that Deakins was lucky in a way. At least his character had an ending and one on his terms. And we do know Ross died.

 

But really, while I do/did like CI, even I'll admit it did a piss-poor job at wrapping arcs for other long-time characters up, minus Deakins, Ross, Goren, Eames, and even Logan.

 

Barek? Did she return to the FBI? Was she abducted by aliens? Did she join a cult? And what the HELL happened between her and Logan. One measly odd look from Logan about her and...nothing more.

 

Wheeler. Well, she got pregnant by her criminal fiancé and had the kid, but for the ground-running start the character had in S6, she seemed to sort of fizzle out.

 

Nichols and Stevens post S9? Well, I fully admit (as you all know) I wasn't fond of them and thought Captain Callas was wasted in S9, but there was not even one line in S10 talking about their fates? Sloppy. Especially since, whether one liked him or not, Nichols did last for two seasons and carried one of them alone. And why did Callas leave as captain of MCS? She once had a line in an episode (facing a dicey maneuver) where she said words to the effect of she didn't want her name to come off the office door. But Hannah did replace her. So...what happened? Better offer? Retired? What?

 

And don't get me started on poor Carver. Five seasons and <crickets>.

 

I'm not saying an entire episode had to be devoted to these exits but would a word here and there have been amiss? Even I know others liked these folks, who weren't G/E. So why not show the characters some respect upon their exits?

[WendyCR72]

Just an observation after tonight's Grey's Anatomy: I am ever so glad Shonda Rimes was never a show runner in the L&O franchise and CI ended well. So, so, so glad.

[Maherjunkie]

What did she do?

[WendyCR72]

What did she do?

 

You probably have seen it by now, but she killed the male lead of the main couple of the show, 11 seasons in.

 

So even if some of the exits were unexplained or not overtly happy, at least Wheeler, Barek, Logan, Nichols (as far as we know), Stevens (see Nichols), Eames, and Goren all left still breathing.

 

Well...there's Danny Ross, but you win some, you lose some! Hee.

 

You'd think there would be more deaths in the franchise, being a police/law series as the franchise is/was. But I guess being a doctor is much more hazardous to one's health and livelihood.  :-P

[WendyCR72]

It struck me when watching the show on MyNetwork tonight that the name Ethan must be synonymous with "evil" on CI: Ryder Strong's Ethan was a religious zealot, ready to blow himself and others up for the cause, and then, of course, there was the other Ethan in S5 in "In The Wee Small Hours".

 

We talked of name recycling, but clearly that name means nothing good here. LOL.

[WendyCR72]

Apparently, WGN America will start showing L&O:CI repeats in the very early morning hours (4:00 a.m.) if insomnia is your thing. So shows TV Guide.

[WendyCR72]

MyNetwork is showing "Cuba Libre" (with an unrecognizable [to me] Joel Grey) and "Cold Comfort" tonight for its repeats. The first isn't a favorite, but I do like the second. The actor playing the son with Alzheimer's always made me feel sorry for the guy.

[WendyCR72]

I was checking out TV Guide for something when I stumbled across another channel that will begin airing repeats of CI as of June 1st. Oxygen will be airing episodes; it looks like a mini marathon of sorts when I clicked for the time.

 

I never knew Oxygen aired repeats of shows, unless this is new.

[Maherjunkie]

They have had them on there before, so it is a welcome to see them back.  They also show Sex and the City on the weekends.

[WendyCR72]

They have had them on there before, so it is a welcome to see them back.  They also show Sex and the City on the weekends.

I never knew Oxygen aired repeats, as I said. :-) Although I saw the edited version of SATC on E! and thought they took the meat out of the show. But I understood why the edits had to happen.

In terms of CI, you said that aired on Oxygen before? I wonder if it has (or will) edit anything as ION sometimes did.

[Maherjunkie]

I don't recall, my feeling is no, it's such a "Snapped" type of channel.

[WendyCR72]

I don't recall, my feeling is no, it's such a "Snapped" type of channel.

 

Ah, Snapped. Forgot about that cheesy show. Oh, well. At least CI will fit in tone then, yes? No? Maybe?  :-)

[Maherjunkie]

It did once.  I love Snapped.

[WendyCR72]

Oh, Snapped is cheesy...but I love it, too. I love crime shows in general, real or fake, so...  But, yeah, L&O: CI should fit on Oxygen just fine then. All that is listed as of now is the title (L&O: CI); there are no episodes given yet.

[WendyCR72]

And now L&O: CI is not listed to be on Oxygen after saying otherwise for over a week. Ah, TV Guide, you sneaky bugger.

[WendyCR72]

Per syndication ratings this week, L&O: CI was #1 for the Weekend edition. Wow. I guess folks miss it?

[WendyCR72]

So it occurred to me: Is the Gambino crime family the only one known in the L&O-verse? Watched some Mothership stuff recently that mentioned them and realized I had heard the name on CI, too. Hee. Oh, wait. There was also the Masucci family, right? (Recall that one from CI's pilot.)

 

Just funny how often the names were used/recycled.

[Eolivet]

Aww man, I wish my local stations syndicated CI on the weekends!

 

Oh yes, I remember the Masucci crime family and all their resulting, impossible to comprehend cases. I was so happy CI rarely did mob cases -- they were always so convoluted, to me.

[WendyCR72]

Aww man, I wish my local stations syndicated CI on the weekends!

 

Oh yes, I remember the Masucci crime family and all their resulting, impossible to comprehend cases. I was so happy CI rarely did mob cases -- they were always so convoluted, to me.

 

Don't feel bad, @Eolivet. I don't get it on the weekends anymore either unless the insomnia kicks in and I see it on USA in the middle of the night (about 3 or 4 nights a week). Do you get MyNetwork? I know it has a 2-hour block of CI (and in order) on Tuesday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. (It just started S3 last week.) ION used to have the marathons on the weekends, too, but has rested the show (I say that versus totally ditched it since the show is still on their site versus Cold Case, which has been completely deleted), so time will tell if or when it'll return there.

 

I do have the DVDs and it's dumb, but I like watching them on TV.

 

ETA: How odd to just find and read this, but now I really think the syndication contract for CI is up since ION, Universal's channel, and Cloo have also pulled the show. But MyNetwork has released the Fall schedule, and L&O: CI is being taken off. The Walking Dead gets its slot and The Closer takes TWD's old slot.

[WendyCR72]

So I just recently saw this and maybe it was common knowledge, although I never recalled her casting, but I guess in S6, we were supposed to get a more permanent ADA post Carver. I guess Marvin Gaye's daughter (?)/relative Nona Gaye was cast but left due to "creative differences", whatever that entailed.

 

It was shortly after this Theresa Randle was on for a few episodes then did a fade (although it was said the character had the "potential" to become a regular). So I guess someone decided the ADA was no longer relevant to the show.

 

But I never knew Nona Gaye was supposed to be on it.

[Eolivet]

Wow, I had no idea, WendyCR72. I actually found the ADA position a little shoehorned in to CI at times. After they grew into their identity a little more, post-S1, and stopped showing courtroom scenes, Carver's presence (though I loved him) seemed a little superfluous. Unless my memory fails me, I think CI had a real missed opportunity to do a Carver-centric episode -- Courtney B. Vance is a phenomenal actor and he certainly could've carried it.

 

If we had to know (trigger warning for Captain Ross'...personal life) about Captain Ross' sex life, surely one of Carver's buddies/cousins/stockbroker could've gotten arrested for the traditional "conflict of interest" episode.

[WendyCR72]

Wow, I had no idea, WendyCR72. I actually found the ADA position a little shoehorned in to CI at times. After they grew into their identity a little more, post-S1, and stopped showing courtroom scenes, Carver's presence (though I loved him) seemed a little superfluous. Unless my memory fails me, I think CI had a real missed opportunity to do a Carver-centric episode -- Courtney B. Vance is a phenomenal actor and he certainly could've carried it.

 

If we had to know (trigger warning for Captain Ross'...personal life) about Captain Ross' sex life, surely one of Carver's buddies/cousins/stockbroker could've gotten arrested for the traditional "conflict of interest" episode.

 

Yeah, saw that news in some sort of web archive. Someone on some site mentioned Nona Gaye's pics/bio were removed from NBC's media site (when CI was on there; like I said, this was an archive) and a report was posted that she had left before she even aired.

 

I do agree that the ADA portion was sort of forced on CI, but I can see where TPTB were probably trying to keep the uniform formula of cops and attorneys. It is a shame that Carver never had his moment in the spotlight. We really never did learn much about him except he was once part of a singing group and...and...damn. I truly cannot think of many other things about poor Ron Carver.

 

I guess Carver could have had an ethics issue or something, but Jamie Ross already did that on the Mothership. Well, we knew he was married, since he mentioned a wife. Perhaps she could have been hurt in a crime or a kid of theirs, assuming he even had one, and I doubt it. But it would have given CBV something to play.

 

"Identity Crisis" reaired on USA recently, and it struck me how the dayplayer ADA who was in that bore a striking resemblance to Carver.

[Eolivet]

I would've loved CI a little if Carver came to Goren, all "I think my stockbroker killed his boss." (a nod to his fabulous turn on the Mothership)

 

Carver was married? Wow, did not catch that.

[WendyCR72]

Yeah, Carver was married. I forget the episode and the context, but after something Goren and/or Eames said, he answered with, "It makes me want to go home and kiss my wife."

 

But it was easy to miss, so I can see why some wouldn't remember that Carver had a wife.

[WendyCR72]

Ooh, per TV Guide online, USA is showing "Lady's Man" at 2:00 a.m. Love that one. Maybe I'll DVR it (who cares I've seen it a lot? And Raul Esparza is great at playing batshit cray-cray.).

[Maherjunkie]

Sometimes I get those awful "Stirrins and urgins" as Blanche Devereaux says when I know a Logan episode is on at 4 am.

[WendyCR72]

Sometimes I get those awful "Stirrins and urgins" as Blanche Devereaux says when I know a Logan episode is on at 4 am.

 

Yeah, USA is running two cycles at once: S8 going into awful (IMO!) S9...and S4...and Logan shows up (again) sometime next week in "Grow".  :-)

[Spartan Girl]

They reran "Happy Family". I still can't believe those adopted kids murdered their father because they actually believed their bitch mother's crazy rants that he was going to send them back to the orphanage. There is a special place in hell for anyone that would say that to kids.

[WendyCR72]

They reran "Happy Family". I still can't believe those adopted kids murdered their father because they actually believed their bitch mother's crazy rants that he was going to send them back to the orphanage. There is a special place in hell for anyone that would say that to kids.

 

YES! That's just awful. And yet the "mother" (ha) still had the nerve to be a coward and lie her ass off until her son started to admit to it.

 

Makes it sadder to think those boys went from that hellish orphanage only to get stuck with a poisonous woman like that as a mother. It was a frustrating and sad episode all the way around.

 

(And before "Happy Family" was "Sound Bodies" where Connie bitch-slapped Goren; still love how VDO played Bobby's response with a deadpan angry, "Ouch.")

[Spartan Girl]

The worst part about "Happy Families" is that they couldn't legally prosecute the mother since she claimed she didn't intend for them to take her threats legally, so she basically gets away with everything.

 

(And before "Happy Family" was "Sound Bodies" where Connie bitch-slapped Goren; still love how VDO played Bobby's response with a deadpan angry, "Ouch.")

 

LOL.  Snarky Goren is the best Goren.

[WendyCR72]

The worst part about "Happy Families" is that they couldn't legally prosecute the mother since she claimed she didn't intend for them to take her threats legally, so she basically gets away with everything.

 

Yeah, but it isn't the first time CI has dealt with lying mothers as such. In "Crazy" all the way back in S1 (the episode where Michael Gross plays a killer shrink to impress a would-be girlfriend played by the ex-Mrs. Axl Rose, Stephanie Seymour), said would-be girlfriend's sister, a woman going through a bitter divorce, accused her ex of molesting their daughter, even though she knew the little girl had only had diarrhea after eating ice cream while with her father (and cleaned her "down there" and it was red, etc.). Her lie, which the sister believed, led to her to talk to her boyfriend shrink, who murdered the father just to make his wannabe girlfriend happy and eliminate an obstacle.

 

Yet the mother's lie was hand-waved away! Drove me nuts. G/E even outright said they weren't concerned about the lie, but what the shrink did. The mother was partly to blame for starting the ball rolling. (The mother was played by franchise vet guest Jenna Stern, who has been all over the franchise.) I did like Bobby doing a bit of magic for Sophie, the little girl. But I agree with something else you said...

 

A snarky Bobby is a great Bobby.  :-)

[Spartan Girl]

I wanted the son in "Crazy" to find out about his mother's lie and disown her.

[WendyCR72]

I wanted the son in "Crazy" to find out about his mother's lie and disown her.

 

That would have been something, at least.  :-)  She also deserved to face some sort of charges and lose custody of both kids, IMO.

 

At least Jenna Stern is a good actress. She made all four appearances/four characters different. The mom in "Crazy" in S1, the ambitious political assistant screwing the murdering former police bigwig/governor hopeful, Frank Adair (and a friend of Deakins'), in "My Good Name"in S4, Mark Ford Brady's attorney in "Endgame" in S6, although that one seemed like a throwaway role, and finally, as the unfaithful wife of Steven Webber's pharmaceutical philanthropist, where said pharmaceutical philanthropist was murdered and cremated and a body from a research lab was left in poor Steven's clothes as a  "prank" to buy time, etc. in "Cadaver" in S10.

[WendyCR72]

Hey, thanks for the heads up, Chattygal!

[WendyCR72]

UGH. USA is showing the Zach Nichols years. NOT happy.

 

Look at the bright side, Chattygal: S10 will be airing soon! :-) Like a palate cleanser.

[WendyCR72]

Why can't they follow TNT's example with seasons 1-4 of the mothership and just pretend the Zach Nichols episodes never happened? Why?!?!!? :)

 

Because USA hates the CI viewers? :-P  Or just shows them so we'd appreciate Goren/Eames and/or Logan/Wheeler/Barek all the more?  :-)

 

It left off showing the episode with the murderous political family matriarch who was obsessed with her "grandson"/surrogate son, Bobby. Still think using that name was wrong there. LOL! At least that was a more-tolerable episode, though. I suppose. Maybe?  (You're shaking your head no, aren't you, @Chattygal? :-)  )

 

Still love how, for all the fanfare of his casting, once S10 rolled around, nothing was ever said about Nichols or his fate. (Then again, nothing was ever explained about how G/E were "un-fired" and "un-quit", so...)

 

I am sincerely curious as to how the ratings are when S9 is shown. I know even Nichols/Stevens had fans, but still.

 

But I am right: Once this season ends, it is on to S10...and per TV Guide online, back to S1 in a few weeks (alternating other nights with S5 stuff) going in order. USA is non-linearly (is that a word?) linear.

[WendyCR72]

Another mark in TNT's favor: They show them in order, except for the random out-of-season single episodes that sometimes show up, and I'm convinced that's to see if people are paying attention. 

 

Your mentioning of significant plot developments that just were dropped with no explanation made me curious to see if Clyde Phillips of Nurse Jackie ever worked for Wolf Films. When he took over showrunning duties there, it was following a season where three major characters - including the titular one - had been fired from the hospital. Episode one of his first season? Two of them are back on the job, and the third gets hired back in the most ridiculous scenario ("Oh, you need a job? Well, you're hired!") by one of the previously also-fired staff. Jackie gets caught at the end of season six with a car full of painkillers? Yeah, no biggie - her lawyer gets it dismissed by mentioning (with no evidence or challenge from the DA) that she was on a humanitarian mission... because when you think, "What do hurricane victims need?" you usually think, "Unlimited opiates!" UGH.

 

/rant over

 

I hate when plot developments are just discarded like that. It just speaks to behind-the-scenes disarray with showrunners and writers having no idea where the show was going/long-term plans.

Wow, maybe it's a good thing Nurse Jackie came or is coming to an end! Still, yeah, that sounds sadly familiar. But do you think just maybe the new EP was trying to redact the very unsatisfactory ending in S9 and was generally handwaving it? (Aside from Bobby having mandatory therapy to keep his job.) Or am I being too generous to Chris Brancato and the S10 writers?

I'd like to believe (mean of me) that TPTB realized the changes in S9 were a huge mistake, hence either letting contracts lapse or firing everyone involved, depending on one's POV.

It doesn't necessarily excuse the lack of explanation, but I'd get it.