S21.E01: I Am Going to Make You A Star

[dttruman]

On 9/29/2019 at 12:59 PM, wknt3 said:

the writers forgot how to write those little comic palette cleansers and that Belzer and Ice-T could do comedy and not just snarky quips.

That is definitely needed here, I wonder if they would add another detective that was similar to Munch? Briscoe and Munch added just enough sarcasm to make their respective episodes memorable.

Edited September 30, 2019 by dttruman

[wknt3]

On 9/28/2019 at 12:56 AM, Fellaway said:

Have we ever had an SVU Bureau Chief before?  All of the previous prosecutors have just been ADAs, I think?

Michael Cutter was Bureau Chief for awhile during the musical chairs period at the beginning of the cast budget cuts era. And waaaaay back in the day Judge Donnelly started as the recurring chief, back when they bothered to have a whole company of recurring supporting characters and didn't try to convince us that 5 people handled all the sex crimes in Manhattan.

[Diana Berry]

I hope Liv gives vice squad cop a promotion to SVU.  She was cool.

[pinguina]

So the squad only has three people now - the captain, the lieutenant,  and sergeant?  That's it?  No, plain ol' detectives?   And these three (OMG!  THREE!) are taking care of all of Manhattan?

And for goodness' sakes - Two DA's have "fallen in love" with Olivia, and have turned their backs on their own conscience, ethics, commitment to the law to do her bidding?  And she has chastised them in the past for not moving quickly to do what she wants?   I hope this is a road that Carisi will NOT take!!

Edited September 30, 2019 by pinguina
ETA: to omit a word :)

[Fellaway]

On 9/28/2019 at 9:22 PM, Carboncat said:

As much as I want Law and Order on 24/7 when I have insomnia, this has outlived it's purpose.

Welcome welcome!  ☺️ You may get your wish on that one, should Dick Wolf have his way getting all his shows loaded on to one streaming service.  I'd like it, too.  I don't watch his other franchises, but all the L&Os on one service would be mighty cool, even if I never got any sleep again.

7 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Michael Cutter was Bureau Chief for awhile during the musical chairs period at the beginning of the cast budget cuts era. And waaaaay back in the day Judge Donnelly started as the recurring chief, back when they bothered to have a whole company of recurring supporting characters and didn't try to convince us that 5 people handled all the sex crimes in Manhattan.

I'm glad Cutter didn't stick.  I never liked him on the mothership - I always thought he was more out for just winning rather than justice. - and it still rankles me they brought him in for first chair rather than giving it to Rubirosa.  I remember Donnelly, though I didn't recall she was Bureau Chief.  Thanks for the info.

4 hours ago, pinguina said:

So the squad only has three people now - the captain, the lieutenant,  and sergeant?  That's it?  No, plain ol' detectives?   And these three (OMG!  THREE!) are taking care of all of Manhattan?

Rollins is still just a detective, so a captain, a sergeant, and a detective.  However it shakes out rank-wise, it's ridiculous.  So many reasons they shouldn't have moved Carisi over to ADA, and this is one of them. 

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, Fellaway said:

Rollins is still just a detective, so a captain, a sergeant, and a detective.  However it shakes out rank-wise, it's ridiculous.  So many reasons they shouldn't have moved Carisi over to ADA, and this is one of them. 

That is what it should probably be, but it has been mentioned that Ice-T has his own series on another channel, where he does some hosting and he is an executive producer (Ice Cold Killers, I think?). If that takes up a lot of his time, we will only be seeing Benson and Rollins investigating these crime most of the time.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

That is what it should probably be, but it has been mentioned that Ice-T has his own series on another channel, where he does some hosting and he is an executive producer (Ice Cold Killers, I think?). If that takes up a lot of his time, we will only be seeing Benson and Rollins investigating these crime most of the time.

I have a feeling a show of entirely Benson and Rollins is what the writers and MH want, it can be all super mommy female empowerment stuff with Carisi acting as their legal lapdog. I really have a bad feeling about this season, I don’t like Carisi being an ADA now because it reduces his role, leaves the squad short handed and I fear that Carisi will be easily pushed around by Benson given that he’s used to taking orders from Benson. 

[dttruman]

6 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I have a feeling a show of entirely Benson and Rollins is what the writers and MH want, it can be all super mommy female empowerment stuff with Carisi acting as their legal lapdog.

If this unfortunately does happen, it will be interesting to read or listen to how Warren Leight spins this into some great feminist movement.

I just found something on line and the ratings. SVU isn't starting out well.

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/law-order-special-victims-unit-season-21-ratings/

[wknt3]

9 hours ago, dttruman said:

I just found something on line and the ratings. SVU isn't starting out well.

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/law-order-special-victims-unit-season-21-ratings/

Some additional context -

https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/tv-ratings-thursday-sept-26-2019/

https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/thursday-final-ratings-september-26-2019/

In the adjusted final live + same day ratings SVU did win it's time slot in the demo, although that's probably more about weak competition than anything else. It should be noted too that ratings have been soft for network television in general, even by today's low standards, especially for the 10pm shows. I do have to think that NBC will go all Barba and pull the plug if ratings decline to the same extent that they did during the course of last season. Or perhaps more likely they will send it to Staten Island aka Peacock (the new streaming service)...

[Fellaway]

They're up against football this time of year, too.  Nobody wins against football.

[SarahPrtr]

On 9/30/2019 at 2:59 AM, wknt3 said:

 switched to color, SVU has done the reverse.

Co-signed, although I will add that Stabler is too often ignored when we discuss the way the series has lost so much of it's humor that used to help balance out the darkness and keep the show from getting too full of itself. Meloni is a brilliant comic actor and could go from action to comedy to drama seamlessly.

Of course!  I mean, he played FREAKSHOW in Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle!!!

[dttruman]

10 hours ago, wknt3 said:

In the adjusted final live + same day ratings SVU did win it's time slot in the demo, although that's probably more about weak competition than anything else. It should be noted too that ratings have been soft for network television in general, even by today's low standards, especially for the 10pm shows. I do have to think that NBC will go all Barba and pull the plug if ratings decline to the same extent that they did during the course of last season. Or perhaps more likely they will send it to Staten Island aka Peacock (the new streaming service)...

thanks for the update!!

[wknt3]

20 hours ago, Fellaway said:

They're up against football this time of year, too.  Nobody wins against football.

That's true, but they were up against the NFL last season too and managed a 1.1. It looks like there is a trend where they start the season where they left off the year before and then things decline slowly but steadily from there. It's hard to see this as sustainable.

Edited October 2, 2019 by wknt3

[WendyCR72]

12 hours ago, wknt3 said:

That's true, but they were up against the NFL last season too and managed a 1.1. It looks like there is a trend where they start the season where they left off the year before and then things decline slowly but steadily from there. It's hard to see this as sustainable.

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, WendyCR72 said:

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

Agreed.  I don't think L&O:SVU is capturing any new viewership demographics (or just new viewers).

[SarahPrtr]

6 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

My husband is one of the original-episode-Simpsons fan, but even he is getting tired of the newer episodes.

[tennisgurl]

15 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

I mean, you can only watch Olivia do her stupid "concerned" face while young pretty (usually white) women cry onto her shoulder while her smugly tells evil rich white guys in suites that she is taking them down so many times before you start to get bored. I feel like a lot of the audience is watching out of habit at this point. 

[Xeliou66]

30 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I mean, you can only watch Olivia do her stupid "concerned" face while young pretty (usually white) women cry onto her shoulder while her smugly tells evil rich white guys in suites that she is taking them down so many times before you start to get bored. I feel like a lot of the audience is watching out of habit at this point. 

Yeah I watch just because I’m a huge fan of the whole L&O franchise, SVU just isn’t very good anymore, it’s all about St Olivia, with a lot of personal crap and repetitive plots designed to make Benson look good. 

[wknt3]

20 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Age may finally be catching up here.

From your lips to the NBC Pinheads' (TM David Letterman) ears!

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, wknt3 said:

From your lips to the NBC Pinheads' (TM David Letterman) ears!

I mean, it HAS to end at some point...right?!

[ww92]

On 10/1/2019 at 8:53 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

Newbie here but I'm not watching this season. Doesn't sound like it's a popular opinion around here but I liked Stabler and miss him on the show. 

I watched after Chris Meloni left and the first few seasons after that weren't bad but at some point I couldn't take one more minute of the new Benson. The whispering, the eye squinting, constantly trying to shove a specific political agenda down our throats. I dont know if Mariska changed after Meloni left or if Benson without Stabler to balance her out just doesn't work, but the show went downhill after he left IMO.

I'll just follow along in this forum. Y'all will have to let me know if there is ever an episode actually worth watching. 

Edited October 3, 2019 by ww92
Typo

[TV Diva Queen]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:03 PM, preeya said:

I'm not sure and have no expertise in NYPD policy, but wouldn't a promotion to Captain require passing an exam? Based on what Dodds said to St. Olivia he got her the promotion as part of his transfer "deal."

If true, this sounds mighty fishy to me. Can Frank Regan (the P.C.) appoint her as a captain?

Does anyone know??

and Jack McCoy ream her a new one for messing with his prosecutors. 

[observer]

Quote

But I take it year by year. I remember when Jon Stewart left The Daily Show [after 16 seasons], I said, "Well, if he's throwing in the towel, maybe I should." And then I went, "No, not done yet. Not done yet." And Dick wanted to break the record. But I didn't care about the record. I already was the longest-running female character on TV.

Mariska Hargitay Reflects on Epstein, Weinstein and Her 'SVU' Milestone: "Everywhere, People Are Talking About Sexual Violence"

       

        

Edited October 3, 2019 by observer

[observer]

So Olivia's first act as Captain is to go into the field to the hospital to interview a rape victim herself?  I guess when you only have to manage two people (only Rollins and Fin left, right?) in your department you have a lot of spare time on your hands.  And...now she is going to the rape victim's apartment for further expenditure of Captain's wage level sleuthing.

Then when Rollins tells her they have a hit from a military data base on one of the semen samples, after Olivia asks if it is Nick or Julie's:  I spy another acting technique involving  narrowing of the eyes in a frenetic manner added to the dropped open mouth technique, I think meant to demonstrate disbelief. 

Hahaha, best line:  Olivia asks Reagan how traces of semen were found in her Invisaligns.

Stellar police work here:

Quote

Olivia:  "I know that you were raped."

Reagan:  "How do you know?"

Omnipotent Olivia:  "I just know."

Plethora of hoarse voice technique this episode.

Thank goodness for Fin.  

Oh great, Billy Joel Uptown Girl earworm.

And in one final hoarse whisper, it ends with Olivia triumphant once again.

Edited October 5, 2019 by observer

[dttruman]

On 10/1/2019 at 10:38 AM, wknt3 said:

That's true, but they were up against the NFL last season too and managed a 1.1. It looks like there is a trend where they start the season where they left off the year before and then things decline slowly but steadily from there. It's hard to see this as sustainable.

On 10/1/2019 at 9:53 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Plus, you know, the show is just OLD. Viewers eventually stop watching any TV show, if because they tire of it, don't like the stories. Age may finally be catching up here.

On 10/1/2019 at 11:28 PM, CrystalBlue said:

Agreed.  I don't think L&O:SVU is capturing any new viewership demographics (or just new viewers).

On 10/2/2019 at 1:46 PM, tennisgurl said:

I feel like a lot of the audience is watching out of habit at this point. 

On 10/2/2019 at 2:39 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah I watch just because I’m a huge fan of the whole L&O franchise, SVU just isn’t very good anymore, it’s all about St Olivia, with a lot of personal crap and repetitive plots designed to make Benson look good. 

Do you all think that the so called "popularity" of SVU is spearheaded by a small but dedicated (maniacal) fan base  (i.e. on twitter or instagram)? Do they act like they are millions, spewing lavish praise about the show, but if they had an ounce of objectivity, they would know better

Edited October 6, 2019 by dttruman

[CrystalBlue]

9 hours ago, dttruman said:

Do you all think that the so called "popularity" of SVU is spearheaded by a small but dedicated (maniacal) fan base  (i.e. on twitter or instagram)? Do they act like they are millions, spewing lavish praise about the show, but if they had an ounce of objectivity, they would know better

No, I think it's based on the Neilsen ratings.  Shows don't stay on if advertisers don't pay for their ad time.  If no one's watching, those expensive commercials aren't watched either.  The fan groups think they rule the networks' decisions but they really don't.

[Norma Desmond]

Well, the good thing about Carisi being the  new ADA is that he won't fall for St. Olivia or commit a crime for her (that he would announce in a tear-filled "I did it for you, you changed my life" speech).

Edited November 9, 2019 by Norma Desmond

[illdoc]

Back to the "lieutenant/captain" issue...I just watched a L&O CI episode this morning where Eames was offered the captaincy of her department (major case) and it was said "of course, you'll have to take the captain's exam" and, in fact, at the end she called the chief and said "I will not be taking the captain's exam". So there is indeed a "captain's exam" that must be taken to become captain!!

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

Back to the "lieutenant/captain" issue...I just watched a L&O CI episode this morning where Eames was offered the captaincy of her department (major case) and it was said "of course, you'll have to take the captain's exam" and, in fact, at the end she called the chief and said "I will not be taking the captain's exam". So there is indeed a "captain's exam" that must be taken to become captain!!

But that was back in 2008/2009, when the franchise still cared about realism. Now? Well...

[Joe Hellandback]

On 9/27/2019 at 5:44 AM, LittleIggy said:

I would watch Ian McShane read the phone book. I freakin’ 💕 him!

Yeah, he was great as Judas and hasn't looked back since. 

[Joe Hellandback]

Oh was this TRASH!

1. Nice to see Carisi move on, that someone actually has some ambition but once again what does that say about the impartiality of the DA's office? 

2. Ian McShane gives a performance of charismatic repugnance

3. I liked the vice girl, hope we see her again.

4. How exactly did they convince any judge to grant a wiretap for what is a clear case of entrapment? 

5. Yeah, glad to see the back of Dodds really, he bored me. I don't find Benson being promoted all that unrealistic, public pressure.

6. So we're not getting a regular DA?

7. The phrase I want the SVU to learn is "And then what happened?" not leading with phrases such as "So he let you go?". Open questions.

8. Way to pressure the witness Finn.

[MythTaken]

I haven’t posted here in ages, but I see it’s still 90% Benson (and MH) bashing. I’m no Benson fan, but don’t people get bored of this? 
 

McShane’s accent in the ep was weird. He was obviously trying to sound Scouse, but it sounded like he was doing a bad Jimmy Saville impression. I thought he dislikes the #metoo movement too, so I’m surprised he did an episode about the event that helped make it so big. 

Edited December 14, 2019 by MythTaken

[Joe Hellandback]

On 12/14/2019 at 11:23 PM, MythTaken said:

I haven’t posted here in ages, but I see it’s still 90% Benson (and MH) bashing. I’m no Benson fan, but don’t people get bored of this? 
 

McShane’s accent in the ep was weird. He was obviously trying to sound Scouse, but it sounded like he was doing a bad Jimmy Saville impression. I thought he dislikes the #metoo movement too, so I’m surprised he did an episode about the event that helped make it so big. 

Perhaps that was exactly what he was aiming for? Plus he might have done this as a sop to MeToo. No one wants the Benson bashing, we'd love an ep where we could applaud her.  

[MythTaken]

On 12/18/2019 at 5:37 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

Perhaps that was exactly what he was aiming for? Plus he might have done this as a sop to MeToo. No one wants the Benson bashing, we'd love an ep where we could applaud her.  

A sop?

Saville had a completely different accent, so it wouldn’t make sense to do an impression of him, while playing a Scouser. It was a great performance regardless.

I don’t quite believe that. People seem to enjoy making it personal way too much. The comments about MH are plain nasty. 

Edited January 13, 2020 by MythTaken

[Joe Hellandback]

6 hours ago, MythTaken said:

A sop?

Saville had a completely different accent, so it wouldn’t make sense to do an impression of him, while playing a Scouser. It was a great performance regardless.

I don’t quite believe that. People seem to enjoy making it personal way too much. The comments about MH are plain nasty. 

Yanks wouldn't know the difference and perhaps he couldn't do a Mancunian (?) accent? As for MH she has become such a zealot and it impacts on the show, I'm watching some of the first season and it was so different, Benson is actually cynical towards the female victims then 

[agentp]

On 1/14/2020 at 5:42 AM, MythTaken said:

The comments about MH are plain nasty.

IMHO, the more famous you are, the less compassion you deserve.

[dttruman]

On 1/14/2020 at 12:19 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

On 1/13/2020 at 5:42 PM, MythTaken said:

I don’t quite believe that. People seem to enjoy making it personal way too much. The comments about MH are plain nasty. 

Yanks wouldn't know the difference and perhaps he couldn't do a Mancunian (?) accent? As for MH she has become such a zealot and it impacts on the show, I'm watching some of the first season and it was so different, Benson is actually cynical towards the female victims then 

I have to agree with you on Hargitay taking it a little too seriously. The show has obviously taken a different direction since she became an executive producer and it's focused more Benson instead of the investigations, especially the last few seasons.

Your point is well taken concerning episodes from the early years as compared to now. MYTHTAKEN should be able to realize this. Granted the comments are somewhat abrasive, but their substance comes from objectivity and comparisons of quality from past and present episodes.

52 minutes ago, agentp said:

On 1/13/2020 at 5:42 PM, MythTaken said:

The comments about MH are plain nasty.

IMHO, the more famous you are, the less compassion you deserve.

I always go by, you get what you deserve