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I woke up in the middle of the night Saturday and scrolled through the TV and on TNT at about 2:00 AM was a Law and Order from 1990, then another one back to back. Same thing Sunday night/Monday morning.
For those of you who haven't been (or were not around yet) fans from day one, these are worth checking out. Michael Moriarty was Executive Assistant DA, Richard Brooks was his assistant (he sometimes plays a defense attorney now), and Steven Hill was still the District Attorney-except in the very first episode. Dann Florek was the Polic Lt. Chris Noth and George Dzundza were the detectives. Dzundza was killed off during the second season.
Of course with a show that's been on 20 seasons, many experienced actors have made appearances, sometimes before they became famous. Jerry Orbach made at least one appearance as a defense attorney before he became a detective, S. Epath Merkerson (longest running actor on the show) played the mother of a murder victim before becoming the Lt.
Some people from the first season, and others who have appeared on their way up;
Patricia Clarkson, as kind of a "Mayflower Madam",
William H. Macy, as the United States Attorney in the first episode,
David Groh, as a wife beating, crack dealing shrink,
Claire Danes, I don't recall exactly, may have killed her step father
Laura Linney, on trial for murder,
Diedre Lovejoy, "The Wire" and just about every one hour cop drama,
Jim True-Frost, "The Wire",
Idris Elba, "The Wire",
I watched it when it started. I guess I was about thirteen then. I liked it and I remember the first review of it I ever heard made me mad because the guy said "this is a boring cop drama that will be lucky to last beyond this first season." I imagine that guy must feel silly now.
To be honest I think because I watched it that long I got "fatigued" with it. I'm not sure when I started getting fatigued with it, but I think by the 11th season I was a bit. (I missed Adam Schiff) Although I say "fatigued" rather than saying it got bad or anything because I don't think that was my issue. I just felt like I had had enough of it after a certain point. However I think I still watched it pretty faithfully until maybe Season 14, but around Season 17 I pretty much quit.
Well Thomas I can certainly understand what you mean by fatigue. I even get that with "South Park" and it's not like you need to make L&O into "appointment" viewing, you know it'll be on TNT within a week (it seems) of being on NBC.
I have a good friend who swore she'd quit watching when Steven Hill left, but she still watches it. One of the things that gets me is that they try too hard to stretch the "based on true events" thing happen. The one about the astronaut and a few like that really put me off. I've liked a lot of the cast changes although the girl DA (married to a football player) wasn't my favorite and I loathe Fred Thompson. Michael Imperioli didn't do it for me (or for them apparently) as a detective and I wasn't too sure about Anderson as a cop, but he's really grown on me and works well with his partner and it gives Epatha Merkerson an opportunity to play off another black actor.
Still for 20 years it's held up well but I wonder if the move to Friday night, never a good sign, is going to kill it off. That and having Jack McCoy in an elected job, that's a stretch too.
I watched it when the originals were on it , chris noth as mike logan , micheal moritariti as the da and george dzundza as a detective greene , jerry orbach as lenny briscoe , dann florek as the police lt , wow i can not believe that it has been that long . I loved it for the first five yrs but then it started going down hill . I do miss the original cast which in my opinion was the best .
That's funny I liked that girl DA and I like Fred Thompson okay. Heck if he hadn't been such a dud I was thinking of voting for Thompson for President. (He's more influenced by the kind of Kirkian, as in Russell Kirk, conservatism I like better)
I think Elisabeth Rohm and the female cop did turn me off a tad. It amazes me Rohm was on the longest of any of them as, to me, she was one of the most wooden actresses I'd seen on TV. Then her "is it because I'm a lesbian?" line in the last episode was just weird. That's more the writers fault, but it felt strange to spring that in her last minutes as they had never discussed or even said it before so far as I know. (Also as someone mentioned at the time what can he say to that other than "no." If he said "yes, I'm firing you because you're a lesbian" or even "it's not exactly because you're a lesbian, but..." he would have opened himself up for a lawsuit or something)
Anyway the original cast was neat. Michael Moriarty is apparently a very unusual person, despite his character Moriarty is intensely Right-wing by the sounds of it, but he was good in that role. He was generally more sympathetic than Waterson who played a somewhat tougher guy I think. Although Robinette was good I liked Jill Hennesy too. I think I liked the assistants until Serena. (And I'm aware I'm using character-name or actor-name a bit randomly)
Thomas R, you are definitely right about the whole "departure" of Elisabeth Rohm, weird. I've always thought it odd that IMDB lists her as 65 episodes over 5 years but Carey Lowell as 40 eppies over 5 years. I guess it's a function of coming in and going out in mid-season or something.
Jill Hennessey was pretty good and I liked her in her other show (can't remember the name of it right now), I really like Alena DeLaGarza, especially with her hair a bit longer than it was her first season, very easy on the eyes.
I was really shocked when they murdered George Dzundza (Greevey) he just looked like a cop to me. Although in one of the first ones there was some gay or Catholic church issue that he asked the Lt. to take him off the case. Somehow I can't imagine any of my cop buddies trying that with their bosses.
Like others said, it's lost some of its edge over the years but it's still miles ahead of CSI (good for about 1 or 2 eppies) or Criminal Minds (almost unwatchable IMO) or a lot of the other dreck that the networkds churn out.
I liked Adam and I liked the lady DA, saw her last night as a matter of fact! I liked most of the ADAs except Serena. I didn't like her in Angel and I didn't like her on L&O. She's on something else now and still don't like her! I liked Angie Harmon, the one married to the football player. I liked the one who got killed in the car crash with Lenny. I wasn't so thrilled when Moriatry was ADA because he lost a lot of cases! Too bad Moriarty was such a drunk that he screwed up his L&O gig. I was thrilled when Jesse L. Martin became Det. Green because I only knew him as the sexy park guy from Ally McBeal! I LOVED Lenny. Yep, I still watch but it's not as "important" as it used to be. Like someone said, it can be caught on TNT now. SVU....THAT I am tiring of quickly. Well, maybe not so quickly since it's been on for years too but I am finally tiring of it.
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