05.30 Law And Order
06.30 The Jury
07.30 30 Rock
08.00 Life On Mars
02.30 Wings
Law And Order. Season 18, Episode 14. "Burn Card" GREAT. A script with a very difficult job. Since this is the last episode for Jesse L. Martin, the story has to service him and his character (Ed Green) so that his fans won't feel short-changed. It succeeds. Green shoots a criminal, appears to have planned the murder to cover his own dark deeds (as if!) and is cleared with the revelation that he is covering for someone that he feels responsible for. At the end, he walks out as even more of a hero. Nice.
Amazingly, the script is not dominated by Green. In fact, four of the other five regulars get very meaty roles. The episode gives Jeremy Sisto/Lupo lots of key scenes, too. Confusion over his partner's involvement, passion to clear Green, outrage over the way the D.A.'s are handling it, etc. Lupo continues to be my favourite new TV cop.
Speaking of the D.A.'s this is one of the best-ever episodes for Alana De La Garza and Linus Roache (and their characters). Cutter (to his credit) goes after Green as he would any suspect, while Rubirosa has never been cooler as she defies Cutter (in open court) and de-rails one of the prosecution witnesses. You can almost hear her heart beating in terror, and their confrontation afterwards is the sort of solid character scene the show rarely bothers to do.
Even S. Epatha Merkerson gets lots to do. Van Buren's relationship with Green, Lupo and (new regular) Bernard is explored in several instances. The writers even manage to give Bernard lots of good solid character moments. His introduction as a potential replacement for Green is a bit heavy-handed, unfortunately, but in an episode this great that is not a major problem.
I've enjoyed these 14 episodes of Law And Order as much as any episode from the first decade of the show. While Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth will always be the quintessential detective duo on the show Green and Lupo come pretty darn close (in my book) and I've had an absolute ball watching them together this season. I wish Martin/Green was staying, to be honest.
The Jury. Episode 1. "Pilot" Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana and the other people who made this show also made Homicide, the best cop show ever. And with credits that include stuff like Oz and St. Elsewhere you know that these people cannot deliver anything except High Quality Television. So it is with The Jury, their attempt to do Twelve Angry Men every week.
Case #1 find the jury talking about the case of a cop who may (or may not) have driven over a homeless man and fled the scene. It's a strong case/story and the cast are terrific. In the end it comes down to a discussion over whether the homeless man's life is worth anything when balanced against the life of the cop.
30 Rock. Season 3, Episode 1. "Do-Over" Not the funniest episode but, because I was happy to see it back, I laughed out loud at the most minor of gags. It's an inspired idea for a story. Liz is being evaluated as a potential adoptive mother and the inspector (who followed her to work) is given a severe concussion (by the gang at 30 Rock) and forgets the dreadful morning that has just occurred. Liz could/should take her to hospital but - given the amnesia - opts instead to pretend none of it happened and take the hapless woman on a second tour of the building. For the first time.
Megan Mullally underplays it and gets lots of good laughs. But the big laughs go to Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. Baldwin's character is about to sell his body to get ahead.
Life On Mars. Episode 2. "The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler" Harvey Keitel is awful and the case-of-the-week is boring, so watching this second episode is a bit of a chore.
Wings. Season 2, Episode 2. "The Story of Joe" AVERAGE. It could be any episode from any season. A reporter comes to write about Joe but finds his brother much more interesting and this leads Joe to sulk and admit (at the end) that he wishes he were a tiny bit like Brian. It hits it's quota of laughs, most generated by Rebecca Schull as Fay and two guest characters from it's parent show Cheers.
Highlight? Law And Order (bye-bye Detective Green)
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Mon, Nov 17, 08 - Law And Order, Jury, 30 Rock, Life On Mars, Wings
