Law and Order: TV’s Longest-Running Drama Opens 18th Season
Two-Hour Premiere Introduces Two to Cast
For years, people have been grumbling about the original Law & Order that eventually spawned a couple of successful spinoffs (1999′s Special Victims Unit and 2001′s Criminal Intent) and one short-lived dud (2005′s Trial by Jury). Complaints usually focus on the decreased appeal of the storylines when not pointing out that even after seventeen years, viewers still know next to nothing about the series’ main characters.
As justified as such criticisms are, sometimes more and sometimes less, I’m one fan who continues to enjoy each season of the show to a large extent. Now that actors Jeremy Sisto and Linus Roache are joining the cast in tonight’s two-hour, two-episode 18th-season premiere “Called Home/Darkness,” I’m looking forward to the procedural more than ever.
Sisto and Roache are no strangers to each other, NBC, television, or crime procedurals since they starred together in one of the best new Fall 2006 series that didn’t last, the Peacock’s Kidnapped. Both actors also portrayed lawmen then, as well, which should make their transition to L&O that much smoother. Sisto works on the “Order” side as Detective Cyrus Lupo, Detective Ed Green’s (Jesse L. Martin) new partner now that wooden Milena Govich has (thankfully) left the show, while Roache toils on the “Law” beat as new Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter.
In addition to the fresh regular faces, central series veteran Sam Waterston has taken over the bossman position of Executive Assistant District Attorney following the departure of former cast member Fred Dalton Thompson at the end of last season to pursue a run for the U.S. presidency in 2008. Although it was nice to break ground with the series’ first female detective (Govich) last year, the current changes are looking substantially better and long-lasting. Don’t forget to see for yourself tonight at 9pm EST.
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Law & Order will air Wednesdays on NBC at 10pm EST following the 18th-season premiere
Law & Order photos courtesy of Will Hart/NBC
