L is for Law & Order...all of them

Law & Order (franchise) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If someone told me I could only watch one t.v. show for the rest of my life, I would choose Law & Order...well, all of the different series, though a friend says that's cheating. "Together, the original series, its various spin-offs, the TV film, and crossover episodes from other shows constitute over 900 hours of programming." (Wikipedia), though I think that number is larger now, more like 1,500. I have spent twelve hours watching a Law & Order marathon on American television. (some might say that this was a waste of time but I was on vacation don't judge me!) There is; Law and Order (20 seasons, 456 episodes) (September 13, 1990 – May 24, 2010), Law and Ordr: Special Victims Unit (16 seasons, 362 episodes) (September 20, 1999 – present), Law and Order: Criminal Intent (10 seasons, 195 episodes) (September 30, 2001 – June 26, 2011), Law and Order: Trial By Jury (1 season, 13 episodes) (March 3, 2005 – January 21, 2006), Law and Order: LA (1 season, 22 episodes) (September 29, 2010 – July 11, 2011), so I have alot of Law & Order to catch up on.
Law & Order started in 1990 on NBC, I remember watching the first season, it blew me away from the start. In the 80's the cop shows were less serious and gritty, Chips, T. J. Hooker...etc, though Hill Street Blues was a series cop show but that was more about their relationships...Law & Order was about the crimes, you rarely knew what happened in their private lives.
There have been many detectives on the show but the best has always beenLennie Briscoe as played by Jerry Orbach, also known as Baby's dad in Dirty Dancing and the candlestick in Beauty and the Beast. He always had the best comebacks and one liners.
I think one of the reasons it's been popular for so long, though SVU is the only version of it currently broadcast, is the 'ripped from the headlines' storylines. Half the fun is guessing who the people really are...and that we sometimes see them get the justice they deserve, even if it's only on the show and not in real life. One of the other reasons it's so popular is the guest stars, there have been enough Oscar, Tony, Grammy award winners on this show to fill a Broadway theatre...Julia Roberts, Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Jeremy Irons, John Ritter, Neil Patrick Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Williams, Jerry Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joan Jett, Martha Stewart, Sharon Stone, Bradley Cooper, Sam Rockwell, James Earl Jones, Harry Connick Jr., Patti Smith and a personal favourite...Chris Sarandon...though the list goes on and on.
Taylor Swift is also a huge Law & Order fan...one of her cats is even named Olivia Benson.
One of the other things I love about Law and Order is that it crossed over several times with one of my other favorite t.v. shows, Homicide: Life On The Street...Det. Munch from SVU even started out on Homicide.

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C - CSI...all of them...

Search Amazon.com for csi Search Amazon.com for csi

The CSI franchise started in 2000, in Las Vegas with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. CSI: Miami followed two years later in 2002 and then CSI: NY in 2004. More than 2 billion people worldwide watch CSI...and I'm one of them.

Now I'm going to write about each city but I'm saying straight off that CSI: Vegas is my favorite. The original and still the best. The Vegas team is lead by forensic entomologist Gil Grissom, who's a little socially inept but a great scientist. And Catherine Willows, the most kick ass ginger on T.V.! I have nothing bad to say about CSI: Vegas, I have never mocked it with friends...unlike...

CSI: Miami, which is one of the most ridiculous shows on T.V....but at some point it was the most watched show on the planet. This is not because it's good, that the story lines are riveting or the acting is Oscar level or the editing is cutting edge. No, it's because it's so bad and because of the hero to the down-trodden and the enemy of all the bad guys...Horatio Cane. (I'm rolling my eyes just thinking of him) Ginger For Justice!

One of the things that make CSI: Vegas so great is the humor and the chemistry between the team members. You can actually believe that these people like each other and are friends. When one of them makes a cheesy one-liner, another one will call them on it or give them a look like 'what did you just say?'. On CSI: Miami there is no humor, at least not intentional, all the humor is from the overly earnest dialogue and acting and the crap editing and ridiculous plots and...you get the picture. I'm surprised that Horatio has any time to solve crimes, since he's always telling the children of crime victims to call him anytime.

When there was the Miami/NYC crossover to launch CSI: NY, David Caruso looked like the horrendous actor he is next to Gary Sinise, who's not only won an Emmy and a Golden Globe but has been nominated for an Oscar and a Palm d'Or. It was embarrassing.

The crossover introduced us to Detective Mac Taylor, who's wife died in the 9/11 tragedy and the rest of his team. CSI: NYC is a bit darker than the other two shows...literally, it's lit really dark. I like CSI: NY but it's getting a little crazy with all the celebrity guests...Pete Wentz & Ashlee Simpson, Nelly, Kid Rock, Nelly Furtado, Joey Lawrence,
Marlee Matlin, Sasha Cohen, Maroon 5, Julia Ormond, Criss Angel, Suicide Girls, Chris Daughtry, John McEnroe (as himself)...really it's getting ridiculous!
All the CSI series have had an unfortunate side effect to being so cool and showing us how crimes are solved...the 'CSI effect', which...

'is a reference to the phenomenon of popular television shows such as the CSI franchise raising crime victims' and jury members', even criminals', real-world expectations of forensic science, especially crime scene investigation and DNA testing.'

I know that most of the things they do on the CSI shows aren't actually correct and they don't have 'magic' computers but I still love them! And I have to admit that I often 'CSI' things myself...oh god...I really do watch too much T.V.!

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Today on Murder, She Wrote...Dead to RIghts

Jessica reluctantly agrees to help her former researcher on a murder charge despite the fact that the woman is a pathological liar. (from http://jesmaine.tripod.com/mswseason9.html)



Jessica is still in Cabot Cove. Her assistant, Dana, heads back down south to Portland, Maine after helping research a book. Dana is applying for a job at a securities company. She's totally blagging it.

OMG! It's Hodges from CSI. He play this guy Todd at the securities company.

Dana totally messed up on the research on Jessica's book and she has to re-do all of it.

Then Dana pretends to be Jessica and gives herself a glowing reference to Ethan Stevens, the boss at the securities company. So she gets the job.

Mr. Stevens has been doing insider trading and fraud. He gets threatened by his partner. 48 hour...48 hours.

Jessica's at dinner with a publisher. Mr. Stevens, thinking he had talked to her earlier that day, comes up and says hi. Jessica is flummoxed by the conversation.

Jessica comes to the brokerage to confront Dana. She's still lying about pretty much everything. She's shocked when Jessica tells Dana that's she knows Dana a 'big fat liar'. (my words not Jessica's)

Mrs. Stevens confronts Dana and basically threatens her...'He is my major clown.'

Later on that night...Mr. Stevens is shot after saying...'Dana, what are you doing?'

Even though Dana's a 'big fat liar', she's no murderer. But she's arrested for his murder. Her prints, hair and blood were on the gun and she had GSR on her hands.

Dana's public defender, Vincent Polaski. asks Jessica to investigate the case for her because his P.I. is in rehab. He guilts her out and she ends up doing it...as long as 'she can go for 5 minutes without lying.'

Her blood was on Mr. Stevens desk because she claims to have lost an earring in his office.

The prosecutor, Bruce Hastings, looks like a cross between Gordon Gekko and Pat Riley.

Jessica and Polaski think that Dana had inside help getting a job at the brokerage because she knew too much about it. So they go Polaski's grandma, Wanda, who's a computer hacker.

Of course the inside guy is Hodges...I mean Todd. Dana and Todd went to the same high school in Vermont. Mrs. Stevens shows up with Baker Lawerence, Mr. Stevens, partner.

The police psychologist says Dana has 'borderline psychosis'...no duh.

Jessica wonders why Mrs. Stevens and Baker were in Ethan's office on the day of his funereal.

Polaski and Jessica go to check out Stevens office again. The security guard pops in and out. They hide under the desk. It's made of jasmine wood, which is 'unusually soft' there's no way she hit her head on the desk...someone had to have hit her over the head with something.

Holy Crap the prosecutor was Ethan Stevens partner in crime! And his killer!

Dana goes into therapy for her lying.