i begin by saying i'm a big fan of L&O, having seen and enjoyed most of the first 16 series. but something seems to have changed in series 17, and taken the show from head and shoulders above the others down to bordering on run of the mill with the rest.
milena govich cast as det nina cassady is a glaring and perhaps symbolic example. she appears to have been chosen for the sake of 'sexing up' the show. the only gravitas she has is in her push up bra (with the accompanying 3 open buttons of her top). and looking at her conduct as a detective, how did cassady ever get promotion to this illustrious unit of the NYPD? in episode 7 the suspect, under interrogation, blurts out and calls her 'sugar tits' - all very titillating, but L&O never used to call on this particular element of the movie maker's tool box.
i'm in england so we run a little behind the US screenings. we are just seeing series 17 now, and we've had the first 8 episodes. of those episodes, 3 have already had celebrity/youth orientated plot lines, with a sensationalist flavour. has the show decided to target a younger (and less discriminating) audience? the plot lines are less intricate, the legal issues have lost their fascinating convolutedness, the police section is more superficial, the characters have gone thinner, the scripts are weaker, and the acting has gone more watery too - partly on account of the weaker material. beside looking older, naturally, sam waterston looks tired - playing with less conviction - maybe because he's not convinced by the show any longer.
did money talk behind the scenes? too bad if it did, and maybe got it wrong into the bargain - maybe they should've stuck with their core, loyal audience of the first 16 years.
milena govich cast as det nina cassady is a glaring and perhaps symbolic example. she appears to have been chosen for the sake of 'sexing up' the show. the only gravitas she has is in her push up bra (with the accompanying 3 open buttons of her top). and looking at her conduct as a detective, how did cassady ever get promotion to this illustrious unit of the NYPD? in episode 7 the suspect, under interrogation, blurts out and calls her 'sugar tits' - all very titillating, but L&O never used to call on this particular element of the movie maker's tool box.
i'm in england so we run a little behind the US screenings. we are just seeing series 17 now, and we've had the first 8 episodes. of those episodes, 3 have already had celebrity/youth orientated plot lines, with a sensationalist flavour. has the show decided to target a younger (and less discriminating) audience? the plot lines are less intricate, the legal issues have lost their fascinating convolutedness, the police section is more superficial, the characters have gone thinner, the scripts are weaker, and the acting has gone more watery too - partly on account of the weaker material. beside looking older, naturally, sam waterston looks tired - playing with less conviction - maybe because he's not convinced by the show any longer.
did money talk behind the scenes? too bad if it did, and maybe got it wrong into the bargain - maybe they should've stuck with their core, loyal audience of the first 16 years.