On small style changes and Criminal Intent

Since I'm running late tonight, y'all get a two-for-one entry! Try to hide your burgeoning affection and appreciation for this. Well, unless you're a classy, attractive lady. (hey. callll me.)

- As you may or may not have noticed, I am trying my best to get this blog in line with the features you see on most other publications. Last night, I took the plunge and added the Link Within widget to my blog. Now, all of you new readers will be able to read glorious past entries that I've done, such as surveying the late night scene, and asking Comedy Central not to suck, and about lions and dogs with sweaters in Rhode Island.

(I wonder if me writing about Linked Within will cause my blog to explode though, like a supernova caving in upon itself. It's a risk I'm willing to take.)

- In completely unrelated news, I'm kind of digging Law and Order: Criminal Intent, even though the show no longer has Bobby Goren and Eames (a.k.a. the nice lady from The Mighty Ducks 2). Those two had always been the standout characters of the show to me, followed closely by Captain James Deakins and Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver.

However, the new detectives are pretty solid and provide a new dynamic for the show. There is a bit of blatant sexual tension and flirting between Zach Nichols (Jeff Goldblum) and Serena Stevens (the foxy Saffron Burrows), which is refreshing, considering that most Law and Order shows just tease romance or portray it as an impossibility (Eames and Goren, or Benson and Stabler). Having Nichols and Stevens hook up would take the show in a bit of a new direction, which I would enjoy, as long as it didn't become the sole focus. (Special Victims Unit became unwatchable to me when it started to become more about the detective's back stories.)

Is Criminal Intent as good as the first five seasons, which had Goren, Eames, Deakins and Carver? No, but it's still good in a different way. It remains focused on weird criminals and detective stories, in grisly details, as opposed to the law quirks of the main show or the technical mumbo jumbo of a CSI or NCIS.

Coping with the loss of a loved one: Law and Order

According to multiple media outlets, including the lovely Blast magazine of Boston that I sometimes contribute to, and Deadline, Law and Order will not be renewed by NBC for a 21st season. As a result, it will not edge out Gunsmoke as the longest running drama on network television, which makes me sad.

Has Law and Order fallen on tough times recently? Yes. Like Saturday Night Live, it doesn't seem to attract the same talent that it once did. While I don't mind Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson, I would put Jerry Orbach, Jesse Martin, Paul Sorvino, Chris Noth and Benjamin Bratt in front of them, in roughly that order.

In terms of the district attorney side, Waterston isn't as compelling as the DA as opposed to a courtroom prosecutor, and there has been a similar talent drain among the upper levels - Captain Cragen is now a linchpin on Special Victims Unit, and Paul Robinette and Steven Hill aren't walking through that door, as Rick Pitino would say.

I consider the current pairing equivalent to some of the show's more flawed yet interesting characters, like Nina Cassady (the foxy Milena Govich), Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm), Abbie Carmichael (another stone cold fox, Angie Harmon) and Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina). Then again, I'm one of the 10 people alive who still favors Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone to Sam Waterston, unless they're selling robot insurance, so what do I know?

I will still have old episodes of Law and Order to keep me company on TNT, and there are rumors that they will try to keep running new episodes over there. If so, then I say huzzah! Although it sometimes feels dated, I much prefer the original to Special Victims Unit, which is far too wrapped up in its own characters' drama at times, and while I love Criminal Intent, it really is more of a classic detective show as opposed to a police and court procedural. Also, what exactly is NBC's thinking on this? While the show has disappointed in the ratings, so has everything NBC has done

The photo of the old Law and Order cast comes, inexplicably, from this site on Georgia Bulldog sports.

Computer buying, Casey's trivia and other lows

[Left] I could have used Elizabeth Bogush, the redhead from the KGB commercials, last night. Then again, who couldn't? Thanks to AdRants for the photo.

First, as a procedural note, sorry about the late posting of this entry. Unfortunately, I went non-stop from about 9 a.m. Thursday to 4 a.m. Friday, between work and the trivia finals at Casey's (more on that later). I slept in until about noon today, but because of that, I was working from 1 p.m. to just now. Whew!

Anyway, to reference the title first: Can anyone recommend a good laptop for me to buy? Money is a priority, so the cheaper the better, but things like bundled software don't matter as much to me. The only real requirement would be a big hard drive - I'm a pack rat when it comes to files, and I'd want something at least as big as my current desktop hard drive, which is 120 gig. Hopefully, I'd also use this laptop to get rid of my desktop. And I don't want an Apple / Mac.

As for why I need a new laptop, time to get on to the personal stuff. My laptop overheated and the battery is completely shot, probably because the fans don't work properly. It's about five years old and kind of beat up at this point, so it would probably be better to replace it now as opposed to trying another band-aid fix.

On top of the laptop breaking, my team came in second at the Casey's trivia finals last night. That sounds pretty good, except that we lost out on first place by ONE POINT! Ugh. What gives??? The sad thing is that there were several questions - What was actor Fred Thompson's character name on Law and Order, what character danced while he sliced an ear off in Reservoir Dogs - that I should have gotten. So frustrating to be so close to winning, only to have it "yoinked!" from us.

The chaos Law and Order inflicts on my life

Carmichael and Borgia - Good times, good times.

Law and Order is too good sometimes, which is more of a problem than you would think. I'm not alone in saying this, I'm sure, but once I start watching an episode, I almost always have to watch it to the end. It matters little who the cast is made up of; all the episodes are great.

(For the record though, my all-star lineup would be Ben Stone, Abbie Carmichael or Borgia, and Briscoe and Green. I preferred Stone's somewhat snide, even temperament to McCoy's bluster, Abbie and Borgia are stone cold foxes who are still good actresses, and the Briscoe-Green duo was by far the best the show ever had.)

The issue is that once I start watching an episode, I almost always have to finish. I've been late for countless things because I've just HAD to see how a certain episode finishes. The problem is compounded for Criminal Intent, my favorite of the Law and Order spin-offs, but even Special Victims Unit, my least favorite, can ensnare my attention at times.

And the worst thing is when you're watching the first half of a Law and Order, and following along intently, in rapt attention, on the edge of your seat... And then within 30 seconds of a scene starting, you realize you caught the last 30 minutes of this episode at a previous point, so now you have to find something else to watch for the last 30 minutes, until the next episode comes on. aaaahhhhhh.

I'm still waiting for a 24-hour Law and Order network, because 1) there are enough episodes to do it and 2) I think others are as obsessed with the show as I am. Heck, if you needed to fill out the programming schedule, throw in some shows that are like Law and Order without quite being it. Like detective shows! Matlock and Columbo would be great on my Law and Order channel. I realize there is a “mystery” channel that has Matlock on it already, but the rest of its offerings are things like Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder, the sub par mystery shows.

Uncharmed

Short on talent, large on... something else.

The bad thing about the WB / UPN / CW / future Sucky Network is that their continual lack of programming means shows that are just OK survive for years, to the point where their crappy producers can then package up 100 episodes and spread their stink to TNT.

Please TNT, give me anything besides Charmed, which is like a second-rate cheesy magic show. Just splurge and buy Buffy (another show I'm not crazy about but clearly better than Charmed) or show more Law and Order. Yes, I realize they already show Law and Order two to four times a day, but they do have about 400 to chose from (about 22 per year for 18 years).

My two main critiques of Charmed would be 1) it arbitrarily makes up characters and rules and powers for its characters, even more so than normal for a show of its nature and 2) the characters have the personality of this chair I'm sitting on. Shannon Doherty was the lone interesting one, and she probably knifed someone backstage, explaining why she left. I would too if my co-stars' main "acting" abilities were the knee-jerk whine (Holly Marie Combs), and being short and hot (Alyssa Milano).