Smile, Jeremy! Plenty of reason to.
You don't last seventeen years - eighteen, actually, now that I'm thinking of it - in the viper den of network primetime TV without a smidgen of luck, and "Law & Order" just might be the luckiest bastard of them all.
It's back tonight with a two hour premiere (actually two separate episodes) and forget whether it's good (sure, of course, always is) or "relevant" (after years of ripped-from-the-headline "relevance," it feels a little over-relevant sometimes). "L&O;" is lucky. Lucky. LUCKY! Fabulously ridiculously lucky. A Writers strike sinks an industry and what does "L&O;" do before the bow slips beneath the waves? Manages to can almost a season worth of fresh episodes. NBC wasn't sure the leaky old scow (can't get away from these maritime metaphors for some reason - sorry) still has the ooomph to prop up a whole season, so "L&O;" got a midseason berth and a "limited" eighteen episode order instead. (Other mid-season entries are in good shape too, like "Medium," which starts next Monday, to name one.)
Last spring, some were wondering whether "L&O;" would survive to another year. Now, "L&O;" just might just SAVE NBC's whole season.
Tonight is something old, something new. New characters or a couple anyway, enter alongside the old, some of whom have a new gloss. The aforementioned relevance: "L&O;" (in the first hour, "Called Home") remains in thrall to Big Ideas even if those are never fully or adequately explored in the context of 44 minutes of program time (which is then structurally split between the two broad themes of any "L&O;" - investigation and justice.) We have stuff like euthanasia, freedom of the press, and the limited ability of the courts to adjudicate issues like these. Meanwhile, Jack McCoy moves into Arthur Branch's office, and a new executive ADA, Michael Cutter moves into Jack's old office. Cutter is Linus Roache, Brit actor who looks - depending on camera angle - like either Steven Weber or Jon Stewart. He's a sharper dresser than McCoy - who always seems to wear the same suit - and a sharper talker too; but there's a certain talk-show glibness to the dude. He doesn't have the gravitas of Jack, at least in the first hour (give him time.) Jack? He looks (or acts) like he was born to be DA; no one (you'll hardly be surprised to learn) is sitting around pining for the good old days with Art.
Also: Jeremy Sisto, a fine actor who's still looking for something (let's call it "stardom" who plays the yin to Jesse L. Martin's yang. Sisto's Detective Cyrus Lupo is a grim, stolid type - good reason for that, because his brother has died and he returns from overseas to (ultimately) join Ed Green (Martin) in the investigation.
And you'll also quickly recognize two particularly brilliant character actors in the first hour - Michael McKean, who plays a sodden TV anchor-host named Nolan; and...the pretty much always great Brad Dourif (Wormtongue, "Lord of the Rings," among a million other less-than-savory roles) who's a Dr. David Lingard here.
Bottom line: Watch! Of course! What else is there to watch?! This is also "Law & Order" - an enduring class unto itself (lucky too, as I think I mentioned) and a wonderful iconic American television show, and - by the looks of things - perhaps the last dramatic show left standing...or floating.
The splendid Dourif - from "Deadwood" days.