I think that was Ben Stone. The suspect had some connections for Russian organized crime and Stone made a deal with the guy’s Russian-born attorney that New York County would not prosecute. Brooklyn is King’s County.
In the real world, one of the girls that Bernardo and Homolka raped was Homolka’s 15 year old little sister, who died due to the drugs they sedated her with.
I found one example that IMHO constitutes some of the worst acting I have ever seen on this series. If anyone is interested, check out Season 13 Episode 24 - Smoke.
If you FF to the 30 minute mark, there is a scene with Serena, Jack McCoy and Arthur Branch in which Serena reads her lines in such a wooden manner that I have to say I have never seen worse acting on this show. I want to stress this is only my opinion and I am certainly no expert on acting to be sure. But when she reads these lines, I cannot see any emotion. It’s like a ten year old who is learning to read was speaking these lines.
The role of the female A.D.A. is so pivitol to this series, I have to ask how someone with such an incredible lack of acting skills ever got to play such a high powered role. The other women who have played this role were - again in my opinion - real standouts and I enjoyed them immensely.
So what was going on with Rohm? Does anyone know how or why she ever got this role?
Great episode. Grandma was played by Frances Sternhagen. If I recall correctly, the character agreed to plead guilty in exchange for NY law enforcement fully investigating her son’s death.
Ha! That’s a good “you can’t unring the bell” example.
Speaking of the Rohmbot’s acting skills, I swear there was an episode where Serena introduced herself as “Sabrina”. Did anyone else hear that? If so, what episode was it? It seemed very clear to me at the time that she said the wrong name.
Her exit from the show seemed like the producers were mocking her - “here’s a really classy way to leave the show. You’ll make a difference by coming out. It’ll be awesome!” As they snickered behind her back with a parting FU to Rohm. (It also is a slam on her law-talkin’ and cognitive skills, too. When Branch says “no” to her famous question, she accepts it! Like, “OK good the know!” She never considers he’s lying. No lawsuit will be forthcoming.)
Because they could have done a good job - there were gay-themed episodes near the end of her run, and the groundwork could have been set down for the reveal. But, nope. In one, she had an argument with Branch and she was right, but he stomped her down. I would have quit, too.
In another episode - I think it was maybe late Season 12 or early Season 13 - I distinctly remember Ed reading someone their rights and instead of saying,
“Anything you say may be used against you” … he said
“Anything you say will be held against you”.
I have no idea if this was intentional but I can’t believe it could be because it would certainly be grounds to blow the conviction.
I’m just curious if anyone else heard it as well?
That would be Every Episode she is in.
She had a weird yell-talk way of speaking. Like they gave her the direction “this thing you’re about to say is the most important thing you’ve ever said.” She never tones it down.
I wonder if this evidently accidental shooting of a 1-year-old will turn up in SVU next season, given that the shooting was initially blamed on a criminal third party.
I don’t dispute this one bit and I have nothing good to say about her acting.
But I looked her up on IMDB and was shocked to see this lady has been working steadily on all kinds of movies and TV shows ever since L&O. Most of the things she’s worked on seem to be pretty terrible. But that is no different from almost any other actor - regardless of skill. Almost every product is pretty terrible.
But this really intriques me.
What does success as an actor require if it clearly does not require any skill?
Speaking of good actors and bad actors …
I just watched Season 14 Episode 9 - “Compassion” about a lady doctor who poisoned some con man and got off because she had worked all her life with children dying of cancer. The episode is called Compassion because McCoy actually softened his heart out of compassion for this woman.
The lady who played the doctor is Ann Dowd. I had never before heard anything about this actor but she pulled off one of the greatest jobs of acting I’ve ever seen on this series. The best part came at the end when she explained her position and the tears flowed down her face. Her skill at acting was just unbelievable.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I tend to favor the older episodes. I though Logan brought a great chemistry to the scenes…like the one where he puts an unruly suspect in a chokehold and the kid dies. (Turns out he had a brain injury from being put into a headbox by a shady doctor trying to treat his autism.)
I wish Paul Sorvino had stayed longer. That episode where he’s shot by a gun-seller was incredible. And the ending where Stone says to Schiff, “She doesn’t have an uncle.” All these great actors conveying an emotion with a brow lift.
One of my favorite episodes is Just Another Girl in the World. Camille Chen was fantastic as the helpless victim/seductress/murderer.
And all we seem to see her in is commercials.
We always go “there’s Lupo’s girrrlfriend!”
I just watched a great episode - Season 15 Episode 14 - All in the Family.
It starred Mercedes Reuhl and although I knew she was a fine actor from her performance in, “The Fisher King”, The Fisher King (1991) - IMDb
I never really appreciated just how truly great she was until I saw her in this episode. Her character was married to a man in the Diamond Trade who was cheating on her and involved with some particularly nasty mobsters.
I had never seen this before, but McCoy realized she had outsmarted him and he
actually withdrew the charges against her when the trial was almost over. He knew when he was licked. Of course that had nothing to do with her acting. It was the writers who came up with that.
Nonetheless her performance was an incredible powerhouse. I want to recommend this episode to anyone who is a fan of this show or a fan of Mercedes Reuhl or just a fan of great acting.
Why would that blow a conviction? Miranda doesn’t require extremely specific language. The NYPD has a policy for the phrasing of Miranda warnings like pretty much every PD, but deviating from it doesn’t invalidate the warning. From a quick google search it looks like the actual NYPD line is ‘can and will be used against you’, and I think the ‘mistaken’ line is actually closer to that than the ‘standard’ line.
I vaguely remember an episode of this or another crime drama in which the Miranda warning was either flubbed or omitted and the prosecution argued that the defendant should not have needed it. (I think the defendant in that case was either a career criminal or a lawyer himself.)
I honestly don’t know.
It just sounded strange to me and I wanted to know if other people remembered it or had some opinion on whether there was some kind of joke going on.
“The Law and Jerry McGraw”?