The same thing happens on “Law and Order” sometimes. A psychologist or attorney will use An Unfamiliar Term and the officer will say, “I don’t understand. What is ____?”, which leads to A Thoughtful Explanation for the Home Viewers. This rings false often–shouldn’t Bennet know what Muchausens by Proxy is, especially with all the news coverage involving it? This is sorta funny when The Unfamiliar Term involves something Hollywood related, though.
Another weird thing–I know the viewer can only concentrate on one case at a time, but in real life do detectives spend all their time on one case before it is “solved” or turns cold?
That said, I do like Vincent D’Onofrio, even with the savant schick (although I agree it worked better the first few times around). What is disappointing is that Kathryn Erbe’s character is barely used, and when she is, it’s usually to ask the previously mentioned questions. She’s a great actress, but she’s so underused, I don’t even know her character’s name.
That said, I still think that all the Law and Orders are the best dramatic shows on TV, although Homicide: Life on the Street was the best of all time. Ah, the old days, when that was basically the only thing on CourtTV’s schedule–if you were in the mood to watch Homicide, it was probably on.
I just thought I’d point out that almost the entire cast of Oz has appeared on Law & Order in some capacity. Don’t forget O’Reilly was on SVU before they hired Ice-T to replace him.
Try it yourself: Go to IMDb, click on each Law & Order series link so they’ll be aged, then go to Oz and click on each actor’s name and check their history. You’ll find that, oh, 90% have appeared on at least one episode of L&O.
(It’s b/c Dick Wolf and Tom Fonatna are old friends).
As for the OP, I don’t watch CSI, but I’ve been an L&O fan from the very beginning. Don’t like it? ::shrug:: Don’t watch. I equate this with the “Simpsons sux now” rants.
The cross-pollination also extends to The Practice, where five of the main actors (Michael Badalucco, Kelli Williams, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Steve Harris, Camryn Manheim) have done guest shots on Law & Order. Manheim made multiple appearances and is the only one to appear as a lawyer. All of them have played criminals or suspected criminals.