Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questionable

[Timby]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Dick Wolf said last week that Vanilla is officially dead. The show had been shopped to a few networks (TNT and A&E, notably), but there just wasn't enough money to bring it back.

 

[od0_ital]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

I know. I was just kidding. Maybe they could bring back George Dzundza's character.

Yeah, because it can take a guy twenty years to get over bein' killed by a shot to the back of the head.

While I've seen many of the first season episodes, I've never seen the one that showed what happened to Greevey.

Watch the second season premiere. It wasn't George Dzundza, but it was his character gettin' shot in the back of the head, in front of his house, while his wife watched, at night, in the rain...so ya couldn't see it wasn't George Dzundza.

 

[Valin]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Maybe they can move Munch over and give Belzer something to do for a change.

Not that bad of an idea. For this show you need a quirky main character. Chris Noth's cop was just too bland.

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

They just need to put the show out of its misery. The last couple of seasons have been painfully bad.

 

[Zameaze]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

They just need to put the show out of its misery. The last couple of seasons have been painfully bad.

The acting has been good, but the writing was terrible. I suspect that's the real reason Jeff Goldblum is leaving--they just gave him nothing to work with.

 

[auntiehill]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Yep. I think the writing has gone steadily downhill. They are just spinning their wheels, and it would be better to just bring the show to a close.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

How about Sylar and Peter as the new lead cops?

 

[KB24]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

If Criminal Intent had an iffy future and the axe of the flagship was so unceremonious, why couldn't they just fold the two back together for one more season on USA or TNT? Whoever the heck is the last pair on CI, transfer them back to LO and give them issues and tough cases solved on their CI tactics. I swear its like the Wolf family is cutting its dead weight so that instead of reruns of the classic or CI, we'll be watching 'lola' instead.

The entire franchise should just strategically plan to end in a few years. I still think a proper LO finale would have better served the ratings. Imagine if you rolled out the 'big LO final episode!' followed a season later by 'the final Criminal Intent!' and then 'finally the SVU end!' I'm sure there would be good numbers, and the franchise needs to go to bed soon.

I'm all for a show going so long if it can last, but all of these are just over cooked. It's like Dallas in the 90s, they should have let it go. When SVU decided to inexcusably disappear Munch, that was it there for me. I'm content with my Homicide reruns and don't watch any new cop or procedural shows.

Remember when cop or detective shows were good back in the day? I loved Hill Street Blues, In the Heat of the Night, Hunter, The Equalizer, Simon and Simon, Columbo, and goes even Cagney and Lacey! Charles Angels was better than some of the stuff today. Why does retro television seem like the glory years of the medium? And not even super early, I mean 75 to 95 era. Even TJ Hooker! haha!

 

[Joe Washington]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

They should have ended the show after Season 8 when Goren and Eames were getting their act together after going through two seasons of Goren-related tragedies.

SVU should have died many seasons ago. Benson and Stabler are becoming increasingly unlikeable as characters with Benson being portrayed as irreversibly damaged and Stable as a rageaholic who's strangely possessive of his partner and keeps getting away with the type of crap that would have had a cop not only kicked out of his unit but the force as well. The show have done more magical chairs with ADAs in the past three seasons than it has had in the entire show. On top of that, you don't know for sure, more than ever, if Stable and Benson are just friends or have a thing for each other. The creators of the show need to make up their damn minds.

Out of all the L & O shows, Law Order the original is the one I have the most respect for. Because at least they ended the show when it was on top without ruining the characters and what makes the show great. The final episode wasn't big or action-packed but I see it as a quiet finale that reminds us of what the show is all about. Unforunately, I don't see Criminal Intent and SVU getting the same gift.

 

[Zameaze]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Criminal Intent was my favorite L&O because of Vincent D'Onofrio's Goren. But for some strange reason, later in the show, they decided that they had to write Eames as being on a par with Goren. That was like making Doctor Watson as clever as Sherlock Holmes, and that would have lessened our opinion of Holmes' deductive ability. Well, that's the very mistake they made with Goren and Eames, but I continued to watch the show because of D'Onofrio's acting.

Then D'Onofrio's back gave out. It was even painful to watch his last two episodes--it was obvious he was in pain. Sad as I was to see him go, at least we had Jeff Goldblum to take his place. But unfortunately, we got a new crop of writers, also. After the first couple of poorly written episodes with Goldblum, some writers' heads rolled, but the next crop was only marginally better. There was one show, and then the season finale, that were good enough that I suspected they were ghost written. They were the exception to the deluge of poorly written scripts that Goldblum had to work with. In a story-driven hour-long drama, writing is paramount.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Criminal Intent was my favorite L&O because of Vincent D'Onofrio's Goren. But for some strange reason, later in the show, they decided that they had to write Eames as being on a par with Goren. That was like making Doctor Watson as clever as Sherlock Holmes, and that would have lessened our opinion of Holmes' deductive ability. Well, that's the very mistake they made with Goren and Eames, but I continued to watch the show because of D'Onofrio's acting.

Well, first off, Eames was the senior detective in that pairing. In terms of status, she was actually above him. And she wouldn't have gotten to that position if she weren't a capable detective. So really it would've been wrong to portray her as merely a "Watson." Just because she didn't have Bobby's particular Columbo-with-Asperger's insights, that didn't mean she couldn't do solid detective work in her own right. If she was marginalized in earlier seasons, that was the mistake.

 

[Zameaze]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Criminal Intent was my favorite L&O because of Vincent D'Onofrio's Goren. But for some strange reason, later in the show, they decided that they had to write Eames as being on a par with Goren. That was like making Doctor Watson as clever as Sherlock Holmes, and that would have lessened our opinion of Holmes' deductive ability. Well, that's the very mistake they made with Goren and Eames, but I continued to watch the show because of D'Onofrio's acting.

Well, first off, Eames was the senior detective in that pairing. In terms of status, she was actually above him. And she wouldn't have gotten to that position if she weren't a capable detective. So really it would've been wrong to portray her as merely a "Watson." Just because she didn't have Bobby's particular Columbo-with-Asperger's insights, that didn't mean she couldn't do solid detective work in her own right. If she was marginalized in earlier seasons, that was the mistake.

You misread everything I wrote. I never said that Eames shouldn't be written as capable. And haven't you read the Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle? Watson was no dolt!

 

[Christopher]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Of course not, but neither was Watson an actual detective. Eames was. I have no problem with making her an equal to Goren as a detective rather than a character who defers to him.

 

[Zameaze]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Once again, I never wrote that she should defer to him.

It's simple: If the writers want their character to be the greatest modern detective, which was the pitch for the Goren character from the beginning, they simply cannot have him partnered with a detective as clever as he is. That would be another show completely. It would be a show about the two greatest modern detectives.

 

[KB24]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

I agree with what you're saying, Zam. Christopher is just up to his usual tricks.

It seems like they wanted to make some kind of spicy pair for CI ala this supposedly so great but long overdone Benson and Stabler. Instead of keeping them individually intelligent, it was like a trump or something. I've only watched a few Intent episodes, actually. I jsut couldn't get into the mind games they were playing. I can't remember the last time I watched SVU. Even the early reruns I don't bother with anymore. Even though I have the DVDs, sometimes I catch Homicide on the Centric Network at 4 a.m. I think to myself, 'Why isn't this rerunning in prime time?!'

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Even though I have the DVDs, sometimes I catch Homicide on the Centric Network at 4 a.m. I think to myself, 'Why isn't this rerunning in prime time?!'

Agreed. As much as I like Law and Order, I was bummed that Homicide got canceled by LAO kept going on and on. The show was much better before Andre Braugher left but it was still good.

 

[Warped9]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

This is all kinda sad really. I gave up on CI sometime ago because without Goren, Eames and Logan I just didn't care. I'm sad to see the original L&O gone. And I've even drifted away from SVU, something I once could never have imagined.

As it stands now I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the LA spinoff.

 

[Zameaze]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

I agree with what you're saying

Thank you for the moral support, KB, I'm not used to being agreed with--I'm married.

I've only watched a few Intent episodes, actually. I just couldn't get into the mind games they were playing.

Me, I watched every episode from the beginning. I wasn't always rewarded for my loyalty, though. I think I was more in love with the idea of a character based on Sherlock Holmes than with the show itself, and I kept coming back hoping that they would get it right in the next episode. For season two, they pitched Nicole Wallace as Goren's Moriarty, and I couldn't wait to see what they did with her. At least here I wasn't too disappointed--they did well with the spirit of the original.

The show that has done the best job with a character based on Sherlock Holmes is House. They indeed did capture the spirit of Sherlock Holmes in Gregory House.

 

[stj]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

Raines was a much better show than Criminal Intent, even if it was canceled before it aired. I still regret that one.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: Jeff Goldblum leaves L&O: Criminal Intent; show's future questiona

^ The Good Wife. And movies.

I know. I was just kidding. Maybe they could bring back George Dzundza's character.

Yeah, because it can take a guy twenty years to get over bein' killed by a shot to the back of the head.

Resurrecting the character is the easy part. Getting Dzundza to agree to another long term gig in New York, that's hard.

Maybe they can move Munch over and give Belzer something to do for a change.

Yay! I'd totally go for this. I love Munch. He was one of the best parts of Homicide & the early years of SVU. SVU would be far more watchable if the focused more on him instead of Stabler & Benson.

One of my favorite Munch SVU moments was when he was waxing nostalgic for his Baltimore Homicide days, even considering buying another bar. He asked Cragen if he wanted to be a co-owner and Cragen replied, "I dunno, Munch. Let me ask my AA group first."

Honestly, I've had a hard time getting into Criminal Intent. I could never stand Goren. I liked Logan but I instictively became restless around the middle of every episode, waiting for Jack McCoy to show up. Nichols had his moments but Goldblum was often just too self-consciously quirky.

Sadly, I think this is the end of the road for Criminal Intent. It's not like USA is hurting for hit shows (unlike NBC). But I'll still cross my fingers for a Season 10 with Munch as the lead!