Law & Order: LA Version 1.5 Discussion

[Kitty Worrier]

Too bad Terrance Howard is goin' to be the D.A.

I've started to find the actor more tolerable, but I'm growing to hate his character. Dekker seems far too eager to see people condemned to execution. Last night he was even talking about sending a convict to maximum security where he'd probably be assassinated by mobsters, and he was practically salivating at the prospect. That's just obscene. Even if one accepts the legitimacy of the death penalty (which I don't), willfully arranging for a convict to be placed in a position where his murder is likely is a gross miscarriage of justice, a perversion of the legal and penal system and a betrayal of the duty of care. Even if someone is sentenced to execution, it's only legal and "ethical" if it's done in the way the sentence specifies, by the person legally authorized to do so. If it happens any other way, it's still murder. If Dekker really thinks that way, if he'd intentionally set up a man to be murdered by the mob as a substitute for getting a capital conviction, then he's corrupt and twisted and should be disbarred.

I feel he is badly written. One episode he's trying to send someone to max prison, another he's trying to not put on trial, because it would be a third strike... and the another he won't think of the mental issues the person has and goes ahead with trial.

Bad and inconsistant writing.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Last week's episode (Plummer Park) was fairly high on the bullshit-o-meter...

Spoiler: LOLA

Several reasons:

- Opening scene. How many Russians have Scottish accents?

- Kidnappers who are so comically stupid that they do not realize their latest target is a trained Russian intelligence operative.

- Russian sleeper agents. What the fuck is this, 1983?

 

[Star Wolf]

Last week's episode (Plummer Park) was fairly high on the bullshit-o-meter...

Several reasons:


- Russian sleeper agents. What the fuck is this, 1983?

Like many of Law & Order plots it was "ripped from the headlines"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009073-503544.html

June 28, 2010 5:19 PM
From Russian Spy Arrests to Obama-Medvedev Burger Diplomacy.....The resetting may have become a bit unsettled as 10 alleged Russian spies were arrested by the FBI in the U.S. after a lengthy investigation.

The alleged "deep-cover" spies are accused of working for the SVR, the Russian Federation version of the CIA. Mikhail Fradkov, director of the SVR, reports directly to Mr. Medvedev.

The complaint alleges that some of those charged had a long-term goal to become "sufficiently Americanized" in order to gather intelligence in the U.S. and to "recruit sources who are in, or are able to infiltrate, United States policy-making circles." The complaint says that the "agents" were trained in "foreign languages; agent-to-agent communications, including the use of brush-passes; short-wave radio operation and invisible writing; the use of codes and ciphers, including the use of encrypted Morse code messages; the creation and use of a cover profession; counter-surveillance measures" and more......

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

It's so weird that SVU has become so dependent on those 2 chracters when, IRL, no dectective ever spends more than 4 years in the SVU because it's so emotionally draining.

BTW, Logan's character also extracted a confession at gunpoint in the first episode of the second season.

And was charged with Menacing for his trouble.

If this show ever makes it to DVD (which, given Universal's abysmally slow rate of L&O home releases that are not Special Victims Unit, I cannot count on), they damn well better put this trainwreck in production order, not airdate order...

Although they've been pretty slow in putting out seasons of the original Law & Order and Criminal Intent, they're usually pretty quick about putting out complete series sets of the 1-season-wonder spin-offs like Trial by Jury & Conviction.

 

[Starbreaker]

There are CIA agents in Russia too. I would bet good money on it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If this show ever makes it to DVD (which, given Universal's abysmally slow rate of L&O home releases that are not Special Victims Unit, I cannot count on), they damn well better put this trainwreck in production order, not airdate order...

Although they've been pretty slow in putting out seasons of the original Law & Order and Criminal Intent, they're usually pretty quick about putting out complete series sets of the 1-season-wonder spin-offs like Trial by Jury & Conviction.

That's odd. It seems clear that the reason SVU is so quick to make it to DVD is because of its higher ratings, yet the LOW-rated one-season spinoffs are also fairly speedy... I mean, if those shows were rated low enough to get them cancelled after only ONE season, what possible benefit could there be to a DVD release?

 

[od0_ital]

Who would buy a one-season series years after it was cancelled?

Ya gotta strike while the iron is hot!

Or, ya know, lukewarm, at least...

 

[Christopher]

Who would buy a one-season series years after it was cancelled?

I would, if it's a series I loved. I have several DVD box sets of one-season series from the '80s or '90s. And the fact that these sets are being released in the 2000s at all proves that there is a market for them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

We've already seen the last L&O:LA episode made (chronologically), haven't we? AFAIK, it ended on a cliffhangery thing:

Spoiler: LA

The last thing we see is TJ's cellphone ringing but he's not there, since he's gone back to Mexico to take out Rex's killer.

 

[Marc]

^^^i

I thought keys were next to it suggesting some-one was already there but had been "disappeared".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ TJ's not that sloppy. After the big fight scene in the parking garage, he wouldn't let it happen again. And he wouldn't take his cellphone with him to Mexico, because then they could track him.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Looks like the DVD is coming after all. Linky

I still can't figure this out. The one-off failures get to DVD lickety-split, yet the release of the original series and CI creep along at a snail's pace.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The original has such a market saturation that motivation to buy DVDs isn't overwhelmingly high (especially since there really isn't much motivation to see them in order either).

 

[Starbreaker]

If you can't turn on the TV and find Law & Order immediately, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Star Wolf]

It seems to be getting harder TNT has taken some hours in favor of CSI:NY and The Mentalist

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The original has such a market saturation that motivation to buy DVDs isn't overwhelmingly high (especially since there really isn't much motivation to see them in order either).

Evidently TNT thinks people are motivated to watch L&O more than Universal does, then...

 

[Timby]

The original has such a market saturation that motivation to buy DVDs isn't overwhelmingly high (especially since there really isn't much motivation to see them in order either).

Evidently TNT thinks people are motivated to watch L&O more than Universal does, then...

The answer is in the question.

TNT's syndication deal for Vanilla is dirt-cheap, and with three episodes a day on the weekdays, and usually a bucketload more on the weekends, it's not hard for people to find it. If The Real Ghostbusters were on a dozen times a week, I probably wouldn't have bought the DVDs, either. (Although TNT is starting to re-think its programming, too; it's replaced Vanilla with Bones on at least two days per week due to declining ratings.)

And, as has been pointed out to you before, the DVDs for Vanilla sold like utter dogshit. Universal jumped ahead from Season 8 to 14, thinking that slow sales were maybe due to the releases being from far less recent seasons, and then 14 sold just as poorly.

Simple truth of the matter is that there's no money in Universal releasing more of Vanilla on DVD. Los Angeles will more than likely be a no-frills release, and at worst, it's a chance to recoup some of the lost money spent on the show's single season.

Edit: There's something kind of hilarious about Alana de la Garza being front and center on the DVD cover art, despite appearing in 8 of 22 episodes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hmm. Well there's always iTunes, I guess.

 

[Professor Zoom]

If you can't turn on the TV and find Law & Order immediately, you're doing it wrong.

This.

 

[Christopher]

Edit: There's something kind of hilarious about Alana de la Garza being front and center on the DVD cover art, despite appearing in 8 of 22 episodes.

But perfectly understandable. She's probably the show's biggest draw for more reasons than one. That's why they added her to the cast in the first place.