Author: Rick Porter

September 13, 2015 9:00am PT by Rick Porter

 Courtesy of NBC

The best and worst casts of the iconic NBC series, which turns 25 on Sunday.

Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Law & Order. The series started unassumingly enough, having shot its pilot two years before it landed a spot on the NBC schedule in 1990. But from that humble beginning came perhaps the most successful TV franchise in the medium’s history.

The five shows within Dick Wolf‘s L&O brand have racked up an astonishing 1,052 episodes to date, with more coming as SVU enters its 17th season. The original series ran for 20 years, as long as any primetime drama ever, airing 456 episodes.

Law & Order also became famous for its cast turnover: 25 different actors filled the six regular roles on the show, and no combination lasted longer than 2 1/2 seasons together.

Just about every fan of the show has a favorite set of detectives or ADA team, but what about the cast as a whole? Taking into account intra-unit and teamwide chemistry, here’s a ranking of every Law & Order cast, from worst to best.

17. Season 12

Detectives: Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson. Prosecutors: Sam Waterston, Elisabeth Rohm, Dianne Wiest.

This season — which, incidentally, was the highest-rated in the show’s run — boasted a strong detective combination in Orbach, Martin and Merkerson but lands the bottom spot largely because of the DA’s side of the equation. Wiest never seemed fully comfortable in the L&O-verse, and Rohm’s introduction was a bit shaky.

16. Season 1

Detectives: George Dzundza, Chris Noth, Dann Florek. Prosecutors: Michael Moriarty, Richard Brooks, Steven Hill.

The “law” side was solid from the get-go, but Dzundza and Noth never quite seemed to mesh, and Dzundza — who commuted from Los Angeles to New York to film the show — became the first of what would be many departures in the show’s long life.

15. Seasons 15b-16

Detectives: Martin, Dennis Farina, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Annie Parisse, Fred Thompson.

Farina had a very tall order replacing the beloved Orbach, and fans never really warmed to his character, Joe Fontana. Rohm’s abrupt, “Is this because I’m a lesbian?” departure midway through season 15 made way for Parisse, who lasted a season and a half. Martin also missed the final four episodes of the season to film Rent; Sopranos star Michael Imperioli filled in for him.

14. Season 17

Detectives: Martin, Milena Govich, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Alana de la Garza, Thompson.

Govich was the first — and only, as it turned out — female detective featured on the show. Govich never developed much chemistry with Martin and was gone after one season. De la Garza’s introduction to the show worked better, and she ended up being the longest-serving second chair on the show.

13. Season 11

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Angie Harmon, Wiest.

Wiest’s first season as DA Nora Lewin ranks a little higher than her second thanks to the well-established rapport among the other five regulars.

12. Season 15a

Detectives: Martin, Farina, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Rohm, Thompson.

Similar to season 11, only with the rapport between Waterston, Rohm and Thompson carrying the show as Farina stepped into Orbach’s rather large shoes.

11. Season 18a

Detectives: Martin, Jeremy Sisto, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Linus Roache, de la Garza, Waterston.

Season 18 saw big changes to both halves of the show: Sisto replaced Govich, and Martin left midway through the year after almost nine seasons as Ed Green. Roache joined the cast as Executive ADA Michael Cutter, while Waterston’s Jack McCoy moved up to district attorney. The show took a while to regain its footing amid all the changes.

10. Seasons 2-3a

Detectives: Paul Sorvino, Noth, Florek. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Brooks, Hill.

Following Dzundza’s departure, Sorvino stepped in as Detective Phil Cerreta and helped cement the show’s template of pairing an older, more even-keeled detective with a younger, brasher one.

9. Seasons 18b-20

Detectives: Sisto, Anthony Anderson, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Roache, de la Garza, Waterston.

Law & Order‘s final cast turned out to be one of its better ones. Sisto and Anderson developed a strong working relationship, and the DA’s team was solid as well, with Waterston playing a somewhat larger role than past district attorneys had.

8. Seasons 7-8

Detectives: Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Carey Lowell, Hill.

Bratt and Orbach formed a strong team on the cop side, with Merkerson at her best as the sage Lt. Anita Van Buren. Lowell proved a solid addition to the courtroom. Season seven scored the show’s lone Emmy for outstanding drama.

7. Season 9

Detectives: Orbach, Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Harmon, Hill.

Harmon’s first season as ADA Abbie Carmichael provided a somewhat different flavor to the court cases, as Abbie was somewhat more outspoken than her predecessors. The occasionally adversarial relationship she had with McCoy suited the show well.

6. Seasons 13-14

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Rohm, Thompson.

Actor and former U.S. Sen. Thompson turned out to be an interesting addition to the cast. The show used his real-life political views in a canny way, allowing his character, DA Arthur Branch, to push back at the more liberal McCoy and Serena Southerlyn.

5. Season 4

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Jill Hennessy, Hill.

The previously all-male cast got its first female regulars in season four with the addition of Merkerson — who would become the longest-running cast member in the show’s history — and Hennessy, whose Claire Kincaid became one of the favorite ADAs among fans.

4. Season 10

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Harmon, Hill.

Hill’s final season as DA Adam Schiff was among the show’s highest-rated. The show was an institution by this point, but it was also firing on all cylinders.

3. Season 3b

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Florek. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Brooks, Hill.

Orbach’s Lennie Briscoe joined Law & Order nine episodes into season three, with Sorvino — who asked to leave in part because of the bruising filming schedule of an hourlong drama — being written out after Cerreta was shot on duty. Orbach’s sardonic humor would become a signature of the show, and he quickly became a fan favorite.

2.  Season 6

Detectives: Orbach, Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Hennessy, Hill.

Bratt had sizable shoes to fill after Noth’s departure at the end of season five, but he quickly meshed with Orbach, and Rey Curtis is one of the more fondly remembered characters in the show’s history.

1. Season 5

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Hennessy, Hill.

Waterston’s first season on L&O brought a different energy to the DA’s office. McCoy could be as intense as Moriarty’s Ben Stone, but he also could operate with a twinkle in his eye. He and Hennessy clicked instantly, while Orbach and Noth were a great yin and yang in the 27th Precinct. This is peak Law & Order.

Hit the comments with your favorites.

September 13, 2015 9:00am PT by Rick Porter

 Courtesy of NBC

The best and worst casts of the iconic NBC series, which turns 25 on Sunday.

Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Law & Order. The series started unassumingly enough, having shot its pilot two years before it landed a spot on the NBC schedule in 1990. But from that humble beginning came perhaps the most successful TV franchise in the medium’s history.

The five shows within Dick Wolf‘s L&O brand have racked up an astonishing 1,052 episodes to date, with more coming as SVU enters its 17th season. The original series ran for 20 years, as long as any primetime drama ever, airing 456 episodes.

Law & Order also became famous for its cast turnover: 25 different actors filled the six regular roles on the show, and no combination lasted longer than 2 1/2 seasons together.

Just about every fan of the show has a favorite set of detectives or ADA team, but what about the cast as a whole? Taking into account intra-unit and teamwide chemistry, here’s a ranking of every Law & Order cast, from worst to best.

17. Season 12

Detectives: Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson. Prosecutors: Sam Waterston, Elisabeth Rohm, Dianne Wiest.

This season — which, incidentally, was the highest-rated in the show’s run — boasted a strong detective combination in Orbach, Martin and Merkerson but lands the bottom spot largely because of the DA’s side of the equation. Wiest never seemed fully comfortable in the L&O-verse, and Rohm’s introduction was a bit shaky.

16. Season 1

Detectives: George Dzundza, Chris Noth, Dann Florek. Prosecutors: Michael Moriarty, Richard Brooks, Steven Hill.

The “law” side was solid from the get-go, but Dzundza and Noth never quite seemed to mesh, and Dzundza — who commuted from Los Angeles to New York to film the show — became the first of what would be many departures in the show’s long life.

15. Seasons 15b-16

Detectives: Martin, Dennis Farina, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Annie Parisse, Fred Thompson.

Farina had a very tall order replacing the beloved Orbach, and fans never really warmed to his character, Joe Fontana. Rohm’s abrupt, “Is this because I’m a lesbian?” departure midway through season 15 made way for Parisse, who lasted a season and a half. Martin also missed the final four episodes of the season to film Rent; Sopranos star Michael Imperioli filled in for him.

14. Season 17

Detectives: Martin, Milena Govich, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Alana de la Garza, Thompson.

Govich was the first — and only, as it turned out — female detective featured on the show. Govich never developed much chemistry with Martin and was gone after one season. De la Garza’s introduction to the show worked better, and she ended up being the longest-serving second chair on the show.

13. Season 11

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Angie Harmon, Wiest.

Wiest’s first season as DA Nora Lewin ranks a little higher than her second thanks to the well-established rapport among the other five regulars.

12. Season 15a

Detectives: Martin, Farina, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Rohm, Thompson.

Similar to season 11, only with the rapport between Waterston, Rohm and Thompson carrying the show as Farina stepped into Orbach’s rather large shoes.

11. Season 18a

Detectives: Martin, Jeremy Sisto, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Linus Roache, de la Garza, Waterston.

Season 18 saw big changes to both halves of the show: Sisto replaced Govich, and Martin left midway through the year after almost nine seasons as Ed Green. Roache joined the cast as Executive ADA Michael Cutter, while Waterston’s Jack McCoy moved up to district attorney. The show took a while to regain its footing amid all the changes.

10. Seasons 2-3a

Detectives: Paul Sorvino, Noth, Florek. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Brooks, Hill.

Following Dzundza’s departure, Sorvino stepped in as Detective Phil Cerreta and helped cement the show’s template of pairing an older, more even-keeled detective with a younger, brasher one.

9. Seasons 18b-20

Detectives: Sisto, Anthony Anderson, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Roache, de la Garza, Waterston.

Law & Order‘s final cast turned out to be one of its better ones. Sisto and Anderson developed a strong working relationship, and the DA’s team was solid as well, with Waterston playing a somewhat larger role than past district attorneys had.

8. Seasons 7-8

Detectives: Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Carey Lowell, Hill.

Bratt and Orbach formed a strong team on the cop side, with Merkerson at her best as the sage Lt. Anita Van Buren. Lowell proved a solid addition to the courtroom. Season seven scored the show’s lone Emmy for outstanding drama.

7. Season 9

Detectives: Orbach, Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Harmon, Hill.

Harmon’s first season as ADA Abbie Carmichael provided a somewhat different flavor to the court cases, as Abbie was somewhat more outspoken than her predecessors. The occasionally adversarial relationship she had with McCoy suited the show well.

6. Seasons 13-14

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Rohm, Thompson.

Actor and former U.S. Sen. Thompson turned out to be an interesting addition to the cast. The show used his real-life political views in a canny way, allowing his character, DA Arthur Branch, to push back at the more liberal McCoy and Serena Southerlyn.

5. Season 4

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Jill Hennessy, Hill.

The previously all-male cast got its first female regulars in season four with the addition of Merkerson — who would become the longest-running cast member in the show’s history — and Hennessy, whose Claire Kincaid became one of the favorite ADAs among fans.

4. Season 10

Detectives: Orbach, Martin, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Harmon, Hill.

Hill’s final season as DA Adam Schiff was among the show’s highest-rated. The show was an institution by this point, but it was also firing on all cylinders.

3. Season 3b

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Florek. Prosecutors: Moriarty, Brooks, Hill.

Orbach’s Lennie Briscoe joined Law & Order nine episodes into season three, with Sorvino — who asked to leave in part because of the bruising filming schedule of an hourlong drama — being written out after Cerreta was shot on duty. Orbach’s sardonic humor would become a signature of the show, and he quickly became a fan favorite.

2.  Season 6

Detectives: Orbach, Bratt, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Hennessy, Hill.

Bratt had sizable shoes to fill after Noth’s departure at the end of season five, but he quickly meshed with Orbach, and Rey Curtis is one of the more fondly remembered characters in the show’s history.

1. Season 5

Detectives: Orbach, Noth, Merkerson. Prosecutors: Waterston, Hennessy, Hill.

Waterston’s first season on L&O brought a different energy to the DA’s office. McCoy could be as intense as Moriarty’s Ben Stone, but he also could operate with a twinkle in his eye. He and Hennessy clicked instantly, while Orbach and Noth were a great yin and yang in the 27th Precinct. This is peak Law & Order.

Hit the comments with your favorites.

September 08, 2015 1:00pm PT by Rick Porter

 Courtesy AOL

The AOL series also has Franco playing Walter White and Carrie Bradshaw in season two.

As if James Franco weren’t busy enough — with several film projects, a David Simon pilot for HBO and a Hulu original series on his plate — he’s also starring in a bunch of different TV shows this fall.

More or less, anyway. Franco’s web series, Making a Scene, launches its second season on AOL on Wednesday. After mashing up famous movie scenes in season one, Franco and his collaborators (including, in several episodes, Alicia Silverstone) are tackling TV shows this time out.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Franco discusses the genesis of the project, how to make a good mash-up and revisiting his Freaks and Geeks character.

How did Making a Scene come together?

Basically what I really liked about the concept we came up with was that there were two steps in the creative process that would be out of my and my collaborators’ control. We wouldn’t pick which movies or TV shows would be featured; we would ask people online which ones they wanted. Then once we had those titles, we put them all on a wheel to decide which ones would be mashed up. It’s sort of like a challenge for us — once we have those things mashed up, we have to make sense of them.

I guess initially I thought it would be great because it would take a little pressure off of us. If it’s a weird mash-up, we’re not to blame. We didn’t choose it.

Does the approach change at all when you’re doing TV mash-ups as opposed to movies?

We found when we were doing the first season that in movies, there are a lot of famous scenes. People can really cite scenes — for some reason scenes in movies seem to stand out more. When we decided to do television shows, we started thinking [about] what are we asking people to pick? It seemed like picking specific scenes wouldn’t work the same way with television shows. In fact, what is primary in television shows are situations, characters, concepts. Those would be the things we would then play on in season two.

When we’re mashing up two shows, what we thought about and talked about is which show’s style are we using? Which show are we shooting it like? If we’re doing Breaking Bad and Sex and the City, does one style take priority over the other? Then also trying to figure out how the characters of these two worlds would come together. So in that case, Walter White is on a date with Carrie, and Carrie’s back with the ladies telling everyone what the date was like.

And playing both Walter and Carrie, you get to have sex with yourself.

One of the fun things about it is it doesn’t have to be perfect. The effects can be crude, and I think it can make certain things like that even funnier in a way.

There’s a Freaks and Geeks mash-up this season too, correct?

Yeah, that was the last one we shot, I think, so we’re still cutting it. That, funnily enough, got mashed up with Saved by the Bell. It’s high school characters vs. high school characters. That one actually turned into a musical, so you’re going to get a Freak and Geeks-Saved by the Bell musical.

Was it strange slipping back into Daniel Desario again?

It was weird, because it’s been like 14 or 15 years. I can’t believe it when I say that. It’s kind of shocking to me that it’s been that long. … When I was on the show, it was the first thing I did that was actually any good. … I didn’t really understand that at the time, how rare that is or how hard it is to get such talented people together on something. When I was on it, I didn’t really appreciate it. In hindsight I can really see how special it was.  

I think there are a lot of people around who don’t like their earlier work. I interviewed Jared Leto for Interview magazine, and I was told, “Don’t ask about My So-Called Life. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” [Laughs.] I’m like the opposite of that. I love Freaks and Geeks, so going back was fun.

In this era where every fondly remembered show seems to be getting a reboot, could you see a Freaks and Geeks reunion happening?

It’s a little tough with that show because it was really based around us being so young. If we do the older version, I think people are just gonna be like, “Oh. That’s weird.” [Laughs.] I haven’t seen it, but I think the new Wet Hot American Summer — we could do something like that.

Lastly, how did you get involved with David Simon’s pilot The Deuce?

I had talked to David over a year ago about another project that just didn’t work out schedule-wise. But we got along really well, and he had told me about other things he was doing. … Then last Christmas, I was reading this book called Difficult Men about the third golden age of TV. … I just loved it. I thought, you know what? These kinds of shows are something I want to be a part of. I love this long-form approach — I love everything about it as an actor and storyteller. I just emailed David and said, “Hey, what about those other projects? Let’s do one.” He said, “Well, I’ve got The Deuce.” It just sounded like everything I got into acting and filmmaking to do. It’s ’70s New York, the world of Taxi Driver and Mean Streets — it was everything I wanted. After that call, we just went full steam ahead and put it together.