Dick Wolf

CHICAGO – The USA Network is pretty excellent at taking ridiculous ideas and making them quality entertainment. The network that brought us the OCD Detective Monk and managed to squeeze a Christmas episode out of Stephen King’s ‘The Dead Zone’ is back at the quirky drama cafe yet again after offering up a preview of it’s 2012 Drama slate.

CHICAGO – It may have never earned the press or praise of “Law & Order” or “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” but the third child of Dick Wolf, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” has some hardcore fans.

CHICAGO – In this edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: TV, we have two VIP TV prize packs up for grabs to USA Network’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”!

CHICAGO – The revolving door of Dick Wolf’s legendary creation keeps on spinning. Cast members have come and gone from the “Law & Order” franchise for years, but this time the door only goes in one direction as Skeet Ulrich’s Detective is being killed off with no chance to return.

CHICAGO – As the late, great Sophia Petrillo of “The Golden Girls” might have philosophized, “Picture it: September 13, 1990.” When “Law & Order” premiere, “The Internet” and “Email” were barely words, “mobile phones” looked like portable hair dryers, and Google, Yahoo, and AOL weren’t even gleams in Bill Gates’ eyeglasses — let alone Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. HBO and Showtime had yet to produce A-list hour dramas, and F/X, TNT, AMC, and USA had yet to produce anything more than the occasional TV-movie at all.

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The revolving door of casting in the world of “Law & Order” continues this month when Jeff Goldblum joins the cast of USA Network’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” as the new partner for Detective Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson). The season kicks off with a well-paced and intriguing episode featuring the old cast on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 and the new member joins the squad a week later.