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

[Gaith]

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

I think I was more in love with the idea of a character based on Sherlock Holmes than with the show itself

As a huge Holmes fan, I agree that Goren was a pretty awesome character... but the trouble is, you can't take the character Holmes' attitude/style out of the rest of the Canon's format and expect it to stay magical.

The brilliance of Doyle's stories is that Holmes isn't a cop, and not all of the crimes he solves are murders. Sometimes he decides to let the criminal go. Sometimes there's a villain, but no actual crime. And sometimes there's an accident that looks like a crime, and therefore no villain.

But on CI, you've got a sorta Holmes-like cop taking on murderers every single episode, and often murderers who've killed more than once at that. It's an interesting flavor for a while, but it does get dull. Four or five years should have been quite enough.

 

[Jack Bauer]

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

USA has enough higher rated and better shows than CI so I think it's done for. It should be anyways. The show is a mess. The only thing it had going for it was Goldblum. At least he got paid some easy money and datedTania Raymonde. So it kinda worked out for him.

 

[Christopher]

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

I always figured Goren was more a riff on Columbo than Holmes. He had a lot of the same quirky manner. I often imagined that Goren himself, the character, was deliberately emulating his childhood hero Columbo. (Whom he saw on TV, that is -- not proposing that Columbo actually existed in the L&O-verse.)

 

[byron lomax]

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

The whole L&O franchise has gone on long enough as far as I'm concerned, and this series was always my least favourite (of the successful shows, anyway). D'Onfronio is a good actor but Goren's schtick got pretty irritating pretty quickly. He can be OK in smaller doses, and it would be fun to see him take on cases with Munch as his partner (one big problem with Munch on L&O SVU is that he doesn't have other great characters to bounce off of like he did in Homicide).

The fact that a "Los Angeles" version is now on the way signifies how bloated the franchise has become.

 

[Zameaze]

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

I think I was more in love with the idea of a character based on Sherlock Holmes than with the show itself

As a huge Holmes fan, I agree that Goren was a pretty awesome character... but the trouble is, you can't take the character Holmes' attitude/style out of the rest of the Canon's format and expect it to stay magical.

The brilliance of Doyle's stories is that Holmes isn't a cop, and not all of the crimes he solves are murders. Sometimes he decides to let the criminal go. Sometimes there's a villain, but no actual crime. And sometimes there's an accident that looks like a crime, and therefore no villain.

But on CI, you've got a sorta Holmes-like cop taking on murderers every single episode, and often murderers who've killed more than once at that. It's an interesting flavor for a while, but it does get dull.

Some very excellent points, Gaith, and an insight into why the show didn't fully deliver. And I kept waiting for it to deliver; I wanted my Holmes fix; I thought I'll quit watching, because the show would never be what I wanted it to be...then, I'd tune in again. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

I always figured Goren was more a riff on Columbo than Holmes. He had a lot of the same quirky manner.

Goren often reminded me of Columbo, too. Maybe because René Balcer created Goren as a modern day Sherlock Holmes but was influenced by other fictional detectives as well, especially Georges Simenon's Commissaire Maigret.

 

[KB24]

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

This is what worries me most about LO and if CI goes. Not only is there stupid Lola, but if that bombs and quickly departs like Trial by Jury- what in the heck is going to be on TV! Didn't Wolf learn his lesson about this arena being pumped dry with Jury and the loosely connected Conviction?

Zam, Other members of my family watch CI, and I tell you I was completely confused one day when they were turning to the other dang pairing. I don't even know her name, the annoying young girl with the pixie cut. Ugh I had to leave the room with those shows on the tele.

Gary, I agree. The 7th season of Homicide without Baugher is a far cry from its glory days, but sometimes I watch it and think this is style better than anything on now. I miss the ensemble and the not focused on the crime at hand-or if it is about the guest or the criminal, it's still somehow not about the crime.

I'm amazed that CI lasted as long as it did for the simple reason that I don't want to get into the head of a criminal. Then again what does that say about the then seemingly perverted folks who watch SVU? Even the reruns now I can tune in, see the crime set and go, Oh I don't feel like watching this episode today. Turn on the news, you'll seen plenty or rapists and pedophiles that way.

Anyway, before my mini rant. If all these LO shows are going out the gate as perhaps they should, what the heck quality will replace it. America Can Sing or Have Talent Gladiators!

 

[Gaith]

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

SVU is my favorite L&O show for its variety. It isn't all murder, all the time; sometimes there's a murder, and - gasp! - sometimes there isn't. I even saw an ep with Stabler going undercover as a narc that had nothing to do with sexual crimes at all. In that respect, at least, it's the most Sherlock Holmes-like of the shows.

 

[Jack Bauer]

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

I like SUV but it's over the top a lot of the time. It's the CSI Miami of the Law and Order franchise.

 

[Keith1701]

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

Just let it die.

My thoughts exactly. End it now. I'm a big fan of Jeff Goldblum and even I didn't bother with the last season.

His best show to me was The Fly

 

[Gaith]

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

I like SUV but it's over the top a lot of the time. It's the CSI Miami of the Law and Order franchise.

Stabler: "Well at least... it won't... [puts on sunglasses] bore you to death."

NNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

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

Bump:

So when will we find out if CI is renewed for a new season or not?

 

[Timby]

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

The last episode aired in July; they'd probably start shooting in December or January to meet the spring airdate that was used this year. I have a feeling, though, that the ratings apocalypse from this season combined with not having a cast (all of the actors' options expired on July 31) is going to put a stake through the show's heart.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

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

When Goren and Eames left, this show didn't just jump the shark, it killed, filleted and ATE it.

 

[KB24]

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

USA has so many other cop an crime and spy shows anyway, I can't imagine they have much more room for another season if CI. I miss The 4400!

 

[jep316]

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

They should bring back Eames and team her with returning Wheeler that way we have the first L@O female team,plus we can see how much of Goren has rubbed off on her.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

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

And if they do that, have Wheeler grow her hair out a bit so she doesn't look like a Kewpie doll.

 

[Christopher]

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

They should bring back Eames and team her with returning Wheeler that way we have the first L@O female team,plus we can see how much of Goren has rubbed off on her.

Since they wrote Eames out as the same time as Goren and the captain, I figure it was done because they were all getting too expensive. So I doubt a return of Eames is likely even if the show doesn't get cancelled.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

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

I thought the actors who played Goren, Eames and Ross all voluntarily chose to leave the show?

 

[Christopher]

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

I thought the actors who played Goren, Eames and Ross all voluntarily chose to leave the show?

I can't find any sources indicating that. What I am finding (for instance, this) suggests that the USA Network chose to let them go because they weren't deemed a good fit for the network, whose lineup is characterized by lighter, quirkier detectives. (Or well, equally quirky but lighter.) So they preferred Jeff Goldblum -- but now Goldblum's the one who's voluntarily left the show (maybe that's what you were thinking of), so its future is very much in doubt.

Of course, sometimes actors will voluntarily leave a show if the studio or network is unwilling to pay them as much as they're asking for. So we could both be technically right.

 

[bigdaddy]

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

Most of the cast leavings were done because they wanted to leave. A few had new borns or were expecting children or just wanted more family time. I never heard anything about USA firing them because they wanted something different in the show.