LOL about Ross. Yeah he did seem to care about his kids, even if he was a complete douche otherwise. Deakins and Carver both were married and had kids and seemed to have stable home/family lives - I know Deakins had 3 daughters and I think he said his wife’s name once or twice, Carver we never knew anything about his wife or kids, he just mentioned them a couple of times. I liked seeing Eames’ dad in season 10 - he was a cantankerous old guy but he did love Alex.
CI specialized in dysfunctional families it seemed, moreso than even the Mothership or SVU. The list of dysfunctional screwed up CI families is almost too long to count - it was a prominent theme.
Well, here’s something I didn’t know: Apparently, Kathryn Erbe’s very-first role was a one-day appearance (according to IMDB) on (the now-defunct NBC soap opera) Another World back in 1988, so she would have been around 23.
Another pre-famous actor was in the scene with her, the late Luke Perry of Beverly Hills 90210 fame. I know this because a video popped up in my YouTube feed:
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If anyone still watches the CI blocks on Charge!, as of tonight, it now begins at 7:00 p.m. ET and ends at 11:00 p.m. ET, so everything is pushed back an hour.
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Yeah I watch CI on Charge frequently, not sure why they are moving it back an hour but I’m glad that 4 episodes are still airing each weeknight. Season 4 is what’s airing now - awesome season once you get past the first 4 episodes - I’m not sure what they were going for at the start with Goren feeling sympathy for 2 perps in the first 3 episodes that I didn’t find worthy of sympathy - especially not disgusting cannibal freak Tagman in Want, the episode that’s finishing up now. And then episode 4 is ruined by Nicole and her evading justice once again - if her story had ended in this episode it would’ve been much better.
2 great episodes after that though - Eosphoros and In the Dark. I honestly think season 4 is CI’s finest after the shaky start - so many great cases and memorable perps.
My all time favorite CI, In The Wee Small Hours, is finishing up on Charge now! I think it’s CI’s best ever, so great to have a 2 hour case with both pairs of detectives on it, plus Carver in court, complete with 2 scenes with Arthur, that was great! And the scene where Goren gets “Hot Tub Harry” to confess to rape is arguably my all time favorite Goren scene.
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Yeah, “In The Wee Small Hours” was great. Makes me wish the show had the budget to do more with both detective teams.
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I also wish there had been more of Carver in court, he was criminally underused - he could’ve been just as beloved as any L&O prosecutor IMO but we only saw him at trial twice. Absurd how they didn’t give him more to do, they really wasted him.
Deakins also had a large role in that 2 part episode which was nice, Deakins was such a good squad leader.
And it was nice to see Arthur crossover - I wish there had been more crossovers, I would’ve loved to see Jack McCoy interact with Carver or Goren/Eames.
I wish they had done a 3 way crossover with the Mothership and SVU when CI was in its prime, the way the franchise did a 3 way between Mothership/SVU/OC in 2022. Seeing all of the characters come together to investigate a case would’ve been awesome.
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Season 6 - my least favorite season - is on Charge this week. I really don’t like how they traded in complex plots and strong detective work for personal melodrama and a more “trendy” style. I love the 3 strong episode block of World’s Fair, Privilege and Albatross, other than that the season mostly sucks. I saw Players tonight, it’s kind of a weird episode but I do like how the dad didn’t try to cover for his wannabe gangster son when he realized his son was behind the crimes that led to the death of his friend and let his friend die.
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Yeah, at least the dad walked the walk in terms of criminality. He didn’t accept it by his father - and he also didn’t accept it by his son. Had to be tough to stick to his principles, but good for him.
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Yeah I thought that was a refreshing change of pace from a lot of the families on CI, which are either completely dysfunctional with a lot of scummy people or have parents who cover for their kids - this dad was a straight shooter who went the opposite way of his gangster dad and didn’t try to cover for his wannabe gangster son who admired grandpa. So I liked that part of the episode. Not a fan at all of season 6 as a whole though, I think it’s CIs worst season, even worse than 9, just because I hate how they changed the format to add in melodrama and decimated Bobby Goren with a ton of baggage.
I still hate S9 more, but we all have our own takes. All good!
On a side note, Charge! has started running a new commercial: Homicide: Life On The Street is coming to the channel as of September 1st. So, early Munch, VDO in the episode, “The Subway”, and Kathryn Erbe in the episode, “All Is Bright” makes for some good L&O franchise synergy! (And hey, Melissa Leo played a perp on CI, too!)
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S9 was very dull and felt lifeless, but S6 just pisses me off because of how they gave Goren so much baggage and took away his charisma, and they really watered down the mysteries and made the show melodramatic. And they even had the weird, soapy episode with Logan’s neighbor jumping off the roof, which was on last night - such a strange episode that didn’t work for me at all, although I did like the mention of Lennie. Not to mention I can’t stand Ross. Anyway I’m glad Charge has moved on to S7 now - it’s a much better season though there’s still some melodrama.
And yeah I saw that Homicide is coming to Charge - I’m glad of it - Homicide was a strong show especially in its first few seasons - great characters - Munch, Pembleton, Meldrick, Bolander, Gee etc very colorful and entertaining characters. It also got bogged down in melodrama in its last couple of seasons, and I know the show runners and NBC clashed about NBC wanting to make the show more “trendy” - that’s kind of what happened to CI too. Nice that Homicide is airing somewhere, and it’s good that the conclusions to the 3 L&O crossovers will now be seen - drives me nuts how the networks that show L&O don’t show the 3 conclusions.
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Season 1 has rolled back around on Charge - so many great episodes right off the bat
I love The Good Doctor, one of my all time favorites - Goren was at his finest here, he got under Kelmer’s skin perfectly and it was awesome seeing Carver in court - CI really screwed up by not using Carver in the courtroom more often, because he was awesome. It’s an interesting episode in that it was obvious what happened from the opening scenes, but it managed to be an extremely compelling case and investigation - just shows that not every case needs a ton of twists or a convoluted plot to be a stellar episode, because this one was great.
Not a big fan of Enemy Within, that plot was just too complex and wasn’t pulled off great.
But I love The Third Horseman and Crazy, the final two episodes on Charge tonight, both of those have great cases.
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Season 1 of CI really was strong. Not a lot of issues to be worked out. And that’s pretty rare, so early in a show!
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Certainly - CI came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Season 1 of the Mothership was on this week and it took it about half a season to get its formula down, as there were some differences in the very first episodes - much longer opening scenes, abrupt transitions from one scene to the next with certain plot points ignored for a while, lots of noise in the courtroom etc. Same with SVU, it took about half a season for them to find a rhythm. But CI had its formula down and was stellar right off the bat.
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I didn’t know (or didn’t remember, it’s been years!) that Vincent D’Onofrio appeared as Goren on a 2008 episode of SNL!
Vincent D’Onofrio/Bobby Goren on SNL - March 1, 2008
So, CI still got free publicity on NBC proper, even though the show was on USA by then…
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So apparently Vincent D’Onofrio can still do the Goren lean! Someone posted a photo from some Con he attended, and he was a good sport:
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If anyone still watches CI on Charge!, tonight is the last 7-11 p.m. ET 4-hour block. Starting tomorrow, 10/27, it moves back to 9:00 p.m. ET and runs through midnight ET.
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I still watch CI on Charge, only place it airs now. I’ve been enjoying the season 1 episodes they are showing. Too bad it’s down from 4 hours to 3 but at least it’s still nightly CI
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Yeah, glad it’s still airing. Always Peacock as a backup if one needs a CI fix!
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