Originally posted by Red Dog
You better not be yanking my chain, dude.

"Law & Order" Loses Another Lawyer?

1 hour, 1 minute ago
By Joal Ryan

Looks like the mother ship is coming in for another overhaul.

The mother ship is the ever-morphing Law & Order, which stands to lose costar Elisabeth Rohm at midseason next year, NBC announced Wednesday.

Rohm, 31, has played Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn, Sam Waterston's partner in crime-fighting, since 2001.

The network said the actress will return for the launch of Law & Order's 15th season in the fall, but warned she's been granted permission to bolt after 13 episodes.

"Lis has done a terrific job...and she has been a consummate professional," series creator and executive producer Dick Wolf said in a statement. "[But] we knew she had other career interests and opportunities."

Currently, Rohm is filming Miss Congeniality 2, starring Sandra Bullock. Also, NBC said she had "several" TV projects in the works. The actress has been a prime-time fixture since taking on a recurring role as a cop on Angel from 1999-2001.

Rohm called her contemplated exit "difficult," but, what the heck, she sounded ready to go through with it anyway.

"Sam Waterston has been a great teacher and friend who has taught me about taking risks, and it is time to put that knowledge into action," Rohm said in a statement.

There was no announcement on which aspiring starlet would partner up with Waterston in Rohm's absence.

Already, Law & Order, TV's second-longest-running drama series behind Gunsmoke, is braced to break in a new face in its police division.

Get Shorty gangster Dennis Farina previously was announced as Jesse L. Martin's new detective partner, replacing Jerry Orbach who departed Law & Order at the end of the just-completed season, bound for the new Law & Order brand, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, set to debut in the fall.

Whew...

As its seafaring nickname indicates, Law & Order is a large vessel that has provided a hospitable home to a number of smaller vessels, or in TV parlance, spinoffs.

Trial by Jury will be the third Law & Order franchisee, after Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

If the new series follows the mothership's lead, its cast will change more often than, well, just about everything.

Rohm is Waterston's fourth counterpart since joining the series in 1994. He previously worked with Jill Hennessy (who pre-dated his arrival by a year, and stayed until 1996), Carey Lowell (1996-98) and Angie Harmon (1998-2001). The only assistant D.A. Waterston missed was Richard Brooks, who served from 1990-93 under original boss Michael Moriarty.

Prior to his departure, Orbach was the cast stalwart, pounding the beat as Detective Lennie Briscoe for 12 years. But even he wasn't an original cast member. He didn't sign on until 1992.

At least Martin, now moving up to third on the Law & Order seniority chart after S. Epatha Merkerson and Waterston, may stick around a while longer. The 35-year-old is close to inking a multi-year deal with the series, the Hollywood Reporter said this week.

In May, NBC renewed the mother ship, as well as Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, through the 2005-06 season.

Originally posted by B.A.
They should replace her w/ Carla Gugino.

• Red Dog •

If Carey Lowell wasn't likely to go to Trial by Jury, she would be my #1 choice.

Otherwise, here is my preference:
1. Charlotte Ross (since she won't be on Blue)
2. Rena Sofer
3. Annabella Sciorra
4. Angie Harmon

Originally posted by Cusm
Plus 30-something is so damn hot if done right.

Originally posted by MrX
Jeri Ryan would be a solid choice too IMO

Originally posted by Red Dog
If Carey Lowell wasn't likely to go to Trial by Jury, she would be my #1 choice.

Otherwise, here is my preference:
4. Angie Harmon

Originally posted by JasonF
Ugh. Angie Harmon only looks good in comaprison to Rohm. Not that I think Rohm is so terrible, but she and Harmon are two mediocre peas in a pod.

New L&O ADA: Who'd Be A-OK?
by Ben Katner

Now that Elisabeth Rohm is finally leaving her Law & Order role of Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn, we are dancing in the streets. (Nothing personal, but she was always a little brittle for our taste.) And when we aren't delightedly pounding the pavement, we are dreaming up new partners in crimefighting for Sam Waterston's character, Jack McCoy. Since it's doubtful that our fondest wish will be granted — and Angie Harmon will suit up again as the best ADA ever, Abbie Carmichael — dare we hope that überproducer Dick Wolf will consider at least briefly these other could-be (and, in some cases, have-been) lawyers?

Lara Flynn Boyle: Provided that she can keep herself out of the Mary-Kate Olsen wing of her local rehab clinic, the incredible shrinking woman could use the legalese she learned as Practice prosecutor Helen Gamble to shore up the L&O cast. On second thought, would skinny Minnie still show up on camera?

Charissa Chamorro: If the soap starlet's agents aren't already camped outside Dick Wolf's office with her head shot in hand, she should sue them! Last seen as a psycho law student on Guiding Light, the brunet knockout is in the perfect position to succeed Rohm: Her own L&O counterpart, Kay Hartley, is a former classmate of Serena's!


Reiko Aylesworth: No longer a regular on Fox's 24, the petite powerhouse will need a new gig to help her fill the hours of the day. If she asks us (or, even better, Leslie Hope), she could do a lot worse than to cross over to the mother ship as Erica Alden, the ADA she occasionally plays on spin-off SVU.

Bebe Neuwirth: Since the Broadway babe seems to love New York as much as New York loves her, why not let the Chicago Tony winner quit commuting to L.A. for work by giving her a steady job in Manhattan? That way, the Here Lies Jenny showstopper could satisfy both her addiction to theater and our addiction to her!

LaTanya Richardson: If any actress can pull off tough and endearing as well as our beloved Angie Harmon, it's this one! She's paid her dues on courtroom series from L&O to Ally McBeal, and finally was awarded judge's robes on Sidney Lumet's short-lived 100 Centre Street.

Cynthia Nixon: Not only would the prickliest of the Sex and the City gals be perfectly cast as a thorn in curmudgeonly Sam Waterston's side, but after all those years of sizing up and running down trendoids, the sitcom's schlubby barrister has earned the right to deal with victims of more than fashion.

Sharon Lawrence: Having done time on NYPD Blue, the three-time Emmy nominee's credentials are impeccable. But that's not why we're all hot and bothered to see the sexy dame hired by L&O — we think the one-time SVU guest is the rare femme fatale who could leave "chatty Cathy" McCoy speechless.

Susan Dey: The only way this TV survivor can resuscitate her career is by giving us what we want — herself in court! Think about it. Dey in L.A. Law? Loved it. Dey in Civil Wars? Liked it. Dey in everything else? Skipped it. Then again, we might also tune in if she picked up a tambourine to relive her Partridge Family heyday...