Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

    I fell asleep right after the "kidnapper" was declaired mentally
    competent to stand trial. What was the final result?
    
    Thanks,
    Sari

    Behind spoiler
    
    
    
    
    She went to trial, the little girl was being prepped for her testimony
    the night before she was to take the stand.  She went on the stand the
    next day and did not tell the same story.  (She didn't want the
    teacher to go to jail...).  The woman was acquitted and even sued for
    custody of the little girl.
    
    -sandy
    
    

    The show will start the new season on Wed., Sep. 21.  I am looking
    forward to it, but will definitely miss Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone. 
    I just can't see Sam Waterson doing as fine a job.  (Although Law and
    ORder is known for surviving character changes due to marvelous
    casting.  Guess I'll just have to wait and see!
    
    Tricia
    

    BTW, A&E just started running the first season this week.  Every
    weeknight at 11 pm.

    I think Sam Waterston is fine. 
    
    Spoiler-ish thought, about last night's shot-Japanese-guy episode...
    
    The idea that the accused woman was somehow held in Japan against her
    will for a year is ridiculous. He supposedly kept her passport, as if
    that would prevent her from leaving. All she had to do was tell the
    embassy she lost hers and pick up a new one on the way to the airport.
    

Could someone give a brief update for the show on 10/5 ?  We missed the second
half of the show!

--C.

    I guess we ought to have a spoiler formfeed:
    
    
    
    So, they arrest the singer.  Her lawyer doesn't want to submit to a
    line up or provide a hair to check against the one found at the scene. 
    A judge rules that she must do both.  The lineup is a "pretty sure"
    identification, but the hair is a match.  She gets a new lawyer, who
    argues that she acted from the battered women's syndrome; Hiyashi
    abused her in Japan, and when he showed up in New York, she thought he
    was going to come after her and kill her.  She's evaluated by Olivet,
    who says that she does suffer from the syndrome.  McCoy is royally
    ticked at Olivet.  Kincaid and McCoy get a search warrant for the
    singer's apartment and find lots of books on the syndrome, with
    passages highlighted.  McCoy predicts that the defense will turn the
    trial into a racial incident, essentially trying the Japanese culture
    rather than Martha Bowen.  Kincaid gets to do the cross-examination of
    the singer and has her read from the books; the passages are almost
    identical to her words of testimony.  The jury acquits.

    
    As usual, I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes.  Will someone be
    so kind as to fill me in on the ending of last night's show?
    
    Thanks...Rania
    

  Ending of the show:

SPOILER


  I don't remember the names but I'll try my best with the "this guy that
guy" approach.

  The stepfather who had the apartment and paint business was arrested for
murdering the mother. He came up with an alibi consisting of his mistress who
said he was with her all evening. 

  The 17 year old girl also attempted to provide him with an alibi by claiming
that she was having an affair with him as well. She was suppose to have been at
a school concert that night but her friend said that she had loaned the girl a
black dress to wear to sneak out and see her boyfriend (the stepfather). They
found the black dress and it had blood stains so the girl was arrested as an
accomplis. 

  The D.A.s wanted the girl to testify against the stepfather but she wouldn't
claiming that she was in love with the stepfather and visa versa. The step-
father then tried to pin everything on the girl claiming that he came home and
found the mother dead, killed by the girl (her daughter). He said that the girl
threatened to blame him unless he disposed of the body. 

  The trial began. During the trial, the stepfather had to take the stand and
admit that he was not in love with the girl but loved his mistress. Hearing
this the girl changed her mind and told her side of the story which was that
the stepfather and her mother had a fight and that he hit the mother, she fell
and was killed. 

  Now the only problem remaining was the alibi being provided by the mistress.
The D.A. got everyone together (stepfather, girl, mistress) and had the girl
tell in detail about the 1st time she slept with the stepfather. The technique
sounded familiar to the mistress so she withdrew her alibi and admitted she was
not with him that night. 

  The stepfather pleaded out to manslaughter 1,
  George 

    
    Thanks for taking the time to write a reply George, much appreciated. 
                 

    Yes?

    
    	Quiet .. he's thinking!!
    

    So, Chris Noth is out next season.  Am I disappointed?  Yes.  Will it
    be the ruin of the show?  No.  It's not like they run out and hire the
    first cute bozo they find.  All the previous substitutions have worked
    out quite well.
    
    Cragen vs Van Buren -- Cragen was a pretty ordinary character; Van
    Buren has some zing
    
    Greavey vs Sorretta vs Briscoe -- I like 'em all just fine; Greavey was
    a bear, Sorretta was a teddy bear, and Briscoe is a great sourpuss.
    
    Robinette vs Kincaid -- Both were excellent
    
    Stone vs McCoy -- At first, McCoy was too abrasive, but he's starting
    to grow on me

  The Captain was on last night for the 1st time in a while. It was good to
see him again.

  Great show. They really did the peda-priest story very well,
  George

    Looked like this was based on the James Porter case. He was a priest
    from the Boston area that the Catholic church tried to cure through
    prayer, moving him to different parishes etc. 
    
    The scene with the Catholic administrator who had his records was
    balanced. They could have come down clumsily against the church's
    handling of the guy but did not. The admin said that they tried to do
    the best they could based on what was known at the time. They've
    learned since then to let the police handle this type of case. Briscoe
    said pedophiles are not "amenable to therapy". I guess this has only
    recently become common knowledge. 
    
    Porter ended up in Mineapolis with a new family, but last year was
    returned to Boston for trial, and convicted of zillions of
    molestations that had occurred more than twenty years ago. I don't
    remember why the statute of limitations did not apply, maybe because he
    fled the state.
    

    Last night was Chris Noth's last episode in the series as well as the
    season finale. I thought the story was okay but the ending stunk. It
    was as if they said, "Oh wait, we have to wrap up this character and we
    only have a minute left..."
    
    Anyone else?

  I thought it was a pretty good show. And yeah they gave a quick excuse for
North to be gone but sometimes in the real world major life altering events
happen quickly with little or no reason leading up to them. 

  I still really like this show a lot. NYPD Blue, Law & Order, ER, and Homicide
running consecutive days in the 10PM slot makes for a pretty good batting
order. Too bad they took Northern Exposure out of the leadoff slot on Monday.

  George

    Re: .17
    
    It was kind of odd, being so abrupt.  But then, it's common knowledge
    that it was coming, and at least they didn't drag it out with some
    overdone "how do we get rid of this character" thing.

    Hi all,  
    
    I've been watching all the re-runs this summer on A&E, but they have
    not shown the finale yet.
                                      
    Did he get shot? Fired? Bored???  Please tell me...I can't stand a mystery!
    
    
    'preciate it.
    Dave
    
    
    
    

  Who are you talking about?

  All of the major original characters are gone now, both original cops, both
original D.A.'s and the original Police Captain. 

  George

    
    
    Sorry 'bout that, wasn't trying to be cryptic.
    
     I was referring specifically to the departure of
    Chris Noth's character. 
    
    
    
    
    Dave

RE                     <<< Note 73.22 by POLAR::SHOEBRIDGE >>>

>     I was referring specifically to the departure of
>    Chris Noth's character. 
    
  SPOILER on where Chris Noth's character went.



  In the last episode he punched a city councilor and word was that he was
going to get transferred to a less desirable position.

  George

    
    Would someone who watched last night's show please tell me what
    happened the last 5 minutes or so.  Of course I nodded off right after
    the judge denied McCoy's request for the Mental Hygiene Law (was that 
    what it was called?).  I did see McCoy bully the Police into putting 
    the suspect under surveillance.  The next thing I remember is waking 
    up to the closing credits.
    
    Inquiring minds want to know!
    
    Thanks,
    Susan

    
    	They kept hounding the guy. The guy tells McCoy to back off and
    McCoy says there will only be three ways that it happens. The guy kills
    McCoy, the guy kills himself, or he goes back to prison.
    
    	Last scene, the cops rush to the guy's apartment and he's dead.
    Tried to rape a friend of the daughter and the daughter wacks him with 
    a baseball bat.
    
    ed

    Thanks, too.
    
    I wonder what it was.  I also nodded off in the last 5 minutes, even
    though I was interested in the outcome.

    Thanks!!!!!
    
    I could feel myself nodding off and figured I could stay awake for just
    5 more minutes, but no go.
    
    What was it??  I figure it was a busy day at work, a husband, 2 small kids,
    2 big dogs, 3 fish tanks, a house and sink full of dishes 8^) 
    
    /Susan