For those of you who don't know, Wil Wheaton is a co-worker of mine. He is a blogger over at Card Squad (.com), one of many Weblogsinc blogs listed on the right side of TV Squad.

He also makes a very good point in his comment that makes me think my frustration is with casting directors, not writers. These roles aren't necessarily written for recognizable actors. They land the big supporting roles because they're good actors.

Unfortunately, in the case of Law and Order, the only major supporting roles that are available tend to be for the guilty person. So, any 'whodunit'-style episode is made less interesting, in my opinion, because you can be pretty sure they're going to come back to find the recognizable actor guilty (i.e. Lee Tergesen in SVU). It's a Catch-22 of sorts. You want to give a good actor a good role, but sometimes it's at the risk of tipping off the viewers about who is going to be guilty!

The big guest stars on shows like Law and Order have never bothered me, because the casting seems a lot more natural than a show like Will and Grace, which had big name stars (Madonna, Cher, Kevin Bacon, etc) just as stunt casting and ratings, and it's one of the things that killed the show.

Yeah, the Julia Roberts guest-starring bit was pretty lame, but Fred Savage on SVU was excellent. That was one of the best episodes they've done. And it's true that everyone knew he'd done what they said he'd done--but that wasn't the point. There's more to Law & Order than just figuring out who did it (though they have done many very good whodunit episodes); it's the twists and turns of how they're going to catch the "perp" that makes it interesting. I'm not especially willing to give CSI credit for not resorting to stunt casting (Quentin Tarantino directing? The popular song [Madonna & Radiohead, to name a few] product placement?). For one thing, something tells me that Caruso won't let anyone upstage him.

While I'll admit that Matlock was my favorite show when I was 10, and my view of crime shows staring aged stars is somewhat compromised as a result, Murder She Wrote was awesome.

Sorry, Toby, but I have to disagree that there was ever anything great about 'Murder, She Wrote'.

What was great about 'Murder, She Wrote' and before that, 'Burke's Law' was that there were so many famous guest stars in each episode, you never could be sure who'd turn out to be the murderer.

Although as a kid, I worked out a system to figure out 'Burke's Law' - if the guest star appeared in 3 different scenes, they'd be the guilty party.

I don't think there is a single actor that ever appeared on Oz, even if it was only as a background extra in the visitor room, for three seconds, in only one episode, that hasn't appeared at least once on one of the Law & Order's.

Bad writing runs rampant on TV dramas, so it's no surprise to me that the guest star on L&O is usually the killer. That's par for the course and just one of many reasons why I don't watch them. Except for L&O: Sports Utility Vehicle, which I watch only because Chris Meloni, Lee Tergesen's cellmate and lover on Oz, is on it. And because I'm trying to ferret out if there's a vast conspiracy that is keeping Lee Tergesen from guesting on SVU.

Everyone on Oz has been on SVU. Some several times. I'm beginning to think there's some New York state law that states Oz actors HAVE to be on L&O. Freakin' Oz extras have been on SVU, but not once has Tergesen been on. What's up with that?

Now that "Wanted" (Tergesen's series on TNT) apparently won't be returning next season (according to internet rumors), I am hoping that the TV Casting Gods will cast Tergesen -- while he still has long hair -- on SVU. This is really important. At no other time is Tergensen likely to have hair this long while being available to guest-star on SVU. I want to see Tergensen and his long hair on SVU. Why with the long hair, you ask? Because he looks incredibly hot with it that long, I answer. :P

He and The Hair (tm) have already been on L&O: The Mothership this season, so why not SVU? Is that too much to ask?

If Tergesen's a guest star on SVU, I won't care that I'll know from the start that he is the one whodunit. I just want to watch Tergesen, The Hair (tm), and Meloni chew up the scenery together. A girl can dream, can't she? :P

Wil, clearly you do not understand the modern day definition of 'celebrity'. It's kind of like the change that has happened to 'supermodel'. There used to be like 3 supermodels, now everyone and her sister is a supermodel. And if you ever wonder what it takes to qualify as a 'celebrity', take a look at Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Poker, Celebrity Blackjack, The Surreal Life, etc etc etc. For goodness sake, Wendy Pepper is a 'celebrity'.

http://www.bravotv.com/Celebrity_Poker_Showdown/Players/

Being a regular on TNG must qualify one as 'supercelebrity' if that is how we are setting the bar.

Wil. You are famous. you were on Star Trek for God's sake. Why in the world are you wasting your time posting on blogs? Dude you were taken away by the traveller to become something more than human. Don't waste your time on us.

Does that mean Malcolm David Kelley is gonna be guilty on SVU? I knew I couldn't trust that kid!

http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/12/30/losts-walt-on-next-weeks-svu/