'Law & Order: Los Angeles' Premiere: Watch Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Footage

When 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' premieres tonight (10PM ET on NBC), it will be the first time in over 20 years that the mothership show, 'Law & Order,' isn't on the air.

Instead, the familiar "chung-chung" sound will be heard on 'SVU,' 'Criminal Intent' (on USA) and this newest edition.

Set amid the bright lights of Hollywood and the gritty streets of South Central, the show stars Skeet Ulrich, Terrence Howard and Alfred Molina, Rachel Ticotin, Corey Stoll and more as the cops and prosecutors charged with dispensing justice in L.A.

'LOLA' kicks off with a crossover from its sibling, 'SVU,' which premieres tonight at 9PM ET. Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson heads to Los Angeles for a case about the "backlog of untested rape kits," she told E! News.

EXCLUSIVE! Go behind the scenes of the crossover:


"It's something people don't know about," Hargitay said. "After a woman's been raped and goes through a four- to six-hour very traumatizing and invasive procedure you would expect it gets tested. But often times, most of the times, they sit on a shelf in a police facility. It's something my foundation is trying to change, to eradicate the backlog."

The 'L&O' veteran gave high marks to her new compatriots.

"They have an incredible cast," she said of the 'LOLA' crew. "I think it's going to be strong right out of the gate."

Ulrich plays Det. Casey Winters, an ex-Marine who is married to his former partner (Teri Polo). Usually, 'Law & Order' shows stick to the facts, but expect to see more of the characters' personal lives in the new show.








'LOLA' cast members celebrated the debut of their new show in style Monday night at the W hotel in Hollywood with themed cocktails like "Miranda-itas" and "Ripped From the Key Limes" mojitos.

Molina and fellow co-stars Regina Hall, Corey Stoll, Rachel Ticotin talked to TV Squad about what to expect from the sun-soaked new edition of the 'Law & Order' franchise and who gets to deliver those Jerry Orbach-style zingers.


Corey Stoll
What's the biggest difference between the New York and Los Angeles series?
From what I've seen so far, I would definitely say the look. It's beautiful, it really is one of the most beautifully-shot TV shows I've seen. They made it such a big point of capturing what's uniquely L.A., the quality of light and the breadth of the landscape.

Tell me a little bit about your character
My character is Detective Tomas 'TJ' Jaruszalski. He's seen a lot of the world and a lot of the entertainment industry and is sort of jaded by it. He has a real love/hate relationship with it. And he has a great sense of humor about it, which for me, is the fun part. I get a lot of the zingers.

So you get to deliver the one-liners over the corpse, like Jerry Orbach used to?
I get a lot of those. I can't pretend to be able to deliver them anything like the wryness or the intelligence that he did. There's some good ones. [My character] just has a great sense of energy that he brings to this job and enjoying police work.

Were you a fan of the franchise before this?
Most of my experience with it before this was really as a New York actor having some friend who was on it, who got his first TV gig doing a scene or two, and watching it that way. It was such a joy to see all my friends and colleagues on it. I had a great guest spot on the mother ship once. It was a real mainstay of New York. There was a real warmth for the show.

Do you think we'll see any of the characters from New York show up in LA?
It's not up to me. If it were, I'd hire all my friends from New York.

Alfred Molina
What made you want to sign on to this series?
Well, mainly, after the best part of 30 years, spending most of that time away frome home, I just thought, at the grand old age of 57, I kind of thought it would be nice to have some fun at work, enjoy my day, and then go home and have dinner with my wife. I've missed it.

What's your character like?
I play Ricardo Morales, the Deputy D.A., who is probably the first of his family to go to college. His father is a groundsman at a country club. He carries the expectations of his family and also the weight of the responsibility of fulfilling those expectations. He's an intelligent man who understands the subtle nuances justice and law. And he's a political animal. He understands the politics of his job. There's a wonderful scene where I'm telling someone that I'm going to charge this person because he's guilty under the law, "Isn't that what you always say?" And the other person says, "I say it because I mean it, you only say it when you're pissed off." I think that kind of says a lot about him, he understands how the system works.

How does he compare to Jack McCoy?
I think he's not quite as old school as Jack McCoy. And perhaps not very different from Jack McCoy and Stone, Michael Moriarty's character. Hopefully, they'll be room to make it our own. It's very exciting to be doing the show right here.

How do you think it will represent LA?
I think you're going to see the city in all its glory and all its sleaziness. There'd be no point in simply doing an either/or. I think we're going to see all the different levels of the city. I hope fans of the show will enjoy seeing a great format in a brand-new setting. I'm very proud of it.

Rachel Ticotin
This is not the first time you're playing a police lieutenant
Definitely not the first time. I was trying to count the other day how many times I've played an LA city detective. I once did it for Dick Wolf, it was a TV series called 'Crime and Punishment' with Jon Tenney, who's now on 'The Closer.'

What made you want to do this show?
Health insurance always has to be paid for. Those are important things. And it's a great group of actors and you sort of trust the set-up.

Were you a fan of the franchise?
Yeah, sure. I didn't watch all 20 years, but I did watch several of them and enjoyed them.

Is your character at all similar to New York's Anita Van Buren?
Yes, she's very tough.

What's her background?
We're developing that. That's the thing about TV series, you find the story as you start doing it. When I originally read, the character was a male, so it's really sort of nebulous right now.

Megan Boone
What can we expect from your character's relationship with Terrence Howard's character?
I work as Terrence's assistant and the relationship thus far as been sort of mentor/mentee. My character's a very smart, passionate attorney, but she still has a lot ot learn about how to use the law in order to impart justice. Terrence's character uses the law very creatively in order to sort of fall on the moral side that he wants to fall on.

So you're more about the letter of the law?
He's very much thinking outside the box and I'm very much, "What are you doing?!" Being young and being a woman, I feel that I've got to keep it together, be more down the middle and prove that I belong.

Wha'ts her background?
She's an LA native, comes from a wealthy family. So she comes from a kind of pampered existence, so this is now where she's starting to get the punches. She's getting a little bit more exposure to the world.

How do you think that the LA setting will differ from New York?
It's such a broad landscape: LA goes out, New York goes up, and so we're going to be covering a lot of ground here. There's a lot of diversity. You're going to be seeing parts of the city that even people who live don't get to expore.

Regina Hall
Tell me about your character
I am playing District Attorney Evelyn Price and I work with Fred Molina. She comes from an upper-middle class family, so her pursuit of justice comes from a very pure and authentic place.

How does your character get along with Molina's?
They clash sometimes. A lot of it has to do with the fact that he's been doing it a longer time and he understands the shades of gray and I don't think I do yet. Evelyn still sees things in black and white. You were wrong, that's it.

If this show goes for 20 years, do you want to be on for the whole ride?
(Laughs) Oh, I'll be one old DDA if that happens.

Hopefully you'd get promoted!
I'll have to. Right now, I'm just looking forward to us having a successful run.

Danielle Panabaker
You're in the pilot episode: Who do you play?
I play a young starlet, sort of the bane of those Disney actresses/singers who's reached that age where she's partying with her mother.

And then there's a scandal....
Yes, some houses get broken into and things get stolen, which is part of that 'ripped from the headlines' aspect of Law & Order.

Had you been a fan of the franchise?
Absolutely. I did an episode of 'SVU' a long time ago. I think it was called 'Intoxicated,' It was a great episode, very Romeo and Juliet, where her mom hates her boyfriend and she tries to get the boyfriend arrested and her mom ends up dead and you don't know who did it.

Did you have fun playing a bad girl for this episode?
I really did. It was a great role and a great experience. And great to do something a little bit different.

Who's been your favorite 'Law & Order' detective?
I really love Mariska. I had a great time working with her and I just think the world of her.