(E08) If it seems like forever since 'The Pacific' spent any time with John Basilone, that's because it has been. As Basilone himself said, it's been more than a year since he saw action. Since he couldn't just go back into the heart of the war, he asked for the next best thing: the opportunity to train the next batch of marines who'd be heading out to back up his friends still on the line.

Other than a brief interlude with Sledge, who's back at base camp with a Snafu slipping toward hypochondria, we spent the entire hour with Sgt. Basilone. In doing so, the writers and producers managed to find yet another facet of the war to show us. The emotional struggles of a soldier away from the war, and the conflicting ties that pull him in both directions at once.

I think one of our readers made a joke about this in the comments, but now TV critic Alan Sepinwall suggests (perhaps jokingly, perhaps not) that since Leblanc is now out of a job, maybe he should be hired for Law and Order.

"Hey, McCoy...how you doin?"

That's just one of the many casting suggestions that Sepinwall makes in the wake of departures from Dennis Farina and Annie Parisse. How about Mickey Rourke, or Don Johnson, or maybe even Mario Lopez or Geena Davis?

Come on readers, you know you want to make suggestions of your own...

[via TV Tattle]

If there is any one show that can claim long-running success with a ever-changing cast of characters, it's NBC's Law & Order. For example, during its 16-year run (which will become 17 years starting next fall), the Assistant District Attorney's second-chair slot, which actor Richard Brooks left back in 1993, has been filled by five individuals: Jill Hennessy, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon, Elisabeth Rohm (who departed earlier this last season) and Annie Parisse as current ADA Alexandra Borgia. Doctor Who didn't even regenerate this much in so little time!

Well, it looks like Parisee may be heading out the door this season, according to Zap2it. Of course, NBC is keeping mum about this rumored departure in order to maximize its ratings during May sweeps. The only mention of the final episode involves Borgia's boss, ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterson), who risks everything in order to nab two vicious criminals.

Parisee's Borgia replaced Rohm's Serena Southerlyn earlier this season when she was let go from the DA's office. In a bit of a departure from the L&O formula, which rarely steeps into a character's background, Southerlyn asked if she was let go because she was a lesbian. Who would replace Borgia? Well, if Conviction isn't renewed, there will be a whole mess of new ADA's to choose from. Maybe McCoy can team up with Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March).

Unlike her appearances on Friends, Kathleen Turner will actually play a woman when she appears on tomorrow night's Law and Order. She'll play Rebecca Shane, a fancy pants defense attorney who faces off against A.D.A. Jack McCoy. She represents a privileged high school student who may or may not have killed another fellow student in desperation to graduate.

51-year-old Turner currently lives in London, where she is starring in the Edward Albee play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Apollo Theatre. She was recently quoted as saying that she's ready to move to London permanently because Americans don't appreciate older women.