It seems like we have new casting news and/or rumors about Law and Order: Criminal Intent every week or so. Here's the latest.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has been cast as the new captain on the show. She replaces Eric Bogosian who has left after a few seasons on the USA Network show. She'll join another new cast member, Saffron Burrows, who replaces Julianne Nicholson, who decided not to come back to the show after having a baby.

Fans of the Law and Order shows (all of them) are used to big cast changes and turnovers. When you have shows that last so long, you're bound to see characters leave and new ones pop up. Now it looks like we're about to have a new cast member on Law and Order: CI and an old one that won't be coming back.

Julianne Nicholson has decided not to come back to the show after leaving for a while to have a baby.

And so ends the first season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent with Jeff Goldblum as one of the stars (alternating the lead role with Vincent D'Onofrio). There are fans who love the Goldblum episodes and those that only want to see the veteran D'Onofrio in the lead. I noticed that the plots of the Goldblum/Nicholson episodes seemed to be really ambitious, but I don't think that made them better.

What grade do you give Goldblum for his first season?

Not sure why USA Network ran two new episodes of Law and Order: CI back to back last night. Since the show was delayed so much this season you would think they'd want to spread out the fresh episodes over the summer longer. But we got to see a Jeff Goldblum episode and a Vincent D'Onofrio episode on the same night so we can compare the two leading men.

(S01E11) Didn't Stephanie March have shorter hair last week?

This week we have another instance of Nick Potter (Jordan Bridges) wrestling with his demons. He's trying to save a reformed gang member from jail and he goes over ADA Jessica Rossi's (Milena Govich) head to Bureau Chief Alexandra Cabot (March), who recommends a lesser sentence. I thought we got over Nick's psychological problems with his mugging last week, but this episode may be out of order. On a side note, we get to see very little of Rossi this week. Her only storyline is to establish that she's not a high-class gal because she doesn't know what 'Cocktail Attire' means or what Foie Gras is.

(S01E10)  I really wanted to like this show, but I just don't. I'm going to finish out the season (please, God make it end soon) and then it's being deleted from my TiVo Season Pass. I don't like it because of the multiple storylines in each episode. It goes from story to story so quickly that I still don't feel invested in any of the characters. Plus, it's hard to follow the stories when they're so fragmented and there are so many of them.

(S01E09)  I totally hated the judge on ADA Steele's case. He made my blood boil as he kept ruling against Steele and pushing for a lesser charge against a high school kid who killed a classmate. I know I wouldn't have kept my cool the way Steele did. But, was he right to continue with the murder charges? The judge's original offer for a lesser charge was for 1-3 years in jail. Steele refused to reduce the charge, got his conviction (no thanks to the judge), and then the judge reduced the charge anyway and put the kid on probation. Steele had to know that the judge had the ability to do this. He had to see it coming, right? Or is he just so stubborn and self-absorbed that he can't see past his own nose? He didn't seem to be fighting for the victim, rather for himself.

(S01E06) First of all... yum. Eric Balfour dancing with that woman in the opening scene? That, my friends, is how you open a show. Too bad J. August Richards totally ruined the mood.

Is it me or was everyone talking really fast during this episode? That opening sequence was all smooth and slow and then we just dove right the heck into fast-talking office-speak and, I tell you what, I spent the rest of the episode playing catch-up.

Once again, lots of things happen. Christina (Julianne Nicholson) is heartbroken over an emotional case involving a dead baby, Billy (J. August Richards) is trying to keep his perfect record in the courtroom, Cabot (Stephanie March) and Steele (Anson Mount) get it on, Potter (Jordan Bridges) grows some balls, and Peluso (Eric Balfour) hounds the beautiful but icey girl in the office. By the way, did anybody catch why the title of this episode is 'Savasana'? I don't get it.

Well, Billy is a jerk. In his personal life and his work life. He sleeps with a girl who turns out to be a clerk and then totally shrugs her off when he sees her in the courthouse. But, even worse than that was his attempt to get a woman to drop her 1974 rape case because it wasn't a slam dunk for him. He tells the rape victim, "I don't want to put you through any unnecessary pain." Grrrr.

I thought this week's episode of Conviction was much, much better than last week's episode. I still think that there are too many storylines in each episode, making it hard to care too much for any particular character. But, the multiple storyline thing seems to be the M.O. for this show. So be it.

Is anybody else wondering where this show is going? It's trying to balance a procedural drama, which is Dick Wolf's cup of tea, with a bunch of personal storylines, which are usually not included in Dick Wolf shows. It seems clumsy, fragmented, and packed with too much information. I still don't know any of the characters' names and I feel like I'm not getting any time to get to know them because the show jumps from character to character so quickly.