FROM DC TO DA: The latest "Law & Order" casting shuffle may be its most surprising ever- AP reports that the departing U.S. Senator Fred Thompson will join the show this October as the main District Attorney. The role, while a small one, has been crucial throughout L&O's long history- the DA only has three or four lines per episode, but that person is expected to exude a certain gravitas which slam home the point that justice is in fact being served. For the first ten years it was the great Steven Hill as DA Adam Schiff, the show's longest-lasting and final original cast member, who was unfortunately replaced two years ago by the ineffective Dianne Wiest (thankfully, Hill has lived on in TD Waterhouse commercials). As both an experienced actor and two-term senator, Thompson sounds like a natural for the role- but how will he make time for the shooting schedule when he's still officially a Senator until January?
Posted by Stephen Silver at August 19, 2002 07:44 PM