Law & Order: Criminal Intent (season 8) |
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The cast of the eighth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent: from left, Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Nicholson, Eric Bogosian, Kathryn Erbe, and Vincent D'Onofrio. |
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Country of origin | United States | ||
No. of episodes | 16 | ||
Broadcast | |||
Original channel | USA Network | ||
Original run | April 19, 2009 | – August 9, 2009||
Season chronology | |||
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List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes |
The eighth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent premiered on the USA Network in the United States on April 19, 2009. It consisted of sixteen episodes, and concluded on August 9, 2009. The day following each episode's broadcast on television, they are made available to purchase and download from the iTunes Store. Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television series set and filmed in New York City. It is the second spin-off of the long-running crime drama Law & Order, and was created by Dick Wolf and René Balcer. Law & Order: Criminal Intent follows the New York City Police Department's the Major Case Squad, which investigates high-profile murder cases.
Season eight starred Vincent D'Onofrio as Detective Robert Goren, Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames, Julianne Nicholson as Detective Megan Wheeler, and Eric Bogosian as Captain Danny Ross. Jeff Goldblum joined the cast as Detective Zack Nichols. The season was executive produced by Walon Green and Michael Chernuchin; Ed Zuckerman and Tim Lea; Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski; Norberto Barba, Diana Son, Julie Martin, and Arthur W. Forney.
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Law & Order: Criminal Intent is the third series in the crime drama Law & Order franchise, which was created by Dick Wolf in 1990.[1][2] It was developed by Wolf and René Balcer, who began working on the original Law & Order series during its first season.[3][4] Law & Order: Criminal Intent is a police procedural crime drama that follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the Major Case Squad, and its investigations in to high-profile murder cases, such as those involving VIPs, local government officials and employees, the financial industry, and the art world.[5] Unlike the other series in the Law & Order franchise Law & Order: Criminal Intent gives significant attention to the actions and motives of the criminals, rather than primarily focusing on the police investigation and trial prosecution. Episodes do not usually contain trials, and often end in confessions rather than plea bargains or verdicts.[6]
USA Network made a sixteen-episode order for season eight on May 22, 2008,[7] down from the twenty-two episodes of season seven. Production for season eight began at the end of the summer of 2008, shooting on location in and around New York City using local color.[8] The main set of One Police Plaza is located at Pier 62, Chelsea Piers, Manhattan.[9][10]
Following the departure of Warren Leight, who served as show runner, executive producer, and head writer in seasons six and seven,[11] it was announced in July 2008 that Walon Green and Robert Nathan would share Leight's role for the forthcoming eighth season, handling eight episodes each;[12] however, after making two episodes, Nathan was replaced by Law & Order executive producer Ed Zuckerman.[13] Michael Chernuchin co-executive produces Green's episodes, and Tim Lea co-executive produces Zuckerman's episodes.[12] Wolf and Peter Jankowski are also credited as executive producers, as with all other Law & Order series. Other executive producers on the series are Norberto Barba, Diana Son, Julie Martin, and Arthur W. Forney. Charlie Rubin is credited as the supervising producer, and Balcer, Eric Overmyer, and Siobhan Byrne O'Connor are consulting producers.[12]
Law & Order: Criminal Intent does not have an ensemble cast,[14] and therefore differs from Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which feature six and eight actors, respectively, receiving star billing in their seasons which are aired during the same 2008–2009 television season.[15][16] The eighth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent has five actors in starring roles, but only three appear on screen during an episode: two lead detectives and the Captain.
Four of the lead actors from the seventh season returned for season eight. Vincent D'Onofrio plays Detective Robert Goren, a hyper-intuitive contemporary Sherlock Holmes-type investigator who used to work for the US Military Police.[17][18][19] Goren's partner, former vice squad detective, Alexandra Eames,[17] is played by Kathryn Erbe.[20][21] Eric Bogosian appears as Captain Danny Ross,[22] and Julianne Nicholson continues to appear as Detective Megan Wheeler.[23] Jeff Goldblum joins the cast as Detective Zack Nichols,[24] replacing Chris Noth as Wheeler's partner, Detective Mike Logan. Each episode features an alternate investigating team of detectives. D'Onofrio and Erbe appear together in one episode, and Goldblum and Nicholson appear together in the following episode. D'Onofrio and Erbe are in the third episode, and the fourth features Goldblum and Nicholson. Bogosian appears in every episode of the season. This format will continue until episode twelve, when Nicholson will leave the series temporarily on maternity leave. Erbe's character will then partner with both Goren and Nichols for the final four episodes of the season.[25]
In a recurring role, Leslie Hendrix continues to appear as Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth Rodgers, the same character she has also played in Law & Order and the first season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[26] She has appeared in all episodes of seasons 7 and 8. Steve Zirnkilton provides a voice-over at the beginning of each episode's opening credits, saying "In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories."[27][28]
Season eight of Law & Order: Criminal Intent first aired during the 2008–2009 television season on USA Network, an American cable channel. The season premiere episode's air date changed twice before it was eventually broadcast on April 19, 2009, at 9:00 p.m. EST.[29] It was originally scheduled to air in November 2008,[30] just three months after season seven's final episode, but was then pushed back to January 2009.[31] It was rescheduled a second time in January.[32] It was reported that the episodes were held back because the two starring Goldblum and Nicholson, and produced by Nathan were "terrible" and had to be scrapped.[13] Episodes are airing weekly – except May 24 – for sixteen weeks until August 9, 2009.
When Law & Order: Criminal Intent first premiered in 2001, it aired on NBC, the same broadcast network that the rest of the Law & Order franchise airs on. Under a $100,000-per-episode shared or second window syndication agreement made between NBC and USA Network,[2][33] USA Network was allowed to broadcast episodes out of primetime a week after their premiere on NBC.[34] In 2007, following a ratings decline, first-run episodes moved from NBC to USA Network,[35][36] and NBC reaired the episodes beginning January 2008. The same deal continues to run for season eight; NBC began airing episodes from June 3, 2009.[37]
The day following its broadcast on US television, each episode is available to purchase and download at the iTunes Store and Amazon Video on Demand;[38][39] however, unlike most other NBC and USA Network series, they are not streamed on USA Network's website or Hulu, which is co-owned by NBC Universal, USA Network's parent company.
Critical interest in season eight focused on the arrival of Jeff Goldblum as Detective Zack Nichols. Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times wrote, "[Nichols] is better suited to Mr. Goldblum's sensibility than the hallucinating detective he played on the short-lived series Raines, on which he was required to do too much feeling." She continued, "Goldblum’s initial scene has the effect of a star’s first walk-on in a stage play: you feel moved to applause... you trust him to break through the show’s melodramatic solemnity; he signals a kind of first-aid relief." She went on to say that Nicholson, as Detective Wheeler, Nichols' partner, "is destined to fade even further into the background than she did with her previous partner, Mike Logan", and that D'Onofrio's Detective Goren will now seem even more annoying when compared to Nichols.[40] Brian Lowry, reviewing for Variety echoed Bellafonte, commenting that "Goldblum's deft touch with rapid-fire delivery makes him a particularly good choice for the show's cerebral brand of crime drama, although as a consequence, that approach tends to leave the secondary detective with even less to occupy her in most episodes than the flagship [Law & Order]'s assistant district attorneys." He added that the addition of Goldblum to the cast "should breathe a bit of life into Law & Order: Criminal Intent's familiar cat-and-mouse format", noting that it is the least consistently interesting series of the franchise. He noted, though, that due to the nature of the series, attention to the main characters' lives takes a back seat to the perpetrators, victims, and their investigations, saying it is a shame for Goldblum's admirers, as he is limited by the series' "fairly rigid parameters" and cannot fully showcase his acting talents. Lowry did, however, warn Goldblum's fans to "be content. Be very content."[41] In Entertainment Weekly, Mandi Bierly said of Nichols, "he's so laidback that he often does not even appear to be moving when he's walking... He's exactly what you thought you were getting from the casting of Jeff Goldblum." Of Wheeler, she said she hoped that in the forthcoming episodes, Nicholson would get to do more with the character than she did in Goldblum's premiere episode. "I'm assuming she's not always that irrelevant?" she questioned. "She was just feeling her new partner out, which is why she did nothing?"[42]
"Playing Dead", the season's first episode featuring Detectives Goren and Eames, received 4.578 million viewers,[43] over 400,000 more viewers than the following episode, which was Goldblum's premiere.[44] For the remainder of the season, however, episodes featuring Goldblum and Nicholson were watched by more viewers than the episodes featuring D'Onofrio and Erbe, although the viewing figures for all episodes continued to drop over the following weeks. The May 10 episode was watched by 3.14 viewers and placed outside the top twenty cable network television shows for the week, although eight progammes that did place inside the top twenty were NBA Playoff matches.[45] Subsequent episodes were watched by 3.709 viewers,[46] 3.970 million viewers,[47] but the June 7 episode saw the figures begin to climb.[48] "The Glory That Was...", which aired on June 14, was the second-highest rated cable television programme for that night. It was watched by 4.14 million people from a total of 3.19 households, and was watched by 1.87 million people within the 25–54 year-old demographics. Its viewing figures were beaten only by an episode of In Plain Sight, which was broadcast immediately after Law & Order: Criminal Intent on the USA Network. It was also the most-watched episode of the season that features Goldblum and Nicholson.[49] The following week's episode, "Family Values", also received high viewing figures. Beaten out by In Plain Sight again, it was that night's second-highest rated cable programme among 25–54 year-olds, 1.625 million of whom viewed it. It was also the second-highest rated programme for total viewing figures, being watched by 3.44 million people.[50]
Season no. |
Series no. |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
U.S. Viewers (millions) |
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1 | 156 | "Playing Dead" | Michael Smith | Antoinette Stella | April 19, 2009 | 08009 | 4.57[43] |
Detectives Goren and Eames investigate the shooting of Stacy Hayes-Fitzgerald and her boyfriend Rick Siebert, two drug addicts who are blackmailing Stacy's stepfather, Neil Hayes-Fitzgerald, a politician running for mayor. Rick was killed in the shooting, but Stacy survived by playing dead for hours under his bleeding corpse until they were found by Stacy's mother, Josie. After returning home from the hospital, Stacy attempts to commit suicide. After seeing how she reacts when Neil is around, Goren asks Stacy if she has been abused, but she denies it. Goren discovers she and her family moved to Switzerland for a year when she was in high school, and realises Stacy's younger sister Sophie is actually her daughter by Neil. While questioning Neil and his mother, Camille, it is revealed that she had Rick killed because he was threatening to expose Neil's family scandal, thwarting his mayoral bid. | |||||||
2 | 157 | "Rock Star" | Bill D'Elia | Ed Zuckerman | April 26, 2009 | 08008 | 4.10[44] |
Detective Wheeler and her new partner, Det. Zack Nichols, investigate the stabbing of an artist, who was found in a neighborhood rife with ethnic tensions. | |||||||
3 | 158 | "Identity Crisis" | Michael Smith | Pamela Wechsler | May 3, 2009 | 08005 | 3.14[51] |
Two young brothers live with their schizophrenic mother who dies in the bathtub by electrocution. They are questioned about the turn of events and the younger brother Anthony tells police that he saw his brother Tommy push the electric heater into the tub. The two are subsequently separated and put into foster care. Twenty years later, Anthony reappears in Tommy's life and Tommy responds by shooting him. Goren and Eames are brought in to investigate the murder and Rodger's tells them that the victim, Anthony, was dying from lymphoma. Meanwhile, over the years Tommy has been living a mysterious life, pretending that he is a graduate of Princeton University and taking on false identities. He rents a house on Nantucket under the name Tyler Chisholm and the owner's daughter takes a liking to him. The owner is suspicious and runs a background credit check on "Tyler". The credit check is reported to the detectives as Tyler Chisholm was one of the names noted when interviewing people at the Princeton Eating Club. They travel to Nantucket where they find Tommy and take him into custody. Back in New York, Eames questions the owner's daughter and asks if there was anything strange or out of the ordinary that she could recall. She tells her that she remembers Tommy throwing something into the water and staring at it. Goren then questions Tommy and reveals that Anthony did not return to bring back old memories and haunt him, but to make amends because of his inherent death. | |||||||
4 | 159 | "In Treatment" | Jean de Segonzac | Timothy J. Lea | May 10, 2009 | 08010 | 3.14[45] |
Nichols and Wheeler investigate the death of a businessman murdered during a gala. Nichols believes that his company is more involved with the case, then they usually tell to the police. | |||||||
5 | 160 | "Faithfully" | Jean de Segonzac | Antoinette Stella | May 17, 2009 | 08001 | 3.70[46] |
When a devout, celebrity doctor is murdered, Goren and Eames enter the unexpectedly steamy world behind the pulpit. Leland Orser, Janel Moloney and Katheryn Winnick guest star. | |||||||
6 | 161 | "Astoria Helen" | Norberto Barba | Timothy J. Lea | May 31, 2009 | 08004 | 3.97[52] |
A charming con man targets a lonely, single mother to try to hit an armored truck carrying millions of dollars; Detectives Nichols and Wheeler investigate when one of the con man's partners dies weeks later. | |||||||
7 | 162 | "Folie a Deux" | David Manson | Michael S. Chernuchin | June 7, 2009 | 08003 | 3.90[47] |
A missing girl, left alone in a hotel room while her parents dined, leaves Detectives Goren and Eames sorting out a completely dysfunctional family and hangers-on to determine her whereabouts. Elsewhere, Eames spends time with her sister. Special guest star Lynn Redgrave. | |||||||
8 | 163 | "The Glory That Was..." | Norberto Barba | Robert Nathan | June 14, 2009 | 08002 | 4.14[49] |
What should have been a simple meeting turns to murder, leaving Detectives Wheeler and Nichols to question an embassy, a security company, the victim's relatives, and how it all connects to the Olympic Site Selection Committee. | |||||||
9 | 164 | "Family Values" | Jean de Segonzac | Teleplay by: Walon Green Story by: Walon Green & Antoinette Stella |
June 21, 2009 | 08015 | 3.44[50] |
When a flier from a local Catholic high school drama production connects three murders, Detectives Goren and Eames are back on the case to understand the psychology of a religious fanatic before he claims another victim. | |||||||
10 | 165 | "Salome in Manhattan" | Steve Shill | Andrew Lipsitz | June 28, 2009 | 08006 | N/A |
A celebrity chef’s star is on the rise as he plans the opening of a trendy restaurant with powerful partners. Yet his world is upended when his tabloid-friendly, gorgeous girlfriend and business partner is killed under mysterious circumstances. Detectives Nichols and Wheeler enter the seductive world of power and privilege and discover desperation and murder. Special guest stars Eric Balfour and Alexandra Daddario. | |||||||
11 | 166 | "Lady's Man" | Ken Girotti | Michael S. Chernuchin | June 28, 2009 | 08011 | N/A |
Detectives Goren and Eames are back on the case to investigate the killing of a man who became famous for dodging a murder conviction because of a mishandled trial. The man spun his notoriety into a TV show but turned up dead on his birthday. | |||||||
12 | 167 | "Passion" | Jonathan Herron | Michael S. Chernuchin | July 12, 2009 | 08012 | 3.47[53] |
When egocentric poet Jacob Garrety would do anything to keep his poetry journal, The Village Quarterly, afloat. While Jacob enjoys the advances of arts patron Sandra Dunbar at a poetry reading, his assistant Lauren carries out his wish, and winds up dead on the street. Detectives Nichols and Wheeler discover the deadly passion that exists behind the arts. | |||||||
13 | 168 | "All In" | David Manson | Teleplay by: Pamela Wechsler, Antoinette Stella, & Walon Green Story by: Pamela Wechsler |
July 19, 2009 | 08013 | 4.14[54] |
Poker genius Josh Snow loses $80,000 in a card game and bookie Lou Cardinale forces him into collections to work off the losses. When Josh goes to collect from Kip McGonagle, he fires the gun expecting a blank, but a real bullet kills Kip dead in the street. Detectives Goren and Eames enter an elaborate game where they must join in the play, or be played. | |||||||
14 | 169 | "Major Case" | Chris Zalla | Andrew Lipsitz | July 26, 2009 | 08014 | 4.63[55] |
A drug dealer is killed the night before she plans to leave town to live on her cousin's farm. Eames pairs up with Nichols to investigate; after Wheeler goes into labor, to find the girl's killer.
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15 | 170 | "Alpha Dog" | Norberto Barba | Walon Green | August 2, 2009 | 08007 | 4.23[56] |
A hunky posterboy with a million-dollar torso has what others crave: sex appeal. When he shows up dead after a night of sex and drugs with an elusive woman, detectives Goren and Eames uncover the sexual paranoia behind the murder. | |||||||
16 | 171 | "Revolution" | John David Coles | Michael S. Chernuchin | August 9, 2009 | 08016 | 4.83[57] |
A revolutionary plans the kidnapping of a powerful banking executive, but the heist goes wrong and the executive is killed. While probing the murder, Nichols and Eames must also prevent a terrorist campaign.
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Preceded by Season Seven |
List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes | Succeeded by Season Nine |
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