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Reviews: Law & Order: Los Angeles

Not much praise for the premiere of Law and Order: Los Angeles, however there is more love in the room for the second episode.

North American Critics didn’t think much of Law and Order: Los Angeles, which the Seven Network has the rights for in Australia.

Figures for the first show were good, but after the underwhelming reviews, creator Dick Wold took time to defend the show.

That said, the LA Times says Ep 2 was way better than Ep 1.

Variety said:

Seen the new “Law,” looks like the old “Law” — only with more conspicuous references to TMZ. “Law & Order: Los Angeles” is slick and sleazy — capitalizing on its locale with all the requisite L.A. stereotypes, while featuring a potent cast that, as usual, is pretty shackled by the well-established format. Not surprisingly, the guest stars shine in the first two episodes, which exhaust Lindsay Lohan- and Charlie Manson-type inspiration right out of the starting gate. Where it matters most, though — rebuilding the timeslot NBC flattened with “The Jay Leno Show” — what NBC wants, “LOLA” ought to get.

Hollywood Reporter said:
It’s equally as hard not to watch “LO:LA” without yearning for the very things that made this franchise so distinctive: intelligent stories, raw camerawork and a feeling of verisimilitude that slashed through the ho-hum murder-of-the-week shows. Two decades on, for this franchise to stand out, it still should be doing some slashing and burning — and a lot less spewing of lines like: “Mom shoots a burglar, daughter holds a press conference. I love L.A.” The last thing this series wants to do is blend in — and thus far, it’s no standout.

NY Times said:
The new series leans even more heavily on Hollywood shenanigans, and the aesthetic has radically changed. Particularly after all those dank jogging paths, dark alleys and boarded-up brownstones in New York, the scenery in “Law & Order: Los Angeles” is almost blindingly bright and sunny. And there are lighter moments that reflect a wryly amused view of Los Angeles culture……….The palette is brighter, and the mood is more mellow, but over all this version of “Law & Order” follows the basic template that worked for 20 years — through world crises and catastrophes and, within the show, numerous cast changes and rebootings. “Law & Order” episodes hold attention, year after year and rerun after rerun, because the story arcs are both suspenseful and predictable; the plots are luridly fascinating, but their resolution is comfortingly familiar.

Vancouver Sun said:
There’s not yet any chemistry between detective Skeet Ulrich and Corey Stoll, certainly nothing like that of Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth, who originated the best pairing in the first show with their characters Lenny Briscoe and Mike Logan. Too early perhaps to be overly critical, but the show’s not going to work without those pivotal characters bonding and scrapping through the hour, revealing not only their law enforcement integrity but their personal warts.

Following the reviews, Dick Wolf defended the show saying, “We are trying to fulfill an expectation of what L.A. is about,”

“The first episode was very deliberate — it’s not going to be Hollywood every week, but I thought it really was the best way to introduce the show, to show that it was really different from the New York version.”

But LA Times preferred ep 2 saying:
Following on the heels of last week’s cliche-ridden, cringe-able debut, “Law and Order: Los Angeles” redeemed itself Wednesday night. Was it “The Wire”? No. But nothing is “The Wire,” and that’s not a fair fight, so let’s not bother. What it was, however, was a tightly edited hour of non-obvious storytelling that touched (deftly, I thought) on some real issues that cops, prosecutors and criminals deal with in real life. And the much-beloved chung-chung interlude sound is back!

4 Responses

  1. What ever happened to Law & Order UK ? They are now up to season 3 episode 20.
    And we only got 3-4 episodes of the first season before it was cancelled here 🙁

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