Actor Roy Scheider died yesterday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, after battling multiple myeloma for several years and suffering complications from a staph infection. He was 75 and had been living in Sag Harbor, New York (after moving out his house in Sagaponack that Billy Joel purchased). Scheider may be best known for his role as Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. One of his lines from the movie,......

We were catching up with Law & Order: Criminal Intent tonight and at one point, Detective Robert Goren is talking to a former Marine. He asked former Marine where he did training and former Marine answers, "Parris Island." Ha! Of course, Parris Island is familiar to Goren's portrayer Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket. Goren responds, noting that Parris Island has changed a lot. Maybe the L&O:C! writers will work in......

Darren Starr’s Sex in the City like Cashmere Mafia was set to debut at the end of November, but was put off due to the writers' strike. So don’t get too attached to this series, since there appears to be only seven episodes produced of the 13 ordered. Still it beats NBC’s similar Lipstick Jungle to air, which seems not to have a launch date announced yet. On its surface the show looks like a......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The War: A Ken Burns Film (Sunday - Tuesday, 8:00 p. m., WNET 13; Sunday - Tuesday, 10:00 p. m., WLIW 21) The Ken Burns World War II documentary wraps up this week. Top Gear (Monday 8:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., BBC America) We recently stumbled onto the insanely brilliant BBC 2 show which is in theory about cars, but is really about three crazy Brits going......

This might be the first time a British actor has played a Law & Order regular: Linus Roache will be playing the new Executive District Attorney. (Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy is getting a promotion to DA, since Fred Thompson has left the show to pursue a presidential campaign.) We foresee sexual tension between his character and Alana de la Garza's Connie Rubirosa! Is it a coincidence that Roache is the second star from short-lived NBC......

Chung chung! NBC and producer Dick Wolf have hashed out a deal to keep Law & Order on the air for the next four years. Variety reports (subscription only) that as part of the deal, Law & Order: Criminal Intent will be moving to USA. Yes, USA (which NBC owns) will now have the first run episodes of Detective Robert Goren's histrionics, and then NBC will air repeats of L&O:CI. Interesting! NBC Universal head......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: 7th Heaven (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WPIX 11) Last year when the show was on the WB it had a series finale, but was brought back by the new CW. This time the show is over, finally. Funniest Mom in America 3 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., Nickelodeon) Despite sounding like a sequel to a bad summer comedy, this is actually a Mother's Day special of a search for a......

Tonight's episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent features its ripped-from-the-headlinse take on the Anna Nicole Smith soap opera. Playing a blond bombshell named Lorelei Mailer is Kristy Swanson, best known as the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer; playing her manager/boyfriend is David Cross (!). TV Guide interviewed Swanson:TV Guide: How did this Criminal Intent job come about? Swanson: Law & Order called my agent and said that they're doing the Anna Nicole Smith story.......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WNBC 4) A look back at SNL in the 1990s with clips and interviews with former cast members. The Mormons (Sunday 9:00 p.m., WLIW 21) If you missed it last week on WNET, here is your chance to take a watch at this two part look at the Mormons which is a collaboration of two......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Nature - Dogs That Changed the World: Dogs by Design (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. WNET 13; Wednesday 9:00 p.m. WLIW 21) The second and final part of the story of the dog looks at how humans created the various dog breeds and the modern day consequences. Today (Monday, 7:00 a.m., WNBC 4) Another outing of Where in the World is Matt Lauer starts Monday morning. The Mormons (Monday......

In the recent history of television, the people have been given three separate but still gritty police procedurals set in New York City: The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders in Law & Order, the dedicated Special Victims Unit detectives who investigate especially heinous sexually based offenses in Law & Order Special Victims Unit, and the Major Case Squad detectives who chew scenery as well as they suss......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: The 49th Annual Grammy Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. WCBS 2) The reunion of The Police will most likely be the highlight of the night. As for the rest of the show. . . 2006 BAFTA Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. BBC America) If you want to watch a better awards show tonight, we suggest British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards. Masterpiece Theatre: Dracula (Sunday, 9:00 p.m.......

The Post has this crazy story about how a woman used various identities to attend schools like Columbia, Harvard, and California State. Naturally, she studied criminology and psychology! It sounds like a Law & Order: Criminal Intent multi-episode arc in the making. The Post reports that Esther Elizabeth Reed used the identity of "Brooke Henson" to attend Columbia as a graduate student, but was exposed when she tried to apply for a summer job as......

Maybe the new badge of infamy is how quickly your story gets co-opted by a Law & Order show. Apparently the antics of former Attorney General candidate Jeanine Pirro and trouble-making husband Al will be dramatized for an episode of Criminal Intent that will air next year. The Post has details:In the episode, a very Pirro-like politician has her eyes on becoming the first female mayor of New York. But her husband, who's described as......

The Democrats officially have control of the Senate - Virginia Senator George Allen conceded Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a watermain break in the Bronx, an overturned ambulance in Brooklyn, and a shooting in Harlem. James Madison H.S. in Brooklyn has produced three current U.S. Senators. Now if they could only do something about all the metal-detectors. Adrienne Shelly's killer is at Bellevue, undergoing psychiatric evaluations City officials are saying the intersection of Flatbush......

The Daily News has a feature on Chris Noth, who will forever be in Gothamist's heart as Detective Mike Logan, in spite of a magical though increasingly bloated stint as Mr. Big, the apple in Carrie Bradshaw's eye. It's all because he'll be back on Law & Order: Criminal Intent for a second season. Last season, Noth and Annabella Sciorra traded off episodes with Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe, but now Noth's new partner will......

There are about a hundred police specialties but Gothamist loves the idea that there's a special group of police officers just dedicated to polygraph tests. Because then we'd get Law & Order: Polygraph Edition, with all the action in an interrogation room. The NY Post calls a group of police officers "The Truth Squad," and six of the officers are in the Major Case Squad (what L&O: Criminal Intent is about). We're not sure if......

The retired NYPD detectives accused of giving the Luchese crime family information about its enemies and even carrying out hits were found guilty by a jury today! Of course, Steven Caracappa and Lou Eppolito will appeal, which means there will be more wacky Bruce Cutler defense attorney antics to look forward to. Quick, NBC, reair the Unchained episode of Law & Order Criminal Intent based on the case!......

Hilarious media analysis from Variety: It seems that since there are so many version of Law & Order out there, the overkill is hurting ratings on cable and NBC! The article is subscription-only, but here are some of the facts and figures: - The 7PM airing is down 29% in adults 18-49 this year so far (TNT argues that it's up against CSI on Spike and L&O SVU on USA) - The 8PM airing is......

Gothamist was trying to free up our Sunday nights for mindless TV, but we got sucked into watching the Sopranos final season premiere. And was it a doozy. It had been way too long since we'd seen Silvio's hair and heard a bad joke from Christopher. We wonder if James Gandolfini partakes in Method Acting when he eats sushi and needs to get hefty for the part (we think yes). Anyway, we're not getting into......

Aha. The Post published this photograph of Mariska Hargitay as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Detective Olivia Benson in a pool of blood, and it seems like Benson will be hurt in some way so Hargitay can go on maternity leave. Connie Nielsen, probably best known as Lucilla from Gladiator but will always be Dirk Calloway's mom in Rushmore to us, is going to play the detective that fills in for Benson. What's interesting......

Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey admitted she made a mistake (gasp!) and took James Frey and his publisher, Nan A. Talese, to task for making her look foolish on her show. Yes, Oprah defended the readers' right to know if something peddled as truth is false, but mainly, Oprah was ashamed that she had embarrassed herself by defending A Million Little Pieces. [You can order the tape and/or transcript that amazing hour of televsion here.] Gothamist then......

It's pretty cute to know that Marc Anthony keeps his wedding pictures on his laptop! The NYPD's Major Case Squad just busted the guys who tried to extort Anthony and Jennifer Lopez for $1 million in return for Anthony's laptop and wedding video. Apparently ex-con Tito Moses and Steven Wortman got a hold of Anthony's goods and called Access Hollywood to sell them. The The Post reports that Access Hollywood contacted the Major Case Squad;......

The moment that you thought the Peter Braunstein story couldn't get crazier, it does. Sure, there were reports of the suspected attacker of a Chelsea woman being spotted in Brooklyn (bring in the search dogs!) and then the journalist is in Ohio, posing as a movie producer, as the police determine that he has purchased various police-type badges on eBay. And now, his half-brother shames him on the cover of the Daily News. If anything,......

Police are still looking for Peter Braunstein, the man suspected attacking a former co-worker in her Chelsea apartment as he disguised himself as a firefighter. Police continue to say that they believe Braunstein "is enjoying" the attention, but are concerned he may attack again. The Post reports that security at Fairchild Publications, where WWD, Details, Jane, W, and other pubs are headquarters and where he used to work, has been increased, with extra guards "at......

Warren Leight, Playwright and screenwriter...

While this graffiti stencil caught by callalillie captures the mystique of Detectives Goren and Eames of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, it turns out that there needs to be an addition. Chris Noth, aka Detective Mike Logan from Law & Order's first five seasons, will be a permanent cast member of Criminal Intent this fall. He and Vincent D'Onofrio will be splitting the episode load as lead detectives on the case (D'Onofrio has had......

Gothamist was taking a look at the various auctions ShopNBC has going to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities. Of course, our attention was squarely on the Law & Order: SVU Walk On role, where, if you have enough dough, you get to be a non-union background performer. And there's also a L&O: Criminal Intent Fan Package as well as a L&O: SVU Fan Package, including the infamous "Law & Orderopoly" board game Dick......

News that our favorite Law & Order detective portrayer, Jerry Orbach, has prostate cancer is upsetting, but we're glad that he has been responding well to treatment and we'll send him our prayers. That said, Gothamist never wants to think about Jerry Orbach's prostate again; we rather think of pithy one-liners that Lennie Briscoe would say. But if Jerry even needs some cheering up, Gothamist would be happy to gather up a crew of people......

NBC has announced that Chris Noth will be on Law & Order: Criminal Intent this January, reprising his role as Mike Logan. The last we saw Detective Mike Logan, he was investigating a murder in Staten Island that led him back to the 2-7 and Profaci, in the 1998 TV movie, Exiled, which is the only Law & Order movie to date; plus, there was Nicole Ari Parker as the murder victim's twin sister and......