Law & Order is back for its eighteenth season and it is back in its traditional home of Wednesday at 10 p.m., although this week we get two hours starting at 9 p.m. and thanks to a stockpile of scripts written ahead of the writers strike, we can expect oodles of new episodes into the spring. Also thanks to the WGA strike, it will be the best thing on television for the for the foreseeable......

Robert Morgenthau's stranglehold on the position of Manhattan District Attorney has lasted 33 years but today's Post tittered that he was mulling an "early exit." Page Six reported that a "well-connected legal source" said the 88-year-old DA was orchestrating a retirement to have Cyrus Vance Jr. installed for a few years. Apparently Morgenthau wants Vance Jr., once an assistant DA, in place to block his former protegee and 2005 Democratic primary opponent Leslie Crocker Snyder,......

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been striking in Los Angeles and New York this past week over details of a basic contract between writers and producers - one of the biggest sticking points is the amount of residuals writers get from DVD and new media distribution. The NY Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd asked Seth Meyers (who we spoke to on Tuesday) to give her a weekend update about the strike:......

Brushing aside the Staten Island Borough President's repeated criticism and endorsement of his opponent, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan won re-election in a landslide over Democratic challenger Michael Ryan. Donovan, whose 51st birthday was also yesterday, said during the celebration, "Tonight, you guys made me real happy." The SI DA's race became unexpectedly contentious when SI Borough President James Molinaro, who Donovan worked under as a Deputy Beep and considered a friend, attacked Donovan's......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Wide Angle: Dishing Democracy (Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13) Imagine "The View" in Arabic being beamed via satellite television throughout the Middle East. This documentary gets behind the scenes of the show, "Kalam Nawaem" which just may bring about some revolution. P.O.V.: Following Sean (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) At the height of the hippie movement in San Francisco, filmmaker Ralph Arlyck was a graduate film student......

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......

The Post has button fever as it notices Bloomberg for President pins on eBay already! (Their headline is "Bloomy Looks Cute As a Button" - is that an underhanded way of saying he's short?) Some of the offerings include the stylized portrait and a straight up photograph. And there's always the classic all-type "I Like Mike" style. We expect anti-Bloomberg pins to go up this week - you know, the ones that mention how......

Now that Law & Order has been renewed for four more seasons, shakeups to the cast have been expected. And the most notable one is that Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, is leaving the show to pursue a presidential campaign. We hope the writers work that in! Law & Order producer Dick Wolf said, "I've spoken to Fred today, and although he told me he has not made a firm decision about......

Remember that insane Asian-bashing in Queens last year? The perps just got sentenced-- 3 years in jail for one, 5 years on probation for the other. Happy ending? Jennifer Chow, a 30-year old Harlem resident, got mugged and put in a headlock in October. She went to get her injuries checked out, and the CAT scan revealed cancer in her thyroid gland-- which the doctors were then able to cure. Eric Brown is famous......

What a strange way for Community Board 5 to decide whether to name 53rd Street at 8th Avenue after Jerry Orbach. Last night, the board's notoriously difficult committee approved 3-2 in favor of naming the street after the great late actor. And then the full board voted in favor - 18-17 - as well. But, as the NY Times explains, "that slim margin was not enough to qualify as an approval because the votes......

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 NY Times says that WiFi in some city parks will come by the end of the month (and Nokia is a sponsor) - and amNew York is also providing some free wireless news and entertainment as well - Did the Metropolitan Museum spend $45 million for a fake? - On the upside of the Emmy nominations, both Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay were nominated for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, making......

Even though the network media upfronts don't mean anything - except to advertisers - because schedules can be shuffled and shows killed between now and fall, Gothamist is still excited, because it's about hope (Tina Fey's new show to be good, Veronica Mars to be picked up) and new seasons of shows we love (The Office, My Name is Earl...and, heck, we can't help but watch Grey's Anatomy). Anyway, there are a lot of NYC-set......

Oh, to be a district attorney in NYC! Yesterday, at a rally outside Criminal Court, Sam Waterston voiced his support to get more funding for city DA's. He said, "The real DAs and ADAs deserve a lot of credit and not just for providing us the stories that keep us on the air," according to the Post. Yeah, we remember the episodes where the rich defendants or high profile defense attorneys belittle Jack McCoy's paltry......

- The MTA and TWU are still negotiating...only time will tell - Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, aka the mobster who played crazy, died today... two years ago, his insanity defense was fodder for good headline - NY magazine pinpointed some young New Yorkers who might be famous some day maybe perhaps - including two bloggers - Sam Waterston, actor, TV pitchman, supporter of mixed-use development in Chelsea - Peter Braunstein's mother hopes he will kill......

The second book to be featured in the NY Times' Great Summer Read is Laura Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate. A crowd-pleasing bestseller in 1992, Gothamist thinks that Like Water for Chocolate is perfect for the serialization treatment, given the book's rhythms, twists and turns. The only thing is that you'll be craving Mexican food after reading the book - each chapter is punctuated by a recipe - so here are Citysearch's best Mexican picks......

If you picked up a hard copy of the NY Times this morning, you would have noticed an insert: An excerpt of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's all apart of the NY Times's Great Summer Read, which is serializing four books starting today. Times readers will get excerpts from the book each day until Sunday, and other books coming up include Breakfast at Tiffany's, Like Water For Chocolate, and The Color of......

News that Elisabeth Rohm, Assistant D.A. Serena Southerlyn on Law & Order, will probably leave the show after the first 13 episodes in the 2004-2005 seasons is a relief. Sure, it makes the show seem unstable, what with the departure of Jerry Orbach and introduction of Dennis Farina's world weary cop this fall, but, in Gothamist's own opinion, Southerlyn has been personalityless and, frankly, a pain in the ass. The best A.D.A's have been Richard......

Jeffrey Abramson, Gen Art...

My boyfriend's birthday is over July 4th weekend. I am looking for ideas of things to do or places to go to in NYC to celebrate that will make his birthday memorable. I want to stear clear of the traditional ways to celebrate - going out to dinner or getting together and going to a bar/club. Any help is appreciated! Heather, Hoboken, NJ The Fourth of July is all about the fireworks. If you feel......

A month ago in Slate, Jack Swansburg brilliantly dissected the connection between TD Waterhouse, the Law & Order stars featured in its ads, and our nation's economy. Steven Hill, aka Executive District Attorney Adam Schiff, reminded investors that TD Waterhouse was trustworthy in uncertain economic times. Recently, Sam Waterston, Assistant Executive D.A. Jack McCoy, took over for Hill in TV and print spots during this slow crawl to better economic times. Swansburg also mentioned ads......

Oh, yes, he did: Conan O'Brien broke out the Law & Order Coloring Book (as featured on Gothamist) when Jerry Orbach guested last night. Conan said Orbach knows he's made it considering there's a Law & Order Coloring Book. Conan felt it was too gruesome for little kids to color in a murder victim, but we at Gothamist think it's just right for Law & Order fans. L&O Coloring Book creator Brandon Bird had received......

If only Law & Order was looking for an apartment that doubles as unofficial Jerry Orbach fan club, NY chapter: rachelle reported the best police procedural on TV was looking for apartments in the West Village. She took this photograph of the letter from the locations department, leading us to work on a presentation about "Why Law & Order" should film in our apartment ("We will make hot dogs for Briscoe and flirt with Green").......

– "Sorry to rob you but I need a fix." – The Atkins Diet Excuse for Bad Behavior – Our fantasy - Iron Chef in Manhattan at the Time Warner Center – Sam Waterston in a TV commercial – Bloggers on best American bands playing today – President Bush ignores US media but will chat with British tabloid – Our cellphone society: Fragmenting or expanding our urban experience? – Gay marriage in Massaschusetts? –......

TD Waterhouse has passed their spokesperson torch from from Law & Order crotchety Executive District Attorney portrayer, Steven Hill, to Law & Order current District Attorney, Jack McCoy, aka Sam Waterston! Here, he's looking casual, in a sweater, versus the suits we usually see him in, stepping into a TD Waterhouse location to tell you why they are a good option for...something...Gothamist was distracted by thinking about what Jerry Orbach could shill. Probably, hair pomade,......

The Daily News says there are operational issues with Rocco's reality restaurant. Like no one could see that one coming. Gothamist is still excited about the Southern Italian restaurant, Rocco, since it involves TV and food, two of our most favorite things. If Sam Waterston played the manager, we'd be living there. We just suggest that there's an inverse relationship between hotness of restaurant staff and actually getting a meal. In other restaurant news, restaurateurs......