Results tagged “specialvictimsunit”

This week, the NY Times has some suggestions for wedding gifts from stores affiliated to museums, reasoning that those stores have wonderful gifts that are appealing to "people who are tired of shopping in the same old places — and might enjoy spending a couple hours in a museum as well." We wholeheartedly agree - when you know the couple well, that is.

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 out suspects in Law & Order Criminal Intent. But some of their stories may end, as producer Dick Wolf is in the midst of negotiations with NBC over the fate of Law & Order as well as L&O CI.

The police have revealed that their suspect in the brutal 19-hour rape and torture of a 23-year-old Columbia journalism student is William Roberts, a 30-year-old man with a criminal history. According to WABC 7, Roberts has been charged with attempted murder twice - once in 1993, once in 1996 for shooting a man in the back. Last year, he was charged with assault as well as fare jumping.

A look at some noteworthy televison shows this week:

1. The Democrats officially have control of the Senate - Virginia Senator George Allen conceded
2. Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a watermain break in the Bronx, an overturned ambulance in Brooklyn, and a shooting in Harlem.
3. 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.
4. Adrienne Shelly's killer is at Bellevue, undergoing psychiatric evaluations
5. City officials are saying the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Glenwood Road isn't dangerous, even after the SUV crash that killed a 5 year old -- but Streetsblog checked, and "the intersection within the 99th percentile for most dangerous signalized intersections in New York City."
6. Why is the Empire State Building red tonight? To support #15 Rutgers' football which is playing #3 Louisville tonight (ESPN, 7:30PM)
7. The Rockefeller Christmas Tree will be arriving from Connecticut tomorrow!
8. It was a record night at Christie's for the Impressionist and modern art auction - but they ended up pulling the disputed Picasso!
9. How many construction sites in Greenpoint does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
10. And set your Tivos! Tomorrow night is Celebrity Jeopardy with Law & Order's Sam Waterston, Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Kathryn Erbe, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Christopher Meloni! CHUNG CHUNG!

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.

Yesterday, we heard that there had been a fetus found on the grounds of a Queens golf course and the police were investigating the matter. Thanks to the NY Sun, we now know what happened: After a golfer at Forest Park Golf Club saw something "suspcious" in the restroom, employees took a look and called 911, saying that a fetus was found. So authorities responded - cops on the ground, an NYPD chopper, the K-9 unit, the ME's office - in order to find the mother who was presumably on the run. A few hours later, it was discovered that the fetus was not a fetus after all but a sanitary napkin. Now, we don't want to think too much about how a maxi pad could be mistaken for a fetus, and even though an employee told the Sun, "Everyone thought it was a fetus," blood does not a fetus make!

- And NJ reaches a budget deal, but it means a 1% sales tax hike

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 shows coming in the fall season; NBC has Kidnapped and The Black Donnellys. Things we're wondering about:

Now, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has used guest star stunt casting pretty well - Amanda Plummer as a disabled rape victim, Matthew Modine as a suspected pedophile, Ludacris as Ice-T's nephew - if the plotlines are over-the-top. But news that Jerry Lewis will appear this fall, as a homeless man suspected of murder who just happens to be Detective Munch's uncle? That is GOLD - we cannot wait for some Munch and Uncle Munch repartee.

Sure, you might think of Christopher Meloni as the always angry Detective Eliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but he's also had some indelible roles in The Runaway Bride, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Wet Hot American Summer and, of course, Oz. We were perusing the official Christopher Meloni website when we found this great speech that Oz (and Homicide) creator Tom Fontana gave for him at a Human Rights Equality Awards dinner:

When we were shooting OZ, there was a scene where the character he played, Keller, was in the Hole and had to take a piss. Chris got the script and came to my office: "I want to do this," he said, "I want to actually take a piss on camera." Normally, a scene like that would involve prop men and tubes and other special effects, but because Keller was naked, Chris' instincts were a hundred percent correct -- the scene would have more impact if he actually peed. Now, I don't know how an actor prepares for that, whether he uses Stanislavsky or Pellegrino - but the moment came, we're on the soundstage, the director calls action, the camera pans down and Chris starts peeing -- on cue. The shot is perfect. Except for one slight technical glitch. Okay. Take two - same deal, action, camera pans, Chris starts to pee on cue. The shot is even better. I'm happy. The director's delirious. Chris says, "Do we want to do it again? 'Cause I got another one in me."

We were watching the Today Show this morning when former NYC DA Linda Fairstein was on the show, flogging her new mystery book, Death Dance, about a murder at Lincoln Center that was inspired by the real life murder of a musician at the Metropolitan Opera. And the real life murder story is what intrigued us, as this was the first we'd ever heard of it. It turns out that a musician, Helen Mintiks, was raped by a stagehand in a stairwell at the Met during an intermission in 1980 (which definitely made us too young to remember the circumstances) and seems to have been a sensational murder story back then. A stagehand, Craig S. Crimmins, then brought Mintiks to the roof of the Met and kicked her into a ventilation shaft, which killed her. A 2004 NY Times "Following Up" article noted that Crimmins, found guilty of Mintiks's murder in 1981, was up for parole (seems like he was probably denied parole). And, by looking at the search on NYTimes.com for article about the murder, it seems that a detective was accused (by the defense) of manipulating Crimmins during questioning and that Mintiks' husband sued Crimmins and the Met. A non-fiction book about the 1980 murder, Murder at the Met is available through resellers on Amazon.

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, Allan Starkie's emergence gives even more context as to why Braunstein, who has been portrayed as fame-monger, might be off his rocker.

"He's so incredibly jealous of me," Starkie said of Braunstein. "When he was doing mediocre in school, I had been selected for the Olympic team in fencing... When I started getting involved with the royal family, Peter was in school, dating a stewardess."

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 times stationing themselves outside the women's bathrooms." Further, Braunstein may be familiar wtih some police tactics as he would study his videos of how the police acted during public protests.

The NY Times examines the Jerry Orbach effect on the latest Law & Order spinoff, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Gothamist got misty when we read that Jerry was weaker when filming, and that there would be a mention of Detective Lenny Briscoe's death in the fifth episode. However, we've been a little unnerved by the NBC promos for L&O: TBJ, by saying, "Jerry Orbach's final performance" or whatever, because while they are his final performances, the promo seemed...crass. Of course, Gothamist would rather NBC devote an hour as a tribute to Jerry Orbach, so we're biased.

As for the rest of the episode, it was the usual extremely disturbing fare, with mentions of bite marks on a penis plus much much more. If you missed it, it'll rerun on USA soon enough.

And let's just say that we hope The WB decides to film at least some of The Bergdorf Blondes, based on the book by Plum Sykes, Vogue contributor and Brit-about-town, in NYC. We're thinking it'll be a low-rent version of Sex and the City (less funny, less production values, with would-be starlet) but Sykes' co-producer worked on the The Gilmore Girls and Freaks and Geeks, so who knows? [Gawker on Plum Sykes' freakout with an interviewer.]

The police are conducting a manhunt for the two suspects: One is described as a Hispanic male, 25-30 years old, 5'5'-5'6", 130 pounds, with distinctive tattoos (a "cross embedded in a diamond-shaped pattern" on the right chest and the other of an animal near the groin); the other suspect, also a Hispanic male, is described as 23-26 years old, 5'7"-5'8", possibly wearing a do-rag. Details about the location of the attack and art gallery are being withheld.

When the pledgemaster of a hardnosed local fraternity is found murdered and sodimized Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) believe the murder to be the result of the victim's Internet porn sight, which feature unwitting college girls at a local bar. However, when the evidence points back to the fraternity, the detectives slam up against the wall of brotherhood as the brothers are less the cooperative especially with the prime suspect being a recently departed pledge.

As a chaser, reader Janelle let us know that in James Brady's column in Crain's NY writes, "Top local actor, Jerry Orbach," in his yearly wrapup. While Gothamist wholeheartedly agrees, Brady's column is freakishly like Larry King's USA Today column. Even though these are parodies, Shtick and the Observer pretty much capture what King's column was.

Gothamist is lucky because our readers will email us about many Law & Order related things, whether it's a sighting or a show or an idea. And we love you for it. Here's a round up of some that we've gotten over the past few weeks:

Oh, Stephanie March, what a way to leave Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. At first, we didn't know how to feel about you, what with your icy demeanor and blond blond hair. Then you grew on us, when you tried to stand up to your boss, played by Judith Light a.k.a. Angela Bower. Or when you were frustrated at the self-righteous even for Law & Order acts of Detectives Stabler and Benson. Maybe we started to like you when we had a new icy blonde, one who annoys us to no end, ADA Serena Southerlyn. But then you asked the Don...we mean, Dick Wolf to leave the show, maybe to frolic with boyfriend, Bobby Flay. And you got bangs this season, which should have been another sign of your impending departure. But the writers and producers didn't kill you for your bangs and put you into the beyond as they had with Jill Henessy's ADA Claire Kincaid, but into witness protection, ready to appear as a defense attorney in a future sweeps episode. Till we see you again, Alex..tonight, in syndication on USA.

This Saturday and Sunday, the IFP is holding its annual "From Script to Screen Conference" with panels of film, television, and stage professionals giving their insights and thoughts about breaking in, getting the work made, and the business involved. Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Last Temptation of Christ, will be speaking about his career (his most recent work was directing AutoFocus). Gothamist is looking forward to Tom Fontana, the creator behind the best cop show ever (Law & Order is the best cop-and-lawyer show ever), Homicide: Life on the Streets. Fontana will be speaking about his career as writer-producer of St. Elsewhere, Homicide, and Oz. Other panelists include Dylan Kidd (writer-director of Roger Dodger), Austin Chick (whose film XX/XY opens today), Marshall Brickman (co-writer of Annie Hall), Erin Cressida Wilson (writer of Secretary) and United Artists head Bingham Ray (UA released Bowling for Columbine).

Law & Order
In the lives of New Yorkers, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the makers of Law & Order, who consistently churn out topical, interesting, and entertaining programming; and the Law & Order fans, who eagerly watch the show and its offshoots on NBC, TNT, USA, and wherever else possible. These are their stories.