Last night's episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit was not as bad as I expected. It contained a number of features that could have made it bad — a special guest star, a disabled child, a terrorism subplot — but I managed to watch the whole thing without uttering, “I hate this show.”

And that's the main thing that makes me sad about SVU: It's best assessed these days in degrees of bad.

I take no pleasure in derogating the only network show I watch religiously. (Mariska Hargitay is just too lovely to abandon.) But the show tries my patience. A lot. Although I was initially reluctant to watch “the rape show,” I eventually got into it and have remained faithful. But the show seems to have forsaken its loyal viewers.

Here's why the show makes me sad.

5. There are too many special guest stars.

Special guest stars are an indication of jumping the shark, and SVU is definitely guilty of abusing this practice. Almost every episode features one. (Last night's was Aidan Quinn. Last week it was Melissa Joan Hart.) Sometimes they're good. Cynthia Nixon did a creditable job a few weeks ago. (Here's a clip.) But there are just too many of them. Did we really need Bob Saget, or Jerry Lewis as Munch's homeless uncle? … continue reading

Apparently producing on Broadway and acting in two regular television gigs didn't slow Tamara Tunie down one bit. This Sunday, the Law & Order: SVU talent stepped behind the camera to start direction on her first feature, See You in September. I don't care about September — Tunie can see me whenever she wants.

The indie romantic comedy is about a successful Manhattanite who organizes a support group for abandoned therapy patients when her own analyst takes an unexpected month of vacation; Estella Warren and Justin Kirk (Weeds) star. … continue reading