Law & Order Episodes

Actress. Born November 28, 1952, in Saginaw, Michigan. Merkerson was raised in Detroit, where her father worked in a factory and her mother was a post office administrator. She initially majored in dance at Wayne State University in Detroit, but when a shy friend begged Merkerson to accompany her to a drama class, she discovered her true passion. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and in 1978 moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

The fledgling actress first worked on the stage, appearing in several Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Her portrayal of Berniece in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson earned her a Tony Award nomination for best actress and many other accolades, including the Drama Desk Award and the Helen Hayes Award.

Merkerson’s first major television role came in 1986, when she played Reba the Mail Lady in the now infamous Pee Wee’s Playhouse. She stayed with the show until 1991 and still keeps in touch with its delightfully preposterous host, Paul Reubens. Merkerson also made the move to the big screen during this time, appearing as Doctor Robinson in the Spike Lee joint She’s Gotta Have It and as Elsa in the critically acclaimed psycho-thriller Jacob’s Ladder (1990) with Tim Robbins.

In 1990 things did not slow down for Merkerson. She appeared in the TV movie Equal Justice, the comedy Loose Cannons with Dan Akroyd and Gene Hackman, the action-adventure film Navy Seals, and as a guest on NBC’s Law & Order. On Law & Order, she portrayed a grief-stricken mother in the episode “Mushrooms,” in which a botched drug-related crime claims the life of her baby and leaves her son paralyzed. In 1993, the producers of Law & Order offered Merkerson a permanent role, slating her to play the tough but wise Lieutenant Anita Van Buren.

Merkerson’s role as Lt. Anita Van Buren has brought the actress many personal and professional challenges during her six-year-and-running stay on Law & Order. The program raises many important, though delicate, issues about an extremely competent black woman working among a white male majority. On several occasions, the show’s writers had her character make unlikely mistakes, but Merkerson has always fought to maintain Van Buren’s integrity as a highly competent lieutenant. This tension finally culminated on-screen when Merkerson’s character filed a discrimination lawsuit against her department. Because 95 percent of the scripts are based on current news stories, many of the plot lines hit uncomfortably close to home; but Merkerson has said that the cast’s constant goofing around on the set helps to leaven the weighty subject matter.

Merkerson has supplemented her work on Law & Order with myriad acting jobs, appearing onTV in Hallmark’s A Place for Annie with Sissy Spacek and in the NBC series Mann and Machine, created by Law & Order executive producer Dick Wolf. She appeared in ABC’s Breaking Free alongside JoBeth Williams, USA’s A Mother’s Prayer with Linda Hamilton, and An Unexpected Life with Stockard Channing and RuPaul. She has also returned to the stage, winning an Obie Award in 1992 for her work in I’m Not Stupid, as well as the Helen Hayes Award in 1998 for best lead actress in the Studio Theatre production of The Old Settler in Washington, D.C. Her most recent film credit was a smallish part in 1999’s Random Hearts, a poorly received Harrison Ford vehicle.

Many of Merkerson’s fans wonder what the mysterious “S” in her name stands for–it’s Sharon. She and her husband, Toussaint L. Jones, split their time between a New York City apartment and a house in Maryland.

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Law & Order TV Show, the longest running crime series and the second longest running drama series in the history of American broadcast television, has entered its 18th season in the beginning of January, 2008. The show has won 1997 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama series. Each hour long episode starts with a prologue-“In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.”

The first half of each show focuses on the police investigation and the second half follows the prosecution of crime in court. Detectives Joe Fontana and Edward Green under the guidance of precinct lieutenant Anita Van Buren, investigate the crime and arrest the criminals. After that the issues are taken to the Manhatten District Attorney’s office where Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney. Borgia discuss the crime and conduct the case in trial. Some matters are too complicated that they are rarely resolved easily. Crimes are being committed, public is suffering with agitation, investigations are very complicated, prosecutions are very much challenging and tough but even then the process of determining guilt and innocence is continue .

Watch Law & Order TV Show Online

Let’s Download Law & Order Episodes for free now.

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So, I’m watching a new episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA Network this past Sunday and, like all upstanding Americans do, I was flipping through the channels during a commercial break. As I passed by these channels at the speed of light my eye caught something on Bravo. It was another episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Not a new episode, mind you, just a repeat of a repeat of a repeat that Bravo airs during their Sunday night block.

Now, you’re probably saying to yourself ‘So what? Cable channels are allowed to air whatever they damn well please.’ Well, after lecturing you about your tone of voice I would mention that you had a point. But, thanks to the wonderful world of corporate synergy, your argument would not meet the mustard. You see, Bravo is under the huge umbrella known as NBC Universal, which is the same company that owns USA Network, which is currently airing new episodes of Law & Order: CI on Sunday nights. With all of this information at hand the following question comes to mind:

Who the hell is programming these networks?

Isn’t this counterproductive for NBC Universal? Here they are, spending all of these millions of dollars to produce new episodes of the youngest Law & Order series and they are competing against themselves for the viewing public. I would think that both cable networks, as well as the Universal itself, would want people to tune into the newest episodes rather than one that has aired three or four times on Bravo. By setting up this scenario the corporation is saying ‘Look, we have these new episodes on USA. But, if you don’t like the new episodes and want to watch some older, better ones, tune into Bravo.’ As a star of the newest episodes, I certainly wouldn’t feel like my work was being supported by the people paying their salaries. As a member of USA Networks I’d feel that Universal wasn’t giving the show a chance to survive. As a viewer, I would just record the new episode to watch a classic episode I previously enjoyed. Since these networks still use the primitive Nielsen ratings system, this would not bode well for these new episodes.

I’m really not too sure why Bravo decided to keep old episodes of CI on its schedule while a new episodes airs on USA at the same time. Perhaps it was a lack of communication at the corporate level, or the fact that a replay of one of the network’s many reality shows doesn’t play well on Sunday nights. Frankly, both explanations don’t wash. It’s probably more of the fact that NBC Universal, in its continuing destruction of the network name, doesn’t really care one way or another. If the new episodes of CI fail, they still make money on the franchise. If they are a success, then all the better. What’s your opinion?

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Law & Order is very successfully running with season 18 and the previous 17 seasons are defining its huge success. Innumerous TV shows are there, I think the no. is countless, but what makes you a great fan of a particular series??

It may be your field of interest, your taste, your way of thinking and lot of reasons are there .. each person is having its own reason so it’d be tough to define the criteria. But, I can assure you one thing that series with more relevance with real life and scenario are often successful. Same thing is here with Law & Order episodes. Series deals with law and attorneys so makes you aware about the laws and rules etc. I’d like to confess here, that I was a rule-broker earlier, and obeying rules and laws was a tough job for me (Although, I paid fine for several times for that stupidity). It was Law & Order which let me to know the importance of Law in our daily lives and form the series I learned what Law is and why obeying law is our main duty. Now, I am a good American citizen. Thanks Law & Order!!!

Initially (when I started writing this post), I was in mood to write about previous episodes aired from series during this month. But, I don’t know when my fingers moved towards series plot and importance. Title for this post was something else that I’ve changed now. I’ll wrap it now and will write about previous episodes later. May be tomorrow or may be ……

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Filed under: News