"How do you do it?" detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) asks his boss, Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) on tonight's "Law & Order."

"One foot in front of the other, for 30 years." Van Buren replies.

While Merkerson's tenure on "L&O" has only been 15 years, that question and answer resonate tonight as Martin makes his final appearance in a nine-year run on the series. …

The door revolves nonstop on various "L&O" shows, but the mothership has seen a ton of it. After all, it has been on the air since 1990. Producer Dick Wolf has never been averse to tinkering with casts; like life, people come and go from their jobs. (Mike Logan, the detective played by Chris Noth, did five years on "L&O," left, returned for a TV movie and most recently landed on "Criminal Intent.")

And five years is a pretty long run for an actor on a single show. Youngish actors in particular get restless. Martin already took one break from "L&O" to do the big-screen version of "Rent," so his departure isn't entirely unexpected. And tonight's show suggests that things will get very interesting in Green's wake; you'll see his replacement, played by Anthony Anderson, working as an Internal Affairs investigator in tonight's show.

But getting back to Martin, he has a good send-off tonight; often known for its acting understatement, "L&O" lets Martin remind people of his chops by putting Green into a mess that leads to criminal charges and a lot of talk about his past. I don't buy the resolution of the case; for a show where canny defense lawyers make nothing seem certain, this one tidies up too quickly. But I very much liked what Martin did, not only with pain and desperation, but with a weariness that may have had as much to do with his own readiness to move on as it did with Ed Green's despair.

Variety says Jesse L. Martin is leaving, with Anthony Anderson coming in. Full story is here.

Martin has been a steady presence on the show, but he has also been there since 1999, a long run for a role that infrequently asks a lot from the actor. It will be interesting to see how long Anderson lasts. He's one of those guys who has real star power — and was amazing on "The Shield" — and I could see him getting restless rather quickly. On the other hand, it's a regular paycheck, and those aren't always easy to come by. Witness the rocky road for "K-Ville," Anderson's most recent series.

"Law & Order" impresario Dick Wolf has more than once argued that, in a full television season, about one third of the episodes of a given show will be really good, one third really bad and the other third in between. I'd put last night's "L&O" among the best of the season to date, and one of the best I have seen in recent years. …

As I've written before, I have seen five of the current run of "L&O," but I had not seen last night's. Since in my notebook post I mentioned that the show was doing fine without Fred Thompson, I thought I should check it out again. The case — involving the shooting of two young people, one white and one black — involved an expected twist, and then an unexpected one. It included meditations on race and class, another situation where McCoy had to evolve from his old prosecutorial ways to Being The Boss, and a nod to the great Adam Schiff, the DA played by Steven Hill, and never satisfactorily replaced. There were supporting turns by the likes of Ally Walker and Terry Kinney, and a solution that argued that common sense will prevail.

OK, so that solution may have seemed wildly implausible. But I still found it satisfying. And the case was not as fleshed out as it might have been — where was the family of the dead girl? — but it still had a lot of detail and issues jammed into an hour. And I like not only what McCoy did, but how Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) was important to the story, and the insights we're getting into the new detective (Jeremy Sisto, very good in that incredulous moment while talking to possible witnesses on the street), and the new prosecutor (Linus Roache), who indicated ambivalence without overplaying it. Solid stuff, and I'll be back for more.

As for "The Moment of Truth," the new reality show from Fox, I have to say that it was promoted very well. The idea of using a lie detector on real people isn't new; F. Lee Bailey hosted a syndicated show, "Lie Detector," in 1983, although it dealt more with matters in the news. "Moment of Truth's" premise — you keep winning money as long as you tell the truth, but the questions are going to get nasty — was compounded by asking the questions in front of family, friends, a boss. And it offered plenty of chances to walk away from an uncomfortable question, although everyone knows that walking away would be an admission of guilt.

So, amped up for the show, I was disappointed by how very slow it was at first. The questions took a long time to get from mild to wild, and the melodramatic flourishes — the music, the faces of the guy in the seat and the people he knew — were terribly overdone. Someone must have decided that people would wait to get to the nitty-gritty as the show began, as long as they knew something good was down the road. But the show did recognize that the audience's patience can be stretched only so far; the second contestant was popped with uncomfortable questions from the beginning of his interrogation.

But here are a couple of bigger issues that I am waiting for the show to address. The first is the fallout from an interrogation; if that personal trainer has indeed irked his wife, as the show indicated, let's find out if that's the case, either immediately after the show or in a later telecast. (I almost wish there was a "Moment of Truth" equivalent of Doug Llewelyn interviewing people after their onscreen trial was over.)

The other problem is that the show basically needs to have unlikable people in the chair. The personal trainer certainly fit that bill. He had a smugness and seeming arrogance that made me want him to get caught in a lie, or lose his money, or leave the stage with either his relationship or his self-esteem in tatters. He was right that the question he was nailed on was ambiguous — I said that to the bride before he answered — but I was just content to see him nailed.

The other contestant, though, seemed like a nice guy and one who, as the show went on, appeared to have had problems in his life that he was trying to get beyond. Why would I want to see that guy suffer — especially after he early on made an admission that could cost him his job? Was the money really that important to him? Or was that the point where the show revealed its fundamental sadism? As is the case with "American Idol," it's one thing to mock the the deluded and over-confident; it's another thing to pick on the guileless.

I'm more or less on holiday for the next few days, but the blog rolls on. I'm hoping to catch up on some new and returning shows as they become available, and I started with "Law & Order." It returns Jan. 2 but fans have been troubled by its long absence, and my mail has included several questions about it. Well, it's coming, and I have seen five episodes and I have a few things to say after the jump. (No plot spoilers, but a lot about the characters) …

The show's return includes another set of casting changes, which have been common on the show over its long run. This time around, Fred Thompson has departed to run for president, so his character, Arthur Branch, is also gone. McCoy, Sam Waterston's character, has become D.A. but he's an interim appointee, and that becomes an issue as the show goes along.

Before I get into that, there has also been a change in the detective ranks, with Jeremy Sisto as Cyrus Lupo, the latest partner for Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin). And McCoy's promotion means there's a new prosecutor in town, Michael Cutter, played by Linus Roache.

Now, the formula for "Law & Order" has been so fixed and comforting over the years that cast changes don't always mean much. (Some do, of course. The loss of Jerry Orbach is still keenly felt, especially when you go back and see reruns of him in his prime. I'll be sad if and when S. Epatha Merkerson goes, since in the new season she continues to be a solid presence.) And "L&O" impresario Dick Wolf has shunned serialized storylines that make it difficult to watch episodes out of sequence, and the personal stories of the main characters have for the most part taken a back seat to the week's case.

But this time around, the changes go far beyond new faces. Sisto's character is first seen as the brother of a possible murder victim, and he has a history that keeps his character complicated and that affects his relationship with Green, and does so for more than one episode.

McCoy's elevation to district attorney also has implications that spread across those five episodes. First of all, he's been a prosecutor for so long, he can't give up supervising courtroom tactics to a degree we have not seen in a D.A. before. He still loves the battlefield, and this creates a challenge for Cutter, who is something of a lone wolf (and a hothead) and suddenly has a boss telling him what to put in his summation.

Then there's McCoy himself. As an appointee whose position could be very temporary, he does not have the power base of an elected, full-term D.A., and some of the people he deals with are aware of that. In addition, he has left a paper trail of cases he has worked, which makes it very easy for opponents (including defense attorneys) to make an issue of his politics and seeming biases.

That's very new for him, since he has often had a boss to shield him from the worst attacks; in one of the new episodes, caught in the middle of a political tussle, McCoy says he now understands why his old boss Adam Schiff was so grumpy.

Each episode still has a case, and each has its share of twists. So some of what I'm talking about here is merely alluded to, but there are episodes where the personal stories are key elements of the cases being dealt with. So this is at once the old "Law & Order" and something startlingly new.

And is it good? That I'm not so sure about. I do like that the show is realistically addressing what might happen if McCoy become D.A. I am less intrigued by Lupo and Sisto's performance. Cutter is a somewhat more interesting case, and I was getting more comfortable with him as the new episodes tooled along. And Alana De La Garza, who plays Connie Rubirosa, is still not that interesting an actress but seems more at ease — less buttoned-up — than she did last season.

Not that this makes me any more of a devotee of "Law & Order" than I already am. That is, I don't plan my viewing around new episodes; I probably watch the cable reruns more often than the fresh shows. Still, I have checked in with the NBC telecasts at times, and nothing here is going to make me vow never to watch them again. But neither do the new episodes make me long for more.

Here's the topper from NBC:

NBC will lawyer-up on Wednesday nights as the Emmy Award-winning "Law & Order" resumes with a two-hour season premiere event on Wednesday, January 2 (9-11 p.m. ET), and will continue on Wednesdays starting January 9 (10-11 p.m. ET) preceded by this season's network broadcast premiere of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (9-10 p.m. ET) in its return to NBC that night.

Continues after the jump …

Joining the "Law & Order" cast for the show's 18th season are Jeremy Sisto as Detective Cyrus Lupo and Linus Roache as Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter. Cutter reports to Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) who has been promoted to District Attorney, replacing Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson).

Eric Bogosian also plays Captain Ross who was rewarded with the Major Case Squad after heading a successful three-year Joint Task Force on International Money Laundering. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Wolf, Warren Leight, Peter Jankowski and Norberto Barba are executive producers.

TNT offers "Sopranos" stars in a "Law & Order" marathon, after the jump …

Here's the official announcement and episode list:

One day after the series finale of The Sopranos, TNT is giving fans of the series a chance to spend the day with their favorite stars when the network presents 12 episodes of the hit drama LAW & ORDER, featuring such guest stars as Edie Falco, who has won three Emmys® for her performance as Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos; Michael Imperioli, who earned an Emmy for his performance as Christopher Moltisanti; Aida Turturro, who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as Janice Soprano; and Frank Vincent, who plays Phil Leotardo. Other Sopranos stars to appear in the LAW & ORDER marathon include Jerry Adler (Herman “Hesh” Rabkin), John Ventimiglia (Artie Bucco on The Sopranos), Vincent Curatola (Johnny “Sack” Sacramoni), Dan Grimaldi (Patsy Parisi), Joseph R. Gannascoli (Vito Spatafore), Ray Abruzzo (“Little” Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.), Robert Funaro (Eugene Pontecorvo), Dominic Chianese (Corrado “Jr.” Soprano), Vincent Pastore (Salvatore Bonpensiero) and Sharon Angela (Rosalie Aprile).
TNT’s 12-hour LAW & ORDER marathon kicks off Monday, June 11, at 2 p.m. (ET/PT). The following is a complete rundown of the episodes and guest stars featured:
2 p.m. “I.D.,” featuring Aida Turturro and Jerry Adler – The cops tackle identifying a corpse left in an elevator.
3 p.m. “Grief,” featuring Edie Falco – A reluctant witness affects the case of two rape victims in custodial care.
4 p.m. “DWB,” featuring John Ventimiglia – The detectives uncover a shocking twist while investigating the beating of a black man.
5 p.m. “Trade This,” featuring Vincent Curatola – The murder of a stockbroker points to organized crime when a hired hit man kills the prime suspect.
6 p.m. “Deep Vote,” featuring Dan Grimaldi – A political reporter is the target of a murder plot.
7 p.m. “Everybody Loves Raimondo’s,” featuring Joseph R. Gannascoli and Ray Abruzzo – Two men are gunned down at an exclusive restaurant.
8 p.m. “Sects,” featuring Robert Funaro – Police and prosecutors go after a fanatical cult leader who encourages sex with children among her followers.
9 p.m. “Publish and Perish,” featuring Michael Imperioli – The police investigate the link between a powerful police commissioner and the murder of a porn actress and a maverick publisher.
10 p.m. “Hindsight,” featuring Michael Imperioli – Det. Nick Falco is investigated after a woman he spent the night with turns up dead.
11 p.m. “Shadow,” featuring Dominic Chianese – The murder of a bail bondsman looks fairly routine until the chance words of the chief suspect uncovers possible case-fixing.
Midnight “Juvenile,” featuring Frank Vincent – The investigation into the shooting of a newspaper columnist leads to a murder case from two decades earlier.
1 a.m. “Deadbeat,” featuring Vincent Pastore and Sharon Angela – The murder of a deadbeat father whose son is dying of leukemia presents a moral dilemma.

The mothership and "SVU" stay on NBC, "Criminal Intent" goes to USA, with the announcement after the jump …

(Announcement below. Not sure yet what this means in terms of show casting.)

NBC Universal is bringing back all three "Law & Order'-branded series for the 2007- 2008 television season.

"Law & Order" is the most successful brand in primetime television. The realistic program looks at crime and justice from a dual perspective. Some cases may be simple, but most are multi-faceted. The investigations are challenging, prosecutions are complicated, and decisions about legal procedures and plea-bargaining are vexing.

There's a lot of talk that this will be the last season for "Law & Order" on NBC — and almost as much talk that new episodes will air on TNT after the NBC run. I've been looking at the season finale, which airs on May 18, and it sure looks like a farewell of sorts.

Not because of the story, or even because of the inside jokes about Fred Thompson's political aspirations. Rather some other elements seem designed to mark the show's place in TV history. Among them:

– Jeffrey Tambor, who played a nutty judge on "Hill Street Blues," is a semi-nutty judge in the episode.

– Harry Hamlin, who played a savvy defense attorney on "L.A. Law," is the defendant.

– Hamlin uses a vulgar two-word expression that's an echo of a line in the pilot of "N.Y.P.D. Blue."

– The plot has some unsettling material that would have fit into "L&O: Special Victims Unit."

I'd take the last one as a torch-passing, since "SVU" seems to have the longest legs of the remaining "L&Os," and the others as an argument that "L&O" should be ranked among the top crime shows in TV history.