FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 51

LAW AND ORDER (THE 
ORIGINAL!) RETURNS, 
THE SAG AWARDS
The original Law and 
Order series ran from 
1990-2010 and spanned 
several “spin-offs,” 
including Law and Order; 
SVU. A “reboot” of the 
original series premieres 
on NBC on Feb. 24 (8 
p.m.). Sam Waterston is 
returning as Jack McCoy, 
Manhattan’s (head) District 
Attorney. He played that 
role for the last three 
seasons of the original. 
Before his promotion, 
McCoy was the top 
assistant district attorney 
for 12 seasons.
Fans will recall that 
McCoy worked, for five 
seasons, under Adam 
Schiff, the (Jewish) 
Manhattan District 
Attorney. Schiff was played 
by the late Steven Hill, 
an Orthodox Jew. The 
beautifully acted and well-
written interplay between 
Schiff and McCoy was one 
of the highlights of the 
original series. 
In the reboot, the top 
assistant D.A.s are played 
by Hugh Dancy and 
Odelya Halevi, 30ish. 
Halevi was born and raised 
in Israel, the grandchild of 
Yemeni Jewish immigrants. 
After a year of military 
service, she moved to the 
States, age 19. She’s had 
many small roles. Her Law 
and Order reboot role is a 
huge career break. 
Camryn Manheim, 60, 
a veteran well-known 
actress, has snared a plum 
role as Kate Dixon, the 

detective in charge of the 
whole police squad room.
Manheim was born in 
New Jersey, but frequently 
moved during her youth 
because her father, a math 
professor, changed jobs 
several times. Manheim 
lived in Michigan for a few 
years. Her family finally 
settled in California when 
she was 12. In a 2019 
Jewish Journal interview, 
she said that her parents 
were “liberal, cultural 
Jews” and that she had 
visited Israel. The actress 
also told the Journal that 
she tried to raise her son, 
Milo Manheim, now 21, 
“as a mensch.” Milo, who 
is her only child, had a bar 
mitzvah. He is now trying 
to build an acting career.
Camryn Manheim’s big 
career break came when 
she got a co-starring role 
as attorney Eleanor Pruitt 
on The Practice, which ran 
from 1997-2004. 
Manheim has “police 
experience.” She had a 
big supporting role in the 
ABC series Stumptown 
as an Oregon police 
lieutenant. The series, 
which got good reviews 
and pretty good ratings, 
was renewed (May 2020) 
for a second season. 
However, a few months 
later, it was canceled 
due to pandemic-related 
filming problems. Manheim 
probably got lucky: the 
cancellation meant that 
she was available for a 
bigger part in Law and 
Order.

SAG AWARDS
The Screen Actors Guild 
(SAG) awards will be held 

on Feb. 27 (TNT and TBS, 
8 p.m.). Most of the awards 
are for an “ensemble 
cast.” I’ve previously 
mentioned, in this column, 
the Jewish cast members 
in these films or series. So, 
I will list, here, just a few 
nominees. 
Andrew Garfield, 
38, is nominated for 
“outstanding male actor” 
for playing composer 
Jonathan Larson in tick, 
tick … Boom. He is Oscar-
nominated for the same 
role. Michael Douglas, 77 
(The Kominsky Method) 
and Brett Goldstein, 41 
(Ted Lasso), compete 
for the best male actor 
(comedy series) award. 
Until recently, I didn’t 
have an Apple TV+ 
subscription so I didn’t 
write much about The 
Morning Show, an Apple 
TV + series about a 
network morning news 
program. Its cast is SAG-
nominated for “best cast 
ensemble” (drama series). 
The nominated cast 
includes Julianne 
Margulies, 55. Her 
character, Laura Peterson, 

is an openly gay, top 
newscaster. Peterson, 
a major character, first 
appeared in the second 
season.
The Morning Show got 
so/so reviews when it 
began, and I was surprised 
that it was a lot better 
than first reviews said. 
Apple TV+ doles out its 
series one episode a 
week. But The Morning 
Show benefits, I think, 
from binge watching. As 
you may know, the show 
begins with a sexual 
harassment scandal 
involving Mitch Kessler 
(Steve Carell), The Morning 
Show co-anchor. It was 
very “satisfying” to see 
the whole arc of the 
scandal, as I did, as I binge 
watched the series.
Spoiler alert: Kessler’s 
“fate” was “resolved” in 
the first two seasons, but 
another “mystery” never 
got solved. Mitch Kessler 
sounds like a Jewish name 
— but we never learn if 
he is Jewish or not. Even 
more annoying — Kessler’s 
co-anchor is Alexandra 
“Alex” Levy (Jennifer 
Aniston). Is Alex Jewish? 
If not, how did she get 
this last name? I am still 
waiting for an answer.
Why did the writers 
give Levy a “very Jewish 
name” if they don’t tell 
us her “backstory”? I may 
have to chalk it up as 
another entry in the long 
history of American TV 
series in which writers 
provide “clues” that a 
character is Jewish, but—
for “marketing reasons” 
— “Jewishness” is never 
made explicit. Fey! 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY DAVID SHANKBONE

Camryn 
Manheim

