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