Law & Order has experienced a lot of cast shake-ups in its 18 seasons on the air, but that's to be expected when a show has been chugging on since the dawn of time.  I think dinosaurs were still roaming the planet when Law & Order's pilot episode aired.  Anyway, fans will soon be in for another period of mourning and adjustment, as it was announced today that series star Jesse L. Martin will be leaving the show after nine years.  He'll be replaced by Anthony Anderson, who some people might remember from his stints on The Shield and K-Ville.  Oddly enough, Anderson played a detective on one episode of Law & Order: SVU in 2006, though it's unknown if he'll be playing the same character.

One interesting aspect of this news is the fact that Anderson's previous series, K-Ville, still hasn't been officially canceled by FOX.  However, his move to Law & Order pretty much guarantees that the New Orleans drama will get the ax.  It's tough to blame Anderson for jumping ship, mainly due to the fact that being on Law & Order is a much more high profile gig than starring on an already forgotten FOX drama.

As for Martin, though fans won't be seeing more of his Detective Ed Green after this season, they can look forward to his portrayal of Marvin Gaye in the indie biopic Sexual Healing.  He'll star alongside James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) as the late singer, and the role should allow him to show off his considerable vocal talents as well as his acting chops.

Now that the writers' strike has wrapped up, Martin plans to shoot one more episode of L&O to give his character a proper send-off.  Anderson will then step in later this season as the new partner to Jeremy Sisto's Cyrus Lupo.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: EW.com
(Image courtesy of IMDB)