Adam wrote (on Monday 7/12):

>>today in studio city, i met lara at a pet store. i was low-key about
the celeb thing, and she was very gracious. another customer had a cat
which was most likely dying from a stroke and had just been diagnosed.
the owner was trying to get supplies for her newly ill companion, and
lara was next to her in line. at first, the cat seemed okay, but then
you could see its eyes weren't focusing and moving properly. it was
constantly purring but also had its mouth open. i'd seen the woman in
another part of the store, and lara got very emotional about the sick
kitty. lara and i talked about losing our cherished pets and how we as a
society are more humane to our pets than we are to humans - putting them
out of their vegetative misery. anyway, lara's really a class act!>>

She is and always has seemed to be such a class act. That has to
be very rough having a cat or any pet for that matter who has been a part
of your family who is really sick like this cat apparently is, and Lara
getting emotional about seeing the sick cat is something that can't be
faked.

What I'm surprised is that "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf didn't
apparently ask her about replacing Stephanie March as the Assistant
District Attorney on "Law & Order" spinoff "Special Victims Unit" once
Stephanie (who played Alex Cabot) announced she was leaving in late 2002,
not actually leaving until after "SVU's" summer hiatus from filming in
the summer of 2003 following the completion of filming the fourth episode
of this past season called "Loss" (and that is no knock on Diane Neal,
who has been great as the ADA (Casey Novak) since replacing Stephanie,
and I actually have a group for Diane on Yahoo! called "Caseynovak" at:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Caseynovak/ ). I say this because many
of you know after "Gimme A Break" ended Lara actually went to law school
and became a trial lawyer in real life, and has actual experience as such
in the New York Courts. It's also why I think this time around Mr. Wolf
needs to seriously consider Lara for the role of the ADA on the original
"Law & Order", as Elisabeth Rohm (who has played ADA Serena Southerlyn
since replacing Angie Harmon on "L & O" to start the 2001-'02 season) is
leaving midway through the upcoming 15th season of "L & O", which will
have its season premiere September 22 (three weeks later than originally
planned, as NBC backed off their plan of premiering their entire fall
schedule immediately after the Olympics). While I do have Reiko
Aylesworth (of "24" fame) as the frontrunner to take over (mainly because
she also played an ADA of Erica Alden on "SVU" in 2000), I do think Lara
would be excellent, and at 37 would also fit what a lot of loyal "L & O"
viewers actually want: An older woman playing the assistant to Jack McCoy
(Sam Waterston).

Any thoughts?

Walt

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