Caught up with Dick Wolf and Mariska Hargitay a few days before last week's Emmys and them about "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit " which begins its ninth season tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC. Emmy winner Cynthia Nixon guest stars as a woman with multiple personalities.
"It's awesome, better than ever," says Hargitay, who lost the Emmy to Sally Field was won last year. "Cynthia Nixon in the first show, I couldn't even speak she was so genius. It's crazy. It's one of my favorite episodes. She's gonna win the Emmy right now, mark my words."
While the franchise's original show, "Law & Order" remains on NBC [premiering in January] and will include Jeremy Sisto as the new cop and Sam Waterston will be the new DA, a role previously played by Fred Thompson who is now running for president. "I'm thrilled," Wolf says of Thompson's run. "Everytime he's out there, they're playing the 'Law & Order" theme. I can't complain."
Meanwhile, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" begins its new season on USA instead of on the broadcast network.
"We're getting a lot more promo on USA, for obvious reasons, than we got the last five years on NBC. So I think the show is going to be a real engine for USA in term of getting advertisers to look at it a different way. I'm very optimistic. I think the show can run for a lot of years on USA."