MovieChat Forums > Law & Order (1990) Discussion > Everybody's Favorite Bagman

Everybody's Favorite Bagman

posted 8 years ago by Dreamsville
8 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this episode on late night TV - I think I had seen parts of it before but this was the first time I watched it all the way through and really paid attention. It was very interesting to see since it was actually the pilot episode for the series - filmed in 1988, it was rejected by CBS and then picked up by NBC. George Dzunzda looks quite a bit skinnier - almost, dare I say it, HOT, lol - and there is a very interesting relationship between Stone and Robinette which I think got pushed a bit into the background during the series proper, although it did come to the surface in a few episodes. Watching this episode made me miss Stone and Robinette a lot - Jack McCoy and his "harem" never had quite the same gritty New York sensibility, to me.

Another noteworthy aspect was the casting of terrific actress Marcia Jean Kurtz as the victim's upscale wife. Because this story wound up airing as the sixth episode during the first season, we got to see her again almost immediately as a very different and quite repugnant character, Carla Lowenstein, in the memorable ninth episode of the series, "Indifference", based on the real-life Lisa Steinberg murder. Kurtz' appearance and characterization in that episode is shockingly different.

Also on the acting front, a sad note: Trey Wilson, who as the defense attorney was the first billed guest star in "Bagman", did not live to see the episode actually air - he died in 1989 of a cerebral hemorrhage a few days before his 41st birthday.

And on a humorous note, I had to laugh at Greevey's introductory scene, in which he's complaining to a deli owner about the price of a ham sandwich: a whopping $2.75! Those days surely are no more.... :)

[–] dan-brame 8 years ago

Good post; it is funny to look back at how things were back then. One of my favorite examples is I think By Hooker, By Crook, where Greevey and Logan are weeding through very old paper files in storage. By the end of the series Lupo was using Chinese help on the Internet to help Cutter win a case. Also, weirdly, now that Steven Hill has passed (RIP), this episode is the only one before Season 18 where all main cast members are still alive, since Hill wasn't in the pilot.

[–] fiero-49251 8 years ago

You try living on a cop's salary in NY! Several years ago I considered a gov't job in Jamaica, Queens, but couldn't imagine making enough to make it worth my while considering how I preferred to live! The expenses have to be crippling! I felt the same way living in SF! 

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[–] Doug-Oh 8 years ago

Watching this episode made me miss Stone and Robinette a lot - Jack McCoy and his "harem" never had quite the same gritty New York sensibility, to me.

Yes, I feel the same.
I like the first DA and his assistant better.
I know Michael Moriarity (mistakenly) asked to leave the show, but I do wish they'd kept Robinette in the DA's office.
Moriarity worked well with Jill Hennesey but it would've been nice to have seen Robinette continue on, even if only a few more eps. with Jill Kincaid.

[–] PenTheater 8 years ago

Here's a twist that would have even worked for me.
Paul Robinette DA with Claire Kincaid Assistant.
Hell yeah, Paul always had the smart lines and intellectual insight anyway.
But I doubt America was ready for that, still probably isn't.
Also don't know if that would have been totally unrealistic in New York back then, someone there would need to advise.

Any thing over arrogant Jack McCoy, even Paul told him so later on!

. Ephemeron.

[–] Doug-Oh 8 years ago

Here's a twist that would have even worked for me.
Paul Robinette DA with Claire Kincaid Assistant.
Hell yeah, Paul always had the smart lines and intellectual insight anyway.
But I doubt America was ready for that, still probably isn't.

Also don't know if that would have been totally unrealistic in New York back then, someone there would need to advise.

Actually, in one of the later seasons, McCoy battled a hard-nosed & stubborn Bronx DA who was black.
This was the ep. where prosecutors realized the Bronx DA had convicted an innocent man, a suspect who (mistakenly) "bragged" about the crime to his girlfriend to impress her. Turns out she wasn't worth excrement.

McCoy and the female DA had to battle that arrogant DA in the Bronx who was more concerned about his reputation than keeping an innocent man behind bars.

Any thing over arrogant Jack McCoy, even Paul told him so later on!

McCoy had his value. Many like him. He did well but I do get what others here on this board have said they don't like about him.
With Ben Stone, there was more of a quiet & "more serious" approach to prosecuting crime, it seems.
I realize that while watching the older eps. and comparing Stone's behavior to the more flambouyant McCoy character.

[–] bhoover247 8 years ago

I have always liked the actor Sam Waterson. When I see Jack McCoy wheeling and dealing, I'm thinking back to the TV show I'll Fly Away. Where Waterson played an imperfect father trying to raise a family during the civil rights era in the south.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Dreamsville 8 years ago

McCoy had his value. Many like him. He did well but I do get what others here on this board have said they don't like about him.
With Ben Stone, there was more of a quiet & "more serious" approach to prosecuting crime, it seems.
I realize that while watching the older eps. and comparing Stone's behavior to the more flambouyant McCoy character.

I think I'd give Stone the edge because he really seemed liked a student of and a servant to the law. There was very little ego in his approach. I liked McCoy too but he often seemed to have some little agenda going on in his prosecutions.