A friend of mine, Terry Morrow, TV critic for the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel, is attending the TV critics' association annual tour in L.A. He just called me to tell me that he just saw Chris Meloni outside the hotel where my friend is staying.

Terry was sitting outside, waiting for the shuttle van to take him to the airport, when he heard a valet behind him ask, "I'll get your car. What's your name?"

"My name's Chris Meloni," a man answered.

At that, Terry looked around to see Chris Meloni standing a few feet away from him. Meloni's car was brought around, and he got in it and drove away.

I berated my friend for not immediately velcroing himself to CM. :P

If you have time, pop on over to SevierCountyNews.com and check out my review of Chris Meloni's movie "Gym Teacher: The Movie." It premiers on Nickelodeon this Friday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. Eastern.



My review of "Gym Teacher: The Movie"

From an Access Hollywood piece about celebrities' summer jobs:

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Long before he was chasing down the bad guys on "Law & Order: SVU,"
Christopher Meloni was busy seeing dead people.

"I worked as a surgical orderly. One of my jobs was taking dead people
out of the refrigerator and putting them on the morgue slabs," Meloni
told Access. "I've had a kinship with dead people since I was 16."

Christopher, you are the winner of the Grizzliest Summer Job.
**********

From TV Guide's Michael Ausiello column:

Question: Please, please, please, tell me there's no truth to the rumors that Law & Order: SVU might be canceled because of some dumb issue over paychecks! — Ashley

Ausiello: I can pretty much guarantee you that it won't be canceled, but it could return next fall with two new leads if NBC doesn't cave into Chris and Mariska's financial demands. A Peacock source I spoke with remains confident that both stars will ultimately be taken "very good care of," but notes that Dick Wolf isn't likely to break the bank since Law & Order shows have been able to weather cast shake-ups before. However, the actors' camps will probably argue that SVU isn't like other L&O shows, where the leads take a backseat to the stories. Chris and Mariska are SVU, and the stories take a backseat to them, as their agents will no doubt contend. And on that point, I have to agree.

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Personally, I do hope Chris takes a walk and begins his own production company so he can switch from TV to film. While I'll miss having a weekly hit of Meloni on TV, SVU sucks so badly that I'm hardly watching him now each week, as it is.

Let that turkey of a TV show die, continue on, whatever, but give Meloni a chance to show his full range of acting talent that's currently being smothered on SVU.