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Earlier this afternoon I hit a Hollywood Radio & Television Society Newsmaker Luncheon Series on health care and medical insurance issues that was keynoted by the exceptional Sally Field and featured three very excellent TV bosses talking about health care issues on and around their shows: ER's John Wells, Scrubs' Bill Lawrence and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Dr. Neal Baer.

More from Wells and Lawrence later, but for now I wanted to share the season-10 dish spilled by Baer on his show, which just so happens to the best-rated program on all of NBC, and Baer's take on how a crime show can make a positive impact on the public health.

Read on to find out about a major S10 arc for one of the two characters pictured above...

Secret Humanitarian Agenda: SVU show runner Neal Baer has a real life medical degree and is a licensed pediatrician, so he makes a point to stealthily include medical topics and health education in the show. He told me, "Because I'm a physician, I think medically. So when I came on SVU in 2000, the first thing I did was hire Tamara Tunie and B.D. Wong as doctors: a pathologist and a psychiatrist. It became a much more medically oriented show." (Does anyone else remember the episode where Tunie's character explained on the stand how adolescent alcohol abuse actually Swiss-cheeses your brain? I'm still a little freaked out!)

Topics of Note: The subject of the luncheon was the health care crisis at large (see DividedWeFail.com for more on the topics discussed), but Baer tends to keep the show more specific. He said, "We're doing one this season about HIV deniers. There's a group of people in the country who deny that HIV exists." Wasn't Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss' pediatrician dad Dr. Paul Fleiss involved in something related to that? "I don't believe he's a denier, but he took care of a kid, he didn't know the kid had AIDS, because the mother didn't believe that HIV caused AIDS. So we're always looking for medical topics—[HIV deniers], transplantation awareness, or we did one on a genetic disease called Williams syndrome last year. We're always looking to tie the medicine in with the crime. It does work, because so much of our show is psychological."

Speaking of Psychology: You know how Elliot Stabler hates shrinks? Well, that's gonna be an issue this season, because Baer told me that he's planning something in that area that involves Stabler's character. According to Baer, "[We're working on] a major storyline for Chris Meloni—a mental-health issue—it'll be very big for our show." Does it involve his mental health? "Someone else's." His wife's? Or maybe one of the kids? "Can't say yet." Damn!

Character Shuffle: FWIW, other than the new ADA—whom they have not hired—there are no new characters expected for season 10.

Who Said TV Isn't Educational? Keep tuning in to SVU to have a little knowledge subtly stuffed into your brain. According to Baer, mixing in public-health info with a little whodunit works to get the message across. He said, "We know we have made a huge impact, because we've done studies. We did a study when I was on ER that looked at what people learned from the show. We did a pretest and posttest on human papilloma virus and cervical cancer. Nine percent knew before the showed aired that HPV caused cervical cancer, after the show, 30 percent. And we didn't tell them, 'watch the show to learn that.' "

As Johnny Drama would say...VICTOOORRRY!

I have two thoughts...Kathy (post partum Depression) or Kathleen (don't sure, maybe bipolar?). I do still very much recall Christopher telling TV Guide that Elliot will have a difficult time with a problem child who's 17 years old- could be Elizabeth and Dickie- I'm not ruling them out either. Could be Maureen too...but Kathy and Kathleen are my top two choices.

Thanks for sharing, Mad4svu !

maybe that will be an issue in the stabler house hold, gosh! they havent said who its going to be, you think elliot? or kathy??



i was thinking maybe eli, kathy was over 40 when she had him, wouldnt he be the right age to really find out if anything was wrong with him??

(and elliot looks pretty old in that pic)

I don't think its Eli. He will be only one year old when the season returns

Thanks for sharing maddie

Your sig is funnier and I like it, Pinky!

thanks! i luv it too!

Well according to the article, Neal Baer says it's not Elliot. So that leaves Kathy or the kids.

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I was about to agree with you Enaka however something struck me- what if Eli has autism? That seems to be a real major medical subject these days and SVU could use it as an opportunity to have a message in the show.

I think it could be Eli...he could be Autistic... and even though he may be a little young at the start of season 10 to show the signs of Autism, tv always ages the little ones....

bumped

And we only have 114 days to figure it out lol. Gosh...this is gonna take forever! Thanks for the info.

If this is the case, I would like to see it so well writtern for Chris, that he will finally get a Emmy after all this time.

I would like to see Chris get an Emmy too

ya, elliot did mention that woman over 40 could, but you cant be for sure, i mean my mom was 43 when she had my brother and everythings fine with him, it just depends on the person, but that would be an interesting thing to follow....

I'm having mix feelings about this storyline with Elliot's family.

Good: Brings Elliot's family upfront, he interacts with them more

Bad: Well, I don't want anything bad happening to them!

However it is true, Elliot doesn't like shrinks. He's made no secret to that since season 1. All I can really say is that this better be good enough for me to watch, and if it helps to have a medical message across with a point, fine.

its nice to know that theyre directing some of the story line back to Elliot instead of liv, dont get me wrong i luv olivia but you know, 2 straight yrs, you gotta balance it out at one point

Time to kick this thread back on top and that ^*%$%&%* Playboy spam thread is down!

I am thinking it will probably be Dickie or Elizabeth. Most likely major depression/suicidal tendencies? Maybe they'll go all "Sopranos" on us and we'll see or hear about an actual attempt?

I too remember Chris's comment from TVGuide about having problems w/ one of his kids. Or something to that extent.

It could an interesting storyline I guess.

Personally, I am hoping that it'll be Elizabeth. I think I know more about Eli than I do her! Hahaha!

didnt they say at one point that it was going to be kathleen stirring up problems at home?

i mean i was thinking drinking or something but not this, this is alot more serious than that.

Thanks to that baka spammer; this almost went to 2nd page

Right now, my money's on Kathleen.

Thanks for the link.

It's not all going to be up to the writing. Chris has got to deliver - plain and simple! Whenever he gets the urge to scream, Chris needs to head straight for the acting coach (hell, even MH uses one, and she's fantastic). When I watch Demons, I can think of several things Chris could have done differently to be considered for an Emmy. Rage is simply unwatchable (I only watch the last 15 minutes of this eppy because the rest was absolutely horrible - Chris and his screaming should have never aired).

Just think about it... As horrid as Alternate was, Cynthia Nixon did a fantastic job. And sure - Undercover had its flaws, but did that stop MH from hitting every single note? And I thought Signature was a very good well written eppy, but wooden Erick Christensen did not deliver (except for hey eyes, if this makes sense)...and why in the sam hell is she being considered for an Emmy?

So if Chris wants an Emmy, he's got his work cut out for him. Great writing will do but so much when you are dealing with just a good actor. Chris needs to be marvelous, and he has to do something memorable.


ANDREA

Ok, Let me rephrase that along with great writing AND (emphazing that word not shouting) delivering a marvelous, and memorable performance he should get the emmy he deserves.

He has the potential, he just has to deliver better sometimes.

your welcome

ya, since we did get a little hint that there was going to be trouble with kathleen at home.

Yeah, but Kathleen's trouble with the law is a little different than mental health trouble. She wouldn't need Huang for that. I guess we will jut have to wait and see

Thank you for the news

they never said what kind of trouble though

Lord have mercy if Kathleen is the one w/ the "mental" problems. She drives me nuts as it is...I want to see Elliot's other children a little more.

Kathleen sounds like a good choice. She has been pretty unstable here lately.

Ok...sorry, I thought that he said someone in Elliots family will have some mental issues...my bad...

Do you guys suppose we'll get a crisis moment for Olivia??!?!?!?!?!?

nah, its perfectly fine, im jsut joshin ya

ya, when she tells el about what happened in the basement i am waiting for that to happen

AMAZING! how chills just ran down my spine while reading the darkened area. WOW!..i must seriously want this to happen and badly!!!!!

oh i know i do!!

Another article. Forgive me if this has already been posted. I've been out of touch for a few days. It's out of New Zealand though, so I can't decide whether the quotes are old and referring to Season 9 because NZ is behind the US in airing the seasons, or whether the quotes are new and referring to Season 10.

It briefly mentions Elliot's 17 year old problem child.

You read my mind !!
I read this article thanks to you and I wanted to mention it as I read the last posts of this thread.
As you said "It briefly mentions Elliot's 17 yr old problem child", so normally it should be Kathleen.
She may not accept Eli's birth and become totally mad at him. I don't really know how to make you understand what I mean but : She is 17, her family was torn apart for few years, she already had problems, maybe the baby will emphasize all her pain. She may not really find who she is and with the new-born maybe she thinks she won't have the possibility to share her feelings with her mother, who is *too much* turned to Eli. Do you understand ? And so she may stop eating, stop talking....

Shouldn't Kathleen be about 20 years old and in college right now? when she got arrested a couple of years ago she was 17 right? I though the twins would be 16 or 17 next season. I get so confused because Kathleen's age seems to change. She has been the problem child in the past.

Is it just me or does this show turn more and more into 'Days of Our Lives' everyday? By 'Days of Our Lives' I mean soap operaish. I know that a little makes for some good TV but Elliot's drama has filled the SVU soaps so full it's spilling over. You'd think the writers might want to focus on Olivia this season, seeing how it's been the Elliot Stabler show for the past two years. I could be wrong though.

In all honesty, I am not looking forward to this. It's almost as if they have to go out of their way to create something to get Chris and Emmy. I was hoping for some great cases and then some personal stuff, but does it have to be El's family? Can't they go on a long trip and leave him for a time, please?

And can we put some effort into getting a man (cough**Dean**cough) under Liv! *&^*^(*!


ANDREA

thats exactly what ive been thinking, but i really want to see how it all plays out, so i dont mind!!

Urgh.....I'm going to have to disagree about the past two years being "the Elliot Stabler show." Season 8 was dedicated to Olivia, as well as several season 9 eps. While I do like her in "Undercover," the "Olivia Benson" show isn't much better than Elliot's. Olivia's storylines are often boring, and lately they seem to be nothing but bad plot contrivances. At least w/ this new storyline for Elliot's family member, we know enough of his family to know what could be building up to this "mental health" issue.

If Neal Baer and the other writers for this show could actually write something to show that they cared about the character of Olivia, her storylines wouldn't be so bad.

I don't disagree with this. Liv has had her share of the show, and I think many of us can deal with the stories given because MH does such a fantastic job. As for the question if they cared about Liv's character, I think they do; however, they straddle the fence because they want to keep everyone happy (let me know if you want me to clarify this statement). What about a happy Liv? That is not even a consideration for those baboons.

But again, I have had absolute enough of El's family! I don't care to see or hear about that drama anymore, and if it's for the sake of trying to secure an Emmy for Chris, NO THANK YOU!

And you have to admit that at least Liv's drama is tied to the cases.

And for the record, I would watch the Liv's Benson hour long before I watch the Elliot Stabler hour. Liv is unbelievably layered, and MH does a wonderful job with it. MH gets the meat because she continuously delivers, and she is far more of an interesting character. The women usually are. Ideally, I would take EO forever as partners with some great cases, that unique unbreakable "friendship" and some loving for Liv.


ANDREA

I agree with you pinkie!
However I have to say that ever since Mariska won her Emmy, the show has become the Law & Order: Special Benson Unit. Elliot does not have two full episodes about his personal life-- you would think so with Ripped, or Annihilated but it wasn't like Philadelphia or Florida where the primary focus was on Olivia's family member, her newfound brother Simon. Simon's appearances on SVU have racked up more screen time then any member of the Stabler family...and that's kinda weird, especially since Kathy and the kids have been around since season 1. Now don't get me wrong, I expected somewhere down the road about Olivia digging more about her father's life, and I, of course, don't want her completely alone, but to have two full on episodes about her family is just beyond the boundries of SVU. At least in an "Elliot" episode, the case was the primary focus; in Ripped it was about steroids, in Annihilated, Malcolm Royce was the center of the attention on the murder of his mistress and family. With Philadelphia and Florida, it was like taking another way- the Van Rapes were like, what, 10 minutes? Same with a suspect that Olivia had beat the crap out of. That's not fair for me, especially since the show used to be an ensemble cast where the partners were equal and the family moments were in dollops like seasons 1-6.

Though I enjoyed both Florida and Philadelphia, I agree for the most part of what you said. I think it would have been MUCH better if was done as a backstory to Olivia's life. 5-10 minutes here and there. Maybe somehow tying in with the case. And everybody having a part in the episode. I mean CSI, WAT and others do back stories extremely well why can't SVU? (this really not a question just a statement last sentence)

While I never want to see creepy Simon again, I fully expected a considerable amount of time to be given to Liv's family (if she ever got one) because this has been her story from beginning to end. Then she finds out her brother might be a rapist? That deserves some time.

Hopefully, Simon dies and Liv finds out about it once the show is over (I really don't want to hear her talk about that idiot) and we can get her a man. They could do a 3 hour marathon with Liv and Dean, and you want to guess where I would be?

And wait...2 eppies focused on Liv's family in 9 years? What's the biggie? At least it was tied to the cases, and it was related to her back/front/side story.

2 eppies in 9 years!?!?!?!?!?!?! HUH?????

ANDREA

I never minded the Olivia family plot because it does relate to a rape case, the Rape of Serena Benson. I have alwayys been curious (and I am sure others have two) whether or not he raped others, if he was caught, if he knew Serena, etc. Even though she never saw justice, at least that rapped case could be closed. (I don't know if they officially closed it, but you know what I mean) Philidelpha also had to do with another rape, Donna leonte, for as far as we know is unsolved.
So even though it was focused on Olivia and her drama at least it is still based in SVU territory.

As for Simon, I didn't love him but I didn't hate him. I mean he was a victim too, not only was he being framed by a police captin for a crime he didn't commit, as revenge for another crime he didn't commit, he found out what his father truly was. I would guess that would be just as hard. I really don't blame him for running, and the thing with Cragen was stupid but his intent was to help ot hurt. You know what they say about the roqd to hell. However, I think they could have found someone so much better for the character.

As far as Elliots family, we have been hearing about them from day 1. Literally from Payback. So I can do without the family drama for a while. I don't mind him and Kathy getting back together but the whole baby thing is too much. So I am really not thrilled to see another Stabler family ordeal,

Wow! You sure made me re-think my feelings on Simon. That was something I clearly did not want to do. While I don't like him because he just looks so creepy, you made some excellent points. I agree with you.

And again, as for the Stabler drama, NO THANK YOU! We've been dealing with that for 9 years, and Liv gets 2 eppies that are tied to legitimate cases, and that is too much? Not fair!


ANDREA

Same place I would be I'm sure.

No biggie, I think TPTB could have handled it differently. How? I'm not sure. But then again there could have done a lot of the episodes differently.

True, got a good point there.