Michelle Ryan - complete with accent.

Too bad Novak's going. I thought she did a pretty good job filling up those pretty little shoes Cabot left behind. (though no one can ever replace Alex/Olivia)

I think that from that list Missy would be quite a good choice, not to mention they'll have someone younger this time I believe, that could be quite interesting as well. Someone who is new to the job and immediately gets thrown into SVU Cases. 

The Way The Cookie Crumbles

I'm not hoping for a new replacement, I'm hoping for an old one.

Someone on IMDB posted this from an interview with Stephanie March

TVGO: For the record: Why did you leave Law & Order?
March: I want to be certain to emphasize that I have zero complaints about Law & Order. It was a fantastic work experience and I really miss the people quite a bit. But, you know, you get to a point where you feel like, as a character, you kind of said everything you can say. And then it becomes quite redundant. It was my first on-camera job after college. I got really lucky and I thought, I just have to do a couple of more things before I get too comfortable. Perhaps all I need is a long break.
TVGO: So, you could return someday?
March: Sure. If it felt like the right time in my life, definitely.

So here's me hoping now is the right time in her life. And hoping Olivia and Alex finally get rid of the sub in subtext

I'll be sad to see Diane Neal leaving... I too thought she brought something fresh and interesting to the table.

I have to say that I think some of your suggestions for replacements are very interesting ones... I'll give my highest marks to Missy Peregrym, Mädchen Amick and of course Katee Sackhoff, if for no other reason than the mix of her and Mariska Hargitay's character on the same show.

The other unfortunate thing happening on SVU right now is the (possible spoiler) introduction next week of Benson's boyfriend (played by Bill Pullman)-at least when Benson didn't have a boyfriend, we could still play with the underlying subtext and hope that Benson actually had a girlfriend waiting for her when she came home after a hard day's work, but now they want us to believe she has a boyfriend and that it would be someone that's being played by Bill Pullman (who I still remember in that terrible Ellen DeGeneres vehicle, Mr. Wrong). Not that I don't like Bill Pullman himself, but I just don't want to see him with Benson (or any man with Benson for that matter).

(Self Appointed) "#1 Bridget McManus Fan"

this just ruined my day...i love diane neal and i love casey novak and this adds another character, which i adore, leaving a show. I hope she doesn't die, i really hope so.

She did portray her role on the show very realistically and while watching her, her emotions i believe were portrayed very well to the audience.

I don't know who could replace her, no one really fits to mind except maybe Abbie or Serena from the original law and order. For someone new, at the moment no one comes to mind...

Alex Cabot/Stephanie March is resurrected as the Bella Mafia mob boss, takes Benson captive, kills the new ADA (because let's face it, whomever it's going to be, isn't going to be worthy of ... anything), Stabler, AND the chief.

And through a series of Chinese torture devices, coerces Benson into finally admitting she's a lesbian.

No? Maybe I've been reading too many of my student's comic books.

The Law & Order franchise has always been very conscientious about having diverse casts

Umm, sure ... if by diverse cast you mean a diverse cast of male actors. With the notable exception of S.Epatha Merkerson, Tamara Tunie and the woman who was in the original cast of SUV, women of color are rarely members of the regular casts.

that they replace her with another woman. It seems like the ADA is always female, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. I would be so angry if they pick some cute young guy to replace her. Like the cast isn't already male enough.

So basically I'm saying, as long as it's a woman, I'll be happy with anyone they choose to cast!

..I'm happy. And I really like Casey, and it would be awesome if Alex came back (but I'm sure they'd screw the whole thing up just 'cause they're scared of screwing up/giving the wrong vibe, uuh). Anyway, here are my two suggestions, if they happen to find themselves un-employed in the near future (but I'm hoping and wishing and praying they won't).

Aubrey Dollar!

or if they want to stay true to form: Laura Harris!

As a long time SVU fan I won't be sad to see her leaving, granted Diane Neal didnt have an easy start being called in to take over from the sublime and gorgeous Stephanie March but I've never warmed up to her. Not with her lurching and her Alex lookalike hair. She just never pulled it off as convincingly as SM.

I'll be very disappointed if they don't bring Alex back for at least an episode, complete with the glasses of power and justice, but I read in the article that announced she was leaving that Ironbone wants someone 'up and coming.' I just hope they choose well, SVU is my favourite show and I would hate to see it ruined by a poor actor (coughMichelleRyancoughcough).

Missy Peregrym would be a great choice, and Stephanie March herself was only 27 when she started as Alex so youth isnt a worry.

Hmmm, I'm not sure who should replace Diane, Katee Sackhoff would be sweet though!  They just need to give Tamara Tunie and Judith Light more screentime.  Seriously, Tamara Tunie kicks ass with everything she's given, and she just now finally made it to main cast billing. 

Also this may be a dumb question, but is it typical IRL for ADA's to be that young (under 30?)  I thought Alex Cabot was some kind of anomaly/prodigy/at least had the right family and political connections. 

I'm glad Diane is leaving. It's best for her career that she goes. ADA roles have been thankless roles, for the most part. Alex was the flag bearer of what an ADA character could be.  Abby Carmichael, too.  But basically they just sit second chair (at least on the Original Recipe) or recite laws and their limits. Diane needs to remind Hollywood that she can play deeper characters.

When Casey came on the scene I was anticipating a very volatile and scrappy woman, at odds with Liv and Eliot. That happened for a number of episodes in Diane's first season when Liv's  annoyance at a life without Alex (professionally or personally?) was front and center. But they eventually have become comfortable with each other. (I love the episode about the 3 high school blondes who killed another classmate. Liv was totally impressed with Casey's handling of it. I also loved the one where she supoenaed Ashcroft. Ballsy move. I just didn't see too much of that. Did I miss something?)  

Yeah, I think a minority hire would be great. We have the lovely Ms de la Garza over on L and O, so maybe a lovely Asian or African American or dare I say, a lovely lesbian.

No suggestions here, though Sackhoff would be amazing. 

I stopped watching SVU when they started femming Liv up and having her take everything personally. Mainly, it started with the changing hairstyles and pink outfits. But  I went back to the original show this year b/c of de la Garza and Jeremy Sisto and better scripts. I want a good reason to go back to SVU. Bill Pullman is not helping.

Diane Neal is a fantastic actress and deserves nothing but praise for her portrayal of ADA Casey Novak...I, for one, am very sad to see her go.

There is no way she would compare to Stephanie March as ADA Cabot because she was NOT ADA Cabot. She was ADA Casey Novak and made that character one of the most liked characters on the show in recent times. Her wit and sarcasm made her character seem human..

I am sure I can speak for numerous Diane Neal fans when I say, we are sad and heartbroken to see her go...

According to TVGuide, Stephanie March coming back is not an option, but I would like to see Maria Bello step in as the new ADA. Granted she doesn't fill the 'up and comer' aspects of Wolf's vision, but she and Mariska Hargitay go way back...to ER days. It would be nice to see them together again...

Oh and just a note the episode "Blinded" was in season 9 not 7, but the recap of the episode is right on!

I loved both Stephanie March and Diane Neal (I hated Diane a liitle bit for replacing Stephanie). But if she is moving on to better things - I say go for it and best of luck.

My choices for possible replacements:

Gina Torres
Ming Na
Michelle Clunie
Natasha Henstridge
Zooey Deschanel
Brooke Smith
Lark Voorhies (I always like her form Saved by the Bell)
Jordana Brewster
Amy Acker

The producers may decide to go with a guy and just kill all our hopes for some new to lust over.

Clea DuVall - young and feisty, would give Mariska a lot to work with...

All the other picks are good - except I don't think Katee Sackhoff would be right for it, the only way I can explain my feelings here is that she's just too West Coast for the New York show...

Why all the up coming got to have white womyn casted. If JesseL. Martin leaves that's a neg zero for minorities who watches the show. It could possibly mean the ratings will plummet! There are plenty WOC who are more beautiful than these womyn and better actresses that can be casted. Start thinking universal. Why is sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with Afterellen. I swear!

<td hei

But as long as they keep Mariska, I'll be happy.  

Not that I'm a fan or anything ------------------------->  :) 

Cross-fertilization, baby.

(But I do think Erin Daniels would be much more fabulous in comedy) 

Can we kick Novak off the same way they did ADA Serena Southerlyn on (mothership) L&O?  Her last line on the series got to be "is this because I’m a lesbian?".  I mean come on?!  I don’t know if we can take another low blow like that again- but I do chuckle when I think about it. 

I’m with you guys though- as long as its a women- I don’t care who it is.  (guess that could be considered my own personal motto. ha.)

the Laura Harris call although in order for that to work it would mean that Women's Murder Club would have to be canceled. Come to think of it, nothing is hotter right now than Jill/Lindsay and I don't think even Laura-as-new-ADA/Benson would come as close to steaming up the screen as J/L do though it would be fun to watch.

I'm rejoicing that Diane Neal is going. Casey's (mostly) an incompetent try-hard -- her win/loss ratio is pathetic -- and Neal can't act to save herself but then again, March wasn't much chop either. It was embarrassing to watch Neal clomp around the set, get her timing completely wrong, over-enunciate her lines and witness her god-awful makeup and wardrobe. At least March/Cabot was great eye-candy and had a very natural chemistry with Benson.

In fact, who cares? Who even watches this cheesy, trainwreck of a show any more?

Carly Carly Carly. Smart, sexy, great actress, great screen presence, slightly scary. Enough said. 

Damn, first Alex and now Casey! I really lik(ed) them both (so considering how much I've missed Alex, Diane Neal did a great job).

Of course it would be awesome if Stephanie March would return to SVU but if that won't happen I'd like to go with already suggested Mädchen Amick and Zoe Saldana. Tessa Thompson would be cool, too (but she's probably a bit too young) and I would love to see Vanessa Ferlito on the screen again.

I'm sorry carolinagrrl for being an ass. It's just that  I've  heard stories from actresses of color  saying it's that's hard for them to find roles b/c it's mainly  given to white womyn. It ercked me when you posted  and suggested all pics of white womyn to replace Ms. Neal.  It's like no one cares. Race and ethnic matters to me when jobs are not givin to you based on skin color,accent, race,cultural and ethnic background. It's called discrimination. I wish you were woc so you'll get my point. Anyway, I get your point. Peace to you !

<td hei

I hate to say it but I've grown tired of the Law & Order franchise just as I have the CSI franchise, so it doesn't bother me that she's leaving.  All the power to her! 

I think Novak was ten times better than Cabot.  I'm not a Stephanie March fan and it makes it even worse for me that she's married to Bobby Flay who's got as much personality as a door knob and should actually change his name to Cocky Flay.  But I digress...

how about Jill Bennett.

Laugh, Love, Live every moment, Every day

Ok so I'm not a watch-every-episode fan but I do like the show. I'd LOVE to see Stephanie March back as Alex Cabot, she was awesome.  I think they need a lot more hotties on TV who wear glasses, it's very appealing.

 I had some more to say but I've lost focus, my mind has gone to that happy place . . . .

Aaaah no :(

I love Diane Neal (and Casey/Olivia for that matter)... I'm sad she has to go :(

As a die hard Diane neal fan I can't even ponder a replacement! I love Casey! I've been a long avid SVU fan and it makes me sad to see miss novak go.  I agree if they kill her off it will make me one very sad sad sad lesbian,  but on the same note i really hope they don't fire her, as they did Serena southerlyn (elisabeth rohm) on the original L&O I feel that would be an insult to the character.  I really hope they allow Casey to leave with her dignity in tact!

Laura

She did a short stint as Josie Sutton on Cold Case back in 2005, and won a couple of daytime emmys for her work as Carly on General Hospital, among numerous other roles. She's a terrific actress and can do that "tough but tender" thing that SVU ADA's usually wind up having to do.

I also like the idea of a woman of color for the new ADA, but I haven't got a clue whom to suggest. In the interim, I'd love to see more of Tamara Tunie -- she's just fabulous (not to mention gorgeous).

I'm not at all sad to see Lurchy gone. I don't rate Neal as an actress, and the character has been awful from the start.

Count me in with those who'd do just about anything to get the wonderful Stephanie March back on the show. If that's sadly not a option, I'd really like to see Reiko Aylesworth return. She was one of the few rotating ADA's in the first season, before Alex and her stunning glasses of P&J were on the scene. I think she'd be great. It might even pull in some of her fans from 24.

Whoever they go for, the show really needs a character of Cabot/Carmichael quality, not Southerlyn. That comparison goes for the actresses behind those roles too. Cast wisely, Dick.

I will miss Casey a good deal.  I don't think you can compare the characters of Alex and Casey...they were very different aside from their job title.  Whether you are on Team Cabot or Team Novak, both were strong, intelligent, beautiful women.  I'm hoping really really hard that they don't feel the need to add more testosterone to the SVU squad and get a male prosecutor.  The ADA for SVU should remain female....I'd like to nominate Amber Benson of Buffy fame for new ADA.

However, Amber and Mariska on the same screen might just cause this SVU and Amber fan to spontaneously combust.

While the offered choices aren’t god-awful, CG, your selections are interesting and I wonder how an uptight USA audience might respond to a sex crimes detective as a near lesbian pedophile? Carolinagrrl (how ‘bout them Heels or we talkin’ Gen. Johnson?), I think, “If ‘it’ worked, work ‘it.’” In short, Wolfe doesn’t have “episodic” time to replace Neal with a YOUNG actor or “up and coming” because if they make more mistakes in casting, the show’s canceled. “If it worked, work it.” To that scenario in a moment.

Wolfe damned well NEEDS to make Novak/Neal’s replacement a woman or he’ll fold it. No: wad it, burn it, shred it, stomp it: bury this show.  SVU might have jumped the hammerhead in 2003, IMO. But “stuff” can always get worse. And it did, and we maybe ain’t seen nuttin’ yet. Casting a male actor as ADA would be a hari kari moment for Wolfe and the entire IDEA of SVU because it’s a show that’s been teetering on the brink of collapse.

Nearly every time I’ve tuned in the past few years, Macbeth’s “To-morrow” soliloquy (or the late-great Orbison’s “It’s Over”), enters my head. The show’s not supposed to be a comedy and yet, I find myself laughing at tangential plots, sometimes really bad acting (or bad writing: see Colin Powell’s “Do I really gotta read this to U.N.? Pickin’ cotton would be less obsequious and more honest.”), and the femme-inization attempt for Benson’s character was a hoot. Thank gawd somebody got her hair back to credibility. Miguel Angel Asturias is my fav magical realist novelist (unless we include Wilson Harris and not-Marquez, who’s still as groovy as Starbucks among the pseudo-hip) and while I applaud magical realism on the tube or on screen, such as, evening news in the USA, SVU is not considered an experiment in magical realism. Or is it? Or should it be? What would happen, emotionally, to people who worked in “heinous”sex crimes for this long? Hmm.  

 Thus, I like a couple of ideas I’ve seen here. As a non-internet published writer (and with a decidedly warped sense of self-effacing humor that I wish H-W would adopt), I like the idea one poster had of March’s character as Cabot coming back to kill Novak’s character (but I doubt that abduction would be a requisite for a lesbian or bi admission from Hargitay’s character offered to March’s character. Naw.)  Neal Baer admitted that they wrote the lesbian subtext into the Olivia/Alex pairing because of internet femslash action. No gun-point confession would be necessary for either character. 

I ADORE writing Neal out with the query, “Is it because I’m a lesbian?” Wolfe could usurp any executive producer of any television show in the history of television if he’d start this trad carried over from “Serena exit left.” Other shows would pick up the line. Heck, Hillary might use it before Wolfe could get it to the screen, or Obama, and/or remaining Bush advisors might tell him to recite this line, “It was because I’m a lesbian” in his farewell address, and of course, he would because he was told to. We’re freakin’ sheep in this country. We live to night soaps. Might as well inject some humor into our slavish attitudes toward the trendy, aka, the magically real.

My idea is to take March hostage—if necessary—be prepared to compensate her for any professional monetary loss and emotional trauma she might endure (as a result of kidnapping) and have her Cabot character return to save Benson from making another heterosexual mistake with Bill Pullman’s character. And one would not have to even have lesbian or bi tendencies to eschew said romantic liaison. I mean, come on, Pullman? Maybe he’s a swell dude in “real life.” Who cares? Who cares if March is not Mother Teresa II? Who give’s a rat’s rectum who the hell she married? Or Hargitay? IT’S A TELEVISION SHOW. Are ADA’s in “real life” as “old” as March? The question doesn’t dignify a response. So, here goes undignified: she’s like what, about ten years younger than Hargitay? What, mid 30’s? Has anybody clued anybody into “elder cool?” As if mid-30’s is “elder.” If age is a major consideration for casting, Meloni should be able to get nigh-on senior discounts at McDonald’s. He is, well, closer to fifty (50) than forty (40). And this means what to whom? Oh yeah, right—but men are different: they can be older and sexy but women can’t. Cease! Stop it! Quit! Wolfe has a chance to at least appear to be a genius. (Not to mention make more money and garner much more power, which is what they really want. Including Doc Baer: power.) But no, go on execs, trot out some “up and coming” kid or just “up’n comin.’” While at it, send the entire cast of characters on a sex crime conference/vacation to Disney World or Land and have the plane blow up, woncha? Just have the decency to kill the show. Zap’n done. Euthanasia with a bang. OR, trump The L-Word. And the only reason that thing is viewable NOW is because the characters have matured. It’s still “Lifestyles of the Idly Rich Caliphony Female Queer.” Bring March back and “do it.” The slogan works for Nike. Just do it.

March was given an entrance back into SVU. (Conviction was a last minute gig for her. Praise the Lord.) Execs, utilize the opportunity that ya left open, if she will. If not, again, just kidnap her. Keep Pullman around and leave a two hour ep slot for the season finale. Which could carry over into another season! (As long as ya keep March from calling the cops if she’s taken hostage.) Jennifer Beals and Marlee Matlin are heterosexual in “real life.” And who cares? Fiction is fiction, damnit. Acting is acting.

AND interestingly, the state of New York recently decided to honor same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts and California. (Wonder if N.Y. honors such marriages from SPAIN and Canada . . .) The point is not to make a political, social, or civic statement (but it will): the point is to explore human sexual attraction and in the interest of Harlequin romancers, LOVE, within the context of the show.

AND maybe the most critical piece of this is: chemistry cannot be replicated. Audiences pick up on chemistry. Straight/gay/asexual: PEOPLE, an audience, can tell if characters/actors have intense chemistry together ON SCREEN or not. In “real life” people can miss it but under the microscope of artistic mediums audiences FEEL chemistry between “characters.” It doesn’t matter how intelligent and/or educated we are or aren’t. If we could answer the question of why. . . but we can’t. And no offense intended to any Neal/Novak fan but the chemistry with Hargitay/Benson wasn’t there regardless of the “blond on blond” attempt to imitate the March/Cabot “thing” because . . . it just wasn’t there. But the March/Cabot-Hargitay/Benson “thing” was.

Great art—yeah, art—Horace circa 20 B.C. writes, in Ars Poetica or Art of Poetry (and please wait before ya tune out if ya haven’t already), that “the aim of the poet” (“poetry” was a loose “canon” [hardee-har] term back “than” for art, literature, drama, and painting, or at least Shelley . . . never mind . . . “poetry” was a broad term for literature pre-TVO, ya know?) SO, Horace writes and others would queue up, that the purpose of art, basically, is to “inform or delight, or to combine together . . . both pleasure and applicability to life.” For the most part—and with personal knowledge—I know that the entertainment industry could generally care less about the plights of people who salary that industry. Sometimes it’s PC to ACT as though they care. Some do care. Whether we go along with it or not, there’s a will of the universe that’s going to get done. An old guard is temporarily leaving and a new is being ushered in. If Spain (and I’ve lived there), now honors same-sex marriage, geez, we might actually be able to deal effectively with global warming before it’s way-way too late. A multiple party system might be viable! It boggles the mind. Domestic or inter-partner violence rates between same-sex couples parallel opposite sex couples. MAYBE some of that violence in ALL couples could be diminished by some half-a’ed decent role models provided by fictional characters. People tend to model what we see. Not every other marriage needs to end in divorce but if that’s necessary, fine. Studies suggest that people who live together have higher rates of divorce after cohabitation. Then, maybe that will change. Who knows? Studies also show that MARRIAGE without preparation is the best way to kill sexual desire. Back to Ben Franklin’s statement about the diametrical oppositions of security and liberty. And yet, it doesn’t HAVE to be that way. Our realities are unlimited if our vision is unfettered. Eh, perfection, no. But progress. Yeah. Television could aim to be delightfully progressive.

Television, for instance, has an opportunity to tell us what a kind of goofy but decent single father looked like in the early 1960’s in smalltown North Carolina. And it did. Television is responsible for showing us how an inter-ethnic marriage works between this Cuban musician and his brilliantly creative wife. And it did. Television is responsible for giving us a look inside a cold war “conflict” and the medical personnel who treated victims of that conflict. And dang, it did. Boldly, M.A.S.H. came on during the Vietnam “conflict” and remained with us through 1983! It made money. It delighted. It instructed. MOST people with a television, or access to one, found a way to see the finale episode. ‘Nuf said. I’m just slingin’ down a gauntlet. We raise consciousness and have fun doing it, we heal or the night soaps keep lulling us into deeper somnambulism in order for us not to feel the pain of . . . rugged individualism, neo-colonialism, marginalization: pick one, if ya can still feel. And Hollywood is strange. Really. I’ve seen maneuvers that truly amaze with an “indirect” approach (euphemism) . . .  ehhhhhhh the grotesquely passive-aggressive muck. I’d just like to see if these writers, directors, producers, and actors got the spine to “just do it.”