One Tree Hill fans will either be cheering or jeering with this news, but Michaela McManus, who plays Lindsey on One Tree Hill, has signed onto Law & Order: SVU as their new assistant DA.

Well, I guess we now know one of the candidates Lucas didn’t invite to Vegas. Michaela McManus (aka One Tree Hill’s Lindsey) is joining the cast of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as the new assistant district attorney, effective with this fall’s Season 10. McManus will play the ADA assigned to the Special Victims Unit, thus following in the footsteps of predecessors Diane Neal and Stephanie March.

So what does this mean for Lindsey? No word yet, but we’ll keep you posted!

We knew Elliot would be going blind on Law & Order: SVU this season and now we can tel you when… on next week’s episode “Blinded”, airing November 13th.

At a recent event, Chris Meloni teased the circumstances surrounding Elliot’s injury in, um, rather graphic detail. “A perp attacks me, blindsides me, and it’s when your brain is slapped against your skull, basically bruising the optical nerves,” he said. “I’ve always secretly thought it would be very interesting to play a blind person and keep your visual senses open, yet not tap into them…. I summoned my inner Al Pacino, and I think I’m gonna grab that Emmy this year.”

No word yet on how long his blindness will last, or if it is permanent.

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Wow, considering we know Christopher Meloni just resigned for another two seasons of Law & Order: SVU, this sure brings a twist to the show! According to Ausiello, Elliot Stabler will be injured while in the line of duty, and will subsequently go blind. Yep, you read that right, blind!

I am so curious as to how they will handle it, or it will be one of those all-in-one episodes where he is miraculously cured by the end of the episode. I sure hope not! I think this will definitely explore a new side to Stabler, if it is an ongoing issue with his sight.

Don’t forget, season premiere is tonight at 10pm!

Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon will guest star on the season premiere of Law & Order: SVU playing a women with multiple personalities… and definitely playing not-so-nice personalities. I can’t wait to see this one, I think she could play a b*tch pretty darn good! And what’s more, she will have a missing child with her, but the personalities are making it hard to figure out what is going on and how the child came to be with her.

Law & Order: SVU season premiere for season 9 starts Tuesday, September 25th at 10pm.

Nancy Grace will take her first acting gig when she appears in the season finale of Law & Order: SVU. However, the character she plays won’t be too much of a stretch for her… she will play a legal commentator on the hit series.

Nancy Grace is taking on her first prime-time acting role, though it shouldn’t be a stretch for the CNN Headline News talk-show host. She will appear offering faux legal commentary during the season finale of NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC said on Tuesday. She’ll talk about a case involving a man charged with killing a woman and her baby.

There’s precedence for vaulting into fiction at sister network CNN, where Larry King has appeared in several movies playing himself.

One of Grace’s co-stars in the episode will be Star Jones Reynolds, who will also be seen giving legal commentary. That was how she actually started on TV, before acquiring her diva reputation on “The View.”

Rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges will return to the show to play Darius Parker, the man on trial. “Law & Order: SVU” raps up its season this year on May 22.

I must admit, I am not too happy to see Star Jones in the episode… for reasons too numerous to mention. However, Ludacris is always a fan favorite and draws the Ludacris fans as well.

I will be curious to see how Nancy Grace’s appearance goes… and what “station” she will appear on or if they will be using CNN as the show for this episode.

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Princess Bride and X-Files fans will be happy to hear that Cary Elwes is back on the small screen and guest starring in a February sweeps episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The episode also stars Everwood’s Emily Van Camp, who has recently been tapped to play the love child Rebecca on Brothers & Sisters.

Mob lawyer Sidney Truex (guest star Cary Elwes) and his wife are brutally attacked, leaving his young son emotionally scarred. When the Detectives have to locate the Truexs’ daughter, Charlotte (guest star Emily VanCamp), to notify her about the attack on her parents, Dets. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) find Charlotte at her boyfriend Ryan’s (Justin Klosky) apartment. Through an exhaustive interview process, the Detectives must sort through the web of lies Charlotte has told in order to piece together a night of drinking and drugs leaving Charlotte unable to recall details of the evening. However, her father comes out of surgery and is able to vividly remember his daughter at the crime scene. The disturbing case takes another turn as Stabler is brought up on charges of excessive force after getting into a very serious altercation with Ryan. Dann Florek, Diane Neal, B.D. Wong, and Tamara Tunie also star.

The episode is titled Dependent and airs on Monday, February 12th at 10pm on NBC.

Detectives Benson and Stabler aren’t going anywhere. Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have signed new contracts to return for the nineth season of Law & Order: SVU, cashing in on two-year contracts that would pay the duo at least $333,000 per episode. The new contract now makes Hargitay the highest-paid actress on TV today, leaping over Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer.

There had been a lot of speculation over the contract negotiations and the possibility that the two might not resign because of the money issue… something that seemed might come true with the announcement of the hiring of Adam Beach.

Law & Order: SVU was just picked up for next season, but with the new contracts, fans can be assured the franchise series will be around for at least another two seasons.

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Bill Goldberg, known for being the former WWE Superstar and World Heavyweight Champion, has signed on to guest star on a single episode of Law & Order: SVU next month. He will play a crazy convict named Cupid (Cupid?? I guess it is close to Valentine’s…).

Goldberg has a family connection to the show - his first cousin is “SVU” executive producer and head writer Neal Baer, M.D., who says “I’ve waited years to work with my cousin Bill, and the cast and I were not disappointed. Now I know who to go to when I need an enforcer.”

In this episode, Goldberg (Cupid) tosses Detective Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) through a window. Goldberg is one of the biggest names the wrestling business has ever seen, and has transitioned from being a superstar in the ring to a television and feature film star. After a brief football career, he changed his focus to develop what became a long and celebrated career in professional wrestling. Goldberg has since held staring roles in a number of feature films including The Longest Yard, Santa’s Slay, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Ready to Rumble, and Universal Soldier II.

His episode - titled “Loophole” - will air Tuesday, February 6th at 10pm. It should be good to get some wresting fans tuning in, or some chicks can use that fact to entice their guys to tune in with them

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was just renewed for the 9th season, despite the contracts of Mariska Hargitay (Det. Olivia Benson) and Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler) being up in the air about whether or not they will get their pay raises to come back for the 9th season. But now it looks as thought the producers are making plans in case either one of them don’t come back.

Adam Beach, who appeared on Law & Order: SVU this week in the episode Outsiders as Brooklyn detective Chester Lake (couldn’t they have thought of a better name than CHESTER??) He is reportedly in talks to turn his guest starring role into a series regular one.

“SVU” creator Dick Wolf first worked with Beach on “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” the HBO telepic Wolf produced. Beach has the lead role in the project, which is expected to debut in May and is already being considered one of the paybox’s key longform Emmy contenders.

Beach’s other credits include “Windtalkers,” “Joe Dirt” and “Mystery, Alaska.” He’ll also appear in upcoming CBS mini “Comanche Moon,” the Eye’s follow-up to “Lonesome Dove.”

Since Beach is a male, this sounds as though Meloni could be on the chopping block when it comes to signing the two stars for next season. This will be interesting to watch and see how this all plays out.

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NBC is getting the jump on picking up shows for the 2007-2008 season. Law & Order: SVU will be back for the nineth season next year.

However, the question still remains about what is going on with the pay raise issue for the show’s two stars. Both Mariska Hargitay (Det. Olivia Benson) and Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler) are reportedly holding out for more money to sign on for next season. Does this mean they believe the two will sign? Or will there be a cast revamping going on during the off-season?

Wow, the Law & Order franchise is just nailing the high profile guest stars this year. Now comes word that Kim Delaney will guest star in an upcoming Special Victims Unit episode this season.

Kim Delaney will guest on an upcoming Law & Order: SVU, says the New York Post, playing a New Jersey police captain who butts heads with Benson and Stabler. The episode, ironically, is titled “Philadelphia.”

I haven’t seen her in much since her brief stint as Megan Donner on CSI: Miami where David Caruso pretty much stole the show. Will be interesting to see how she fares on this crime drama.

No word yet on when this episode will air, but we will keep you posted.

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Both Mariska Hargitay (Det. Olivia Benson) and Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler) are reportedly asking for higher pay raises to come back next season on Law & Order: SVU. And the series is really more about their two characters and their interactions than being specifically about cases week after week. And Law & Order: SVU has had very little cast rotation over the years, because let’s face it, why mess with success?

It sounds as though the network is confident they can work this through, although the entire Law & Order franchise has always weathered cast changes well, one hopes that working this through doesn’t mean casting new stars!

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People will always remember Eriq La Salle best for his long-running role on everyone’s favorite, ER. Eric LaSalle is back on the small screen, but this time he is behind the camera, not in front of it. He is directing an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Eriq is one of the many stars who has taken to directing rather than acting, sometimes I think it’s a shame since we don’t get to watch them act anymore. But he has taken roles in front of the camera as well, most notably an episode of Without a Trace in 2006.

The episode he is directing is titled Burned, and is set to air January 9th.

Tuesday night’s Law & Order: SVU, the first episode back from the Christmas hiatus, is chock full of guest stars. Paget Brewster (who herself just landed a role on Criminal Minds) is guest starring in this episode, along with Brian Dennehy (who plays a cancer patient) . And Judith Light, who I will always remember best as being from Who’s the Boss?, will also appear in her recurring role in this episode.

The episode is titled “Scheherezade”, and will air Tuesday, January 2nd.

More about the episode:

Stabler agrees to hear the dying confession of a cancer patient named Judson Tierney (Brian Dennehy), but first he and Benson do some digging into what possible crime Tierney’s guilty of and come up with an unsolved case that goes back 47 years. However, according to Tierney, that is merely the “tip of the iceberg.” Sheila Tierney: Paget Brewster. Elizabeth Donnelly: Judith Light. Rita Colino: Victoria Wyndham. Mike Mollinax: John Doman.

The entire Law & Order franchise has nabbed some pretty high profile guest stars this season, which is sure to bring their ratings up even higher as people try to catch their favorite stars in their guest starring roles.

I bet the producers of Law & Order: SVU weren’t expecting they’d be faced with having another lead actress pregnant, especially one who is filling in for Mariska Hargitay who is on maternity leave herself! But such is the news that Connie Nielsen is expecting a child with Metallica drummer boyfriend Lars Ulrich.

Nielsen plays Detective Dani Beck on SVU, but fortunately for the show, Hargitay has already returned from her maternity leave, saving producers the challenge of having two lead females out of the show.

No word as of yet on when her due date is or if the pregnancy will be written into the show.

November 1st marks the return of Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU. Hargitay has been away on maternity leave since giving birth to her daughter August in June.

While Hargitay’s character Detective Olivia Benson appeared in the first episode of the season, it set up the storyline of her undercover story which has kept her character from the show since then.

Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, One Hour Photo) as brought in during Hargitay’s absence for the four episodes she did not appear on. Nielsen played Detective Dani Beck. However, she will remain with the series through the November sweeps.

If you didn’t know it was Jerry Lewis, you would never recognize him as a homeless man on next Tuesday’s Law & Order: SVU.  He is witness to a rape and murder of a mother and daughter.  Here is the scoop:

When a homeless man is found in New York’s Central Park and brought in for questioning by Detectives Stabler (Chris Meloni) and Beck (Guest star Connie Nielsen), one member of the Unit is dealt an emotional blow as Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) recognizes the homeless man as his long lost uncle, Andrew. This powerful episode deals with many societal issues including the treatment of the mentally ill and the aged.

Executive Producer Neal Baer commented, “We are thrilled and inspired to be working with Jerry Lewis, a true legend and professional actor. He brings both depth and heart to this role and gives insight into how often older people with depression are misdiagnosed.”

Law & Order is getting some pretty sweet guest stars this season.  First Chevy Chase will be on Law & Order.  Then Liza Minelli on Law & Order: Criminal Minds.  And now Jerry Lewis.  Who else will the L&O teams manage to snag for guest spots this season?