"Law & Order" Gets a Senator

Wed., Aug. 28, 2002 4:00 PM PDT by

The man who once said, "After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood," is trading in the musty corridors of power for the must-see-TV halls of justice.

United States Senator Fred Thompson has just signed on as the new chief prosecutor on NBC's Law & Order, Reuters reports. The Tennessee lawyer and politico, who served as a federal prosecutor and Senate Watergate counsel in 1973, replaces head prosecutor Diane Wiest, who's leaving L&O after two seasons.

So, what's next? Strom Thurmond guesting on The West Wing?

Actually, Thompson is no novice thespian. He has had supporting roles in more than a dozen Hollywood flicks, including The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard 2 and In the Line of Fire.

After costarring in 1994's Baby's Day Out, the actor gave up Tinseltown for a shot at former vice president Al Gore's Senate seat; he eventually won a two-year term in a special election and was elected to a full six-year term in 1996.

Thompson, citing personal reasons, announced in March he would not seek re-election. (The decision came shortly after the death of his 38-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Thompson Panici.)

According to Law & Order executive producer Michael Chernuchin, the southern senator is a man for the times.

"[It's] definitely a reaction to 9-11," Chernuchin told Reuters. "His political leanings are a little more to the right than [those of] former D.A.'s on the show. He is a 'strict constructionist.' That is, for him, the Constitution is what it says and is nothing more."

The senator will also likely turn up on two spinoff series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, producers said.

A guest shot on Friends, however, is probably a long shot.

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