Chris Noth is an underappreciated actor, probably because he seems like a bit of a prick in real life. Yet he still keeps getting plum roles, like in The Good Wife or as the iconic Big in Sex & the City. But to me, he’ll always be Detective Mike Logan from Law & Order. The original Law & Order, that is. I couldn’t watch him on that spinoff Criminal Intent because I really disliked the show, and it turns out Noth feels the same way.
I wasn’t happy on that show. I was a little happier when Julianne Nicholson joined me. But I found that show preposterous. Mind-numbing. I feel bad because I was one of the persons who helped start that thing originally, back with Jerry Orbach. I was unhappy on that show. I had a great deal, but it was torturous. Sometimes the actor in me says, “You’re getting way too comfortable.” And then I need to move on.
[Watch!, print edition, February 2011]
I miss Jerry Orbach.
Noth also admits he has no more interest in the character of Mr. Big, although that’s who he’s recognized as most on the street.
He’s much happier on The Good Wife.
Ah, The Good Wife is different. I’m part of a great show. I’m part of something bigger than myself. The atmosphere is great, the people are happy to be there, [show creators and executive producers Robert and Michelle King] are inclusive and approachable. Julianna Margulies has an impeccable work ethic. Alan Cumming, I’m loving working with him.
[Watch!, print edition, February 2011]
I never got into The Good Wife. I think it’s a good show, but it just didn’t pique my interest.
Chris got a Golden Globe nomination and the show’s cast is nominated for a SAG award, so that should hopefully keep him happy.
The Good Wife airs Tuesdays at 10PM on CBS.
Photo credit: WENN.com
I loved him on Law & Order, too. He is just so cool, a real man. Chris Noth for HGF!
I never cared for his charater on the L&O shows. My favorite partner for Jerry was Jesse L. Martin and Benjamin Bratt. When Jerry and Vincent stop being on the shows I stopped watching.
I loved him back in the day on the old L&O. The early years of that show were my favorite. I think Criminal Intent was a great show in the first few seasons. After that it became sort of a bad joke.
I’ve liked him in everything he’s been in. I think he gets better with age.
I agree with you ladies, I love him too, he’s a man, a real man. He knows how to wear a suit and I love it when he smiles. HGF!
He looks like a such hubby material. The one that’s good with kids and all but still incredibly sexy, and has one bad habit but is going with him. Like when he comes home after work, he sits in his brown leather chair, drinks scotch and smokes (looking all hot and what not)….I never pay enough attention to his acting skills, can’t do, already have a picture in my head…*hence the previous part
He was horrible on L&O. The absolute worst was when he was paired up with
Annabella Sciorra. God, those episodes are just painful to watch-like watching paint dry. I don’t get the appeal-I don’t find him attractive at all and his acting is marginal at best.
i miss Jerry Orbach
and Noth is a charismatic actor
Jerry Orbach was such a class act. I watch Beauty and the Beast just to hear him as Lumiere!
It’s no secret that when they were in alternating episodes, the L&O:CIs featuring Vincent D’Onofrio routinely scored much higher ratings than those with Chris Noth – so sour grapes at his relative lack of popularity rather than issues with the show, perhaps?
Guess I am alone in my opinion that C.I was the best of the franchise. Vincent D’Onofrio was terrific in his role.
I know I hate Law and Order Los Angeles. Talk about a joke!
I have a story I need to share about this guy…
A few years ago some friends of mine were at a bar in soho when Chris Noth walked in. Both of them are big sex and the city fans. So, of course, they were really excited to meet him. They wasted no time in moving over to sit next to him at the bar and introduce themselves. At the time, both girls were maybe 21 or 22 and meeting celebrities was a much bigger deal than it probably would be to either of them now.
Within a few seconds of talking to him it became clear that he mr. Noth had been drinking for awhile before hitting this particular bar. He started flirting with both girls and getting, as my friend called it, “gropey”. Now, up to this point, both girls were still thinking “OMG, it’s mr. Big!” and were happy to have the attention. But, then it got weird.
He turned and asked one of the girls if they could go back to her place. She was kind of take aback by this and, not knowing quite how to respond, she said “But, I live in a dorm!”. To her surprise, he responded “that’s ok!” and slurred something about “wanting to go back to college”.
My friend then politely turned down the offer. But, my other friend didn’t want to let it go. She kept pushing about why Mr. Big would want to have a random hook up in a dorm room, of all places. She thought it was hilarious, and has made jokes ever since about Mr. Big being either too cheap to get a hotel room or too much of a creep to pass up a dorm full of young sex and the city fans. Either way, ew.
Sometimes my friends and I will watch old episodes of sex and the city and without fail one of us will say “remember the time the girls met him at Gatsbys? Yeah, he’s a douche.” haha
You’re not alone devilgirl, loved the D’Onofrio CIs!
I really liked him on L&O..but Vincent was my favorite..I miss them both!
I love Vincent D’Onofrio! I’m so glad to find other fans. He’s on my Freebie List. My husband thinks he’s ugly and a hideous actor, but I just find him HOT.
Oh, and I associate Chris Noth with Big, and I frankly never cared for that love affair, so I’m perfectly content to believe the sour grapes theory!
I actually enjoy CI, but do miss the courtroom aspect of the other L&Os. And I have to admit I like Jeff Goldblum better than Chris Noth (but I miss D’Onofrio).
I miss the regular L&O alot, tho! I liked most of the detectives: Noth, Orbach, Farina, Martin, Sisto…SVU just seems so horribly depressing lately, and LA was kind of a joke (Skeet Ulrich? Really?). I have the first 2 seasons of L&O: UK on my dvr, so maybe that will be a suitable replacement…
I mis D’Onofrio and Erbes. thy were great! second only to meloni and hargati!
Am I the only one that thinks his girlfriend looks like a man/tranny? I’m totally serious about this – that bone structure! She had to have been born male.
Noth is lucky to have a career. Always a b-grade actor, he fails to enter any alternate personality dimension other than ‘Big’. More like ‘asshole’ was more appropriate.
When he came to Australia for a promotional trip, and to present at a television awards show, the woman who initially had a crush on him, ultimately became put off by his sleaziness. It didn’t matter that he was in a relationship.
Oh, I heart Jerry Orbach. I miss him, too!
Noth is YUMMY. I love “Bubbling”s mental picture of him.
Vincent D’Onofrio bugged the crap outta me on CI. He was such a smart a$$ and always “knew too much.” It wasn’t believable.
His wife looks like a man.
Like the rest of you, I’m guessing he’s just sour that most of us would rather be frisked by Detective Goren than by Detective Logan. Me, VDO and a deserted island … warms me up just to think about it.
Yes Jerry Orbach for the win. Without him it just wasn’t the same.
I couldn’t stand Law @ Order CI; the plots were ridiculous. I loved Noth as Mike Logan. He was my favorite partner for Jerry Orbach. Greene was a thug in a suit. I wish they’d bring the original back; the LA transplant just does not cut it.
I really miss L&O (original). I try to watch the reruns whenever I can. It was the best show on TV for the past 20 years.
NBC made such a horrible decision when they cancelled the show!
The first five seasons of L&O remain great television. It went downhill from there (although I thought Angie Harmon was great), and I stopped watching years ago.
I like Vincent D’Onofrio, but his Goren head-tilt became downright comical over the years, and that show never grabbed me. I also felt like they brought back Chris Noth as someone who looked a lot like Mike Logan, rather than the actual Mike Logan from the original series.
But Noth does seem like a jackass in the real world. I remember seeing him on Leno years and years ago, and it seemed really obvious that he was (a) a total frat guy in nature, and (b) on something. It was also obvious that Leno was really peeved, and I couldn’t blame him. (I don’t think Leno’s funny, and I think the whole NBC thing last year was disgraceful–but the man does run his show in a professional way, and clearly didn’t appreciate someone being so unprofessional in return.)
Mind numbing is a good description. I watch a lot of shows on USA, but can’t stand this one or any of the spinoffs.
KateNonymous: his Goren head-tilt became downright comical over the years
=======================================
I HATED that goddam head-tilt, especially when he got up in somebody’s face with it. I kept wishing someone would go ptooey and spit right in his eye.
@#1: HGF/chris noth is a nice idea….
I can not stand VDO. Every episode I have ever watched he knows everything from the get go.
He can be talking to a scientist who just came up with a brand new idea and he already knows about it and can tell you how the scientist arrived at the conclusion…
I can see Detectives being knowledgeable in somethings, even jack of all trades and masters of some… But he just was a know it all, and I always hated it when he would go to a body , sniff, poke, smell, taste or lick it and then tell you the history for the last few years…
Don’t miss him at all.
Shame though, the part that JG played was the same…
I hate shows with characters like that.
i liked goren & eames on the early seasons of CI, but i never warmed up to noth. he is just always mr. big to me. and i loved jeremy sisto on L&O – just his voice makes my panties melt. but SVU -save richard belzer- is the worst.
i have insomnia and can often be found at 1:00 am watching some form of the show. it’s always on, isn’t it?
I wish they would just go ahead & create a Law & Order network-all L&O all the time! If I’m channel surfing and nothing else is on, I can almost always find a L&O to watch.
Original Kate, I agree 100% agree about adorable Sisto, but I still love SVU. The whole cast is great. I do agree that it’s jumped the shark at this point, but they still manage to put out some entertaining episodes; not as high quality as in earlier years, but still entertaining. I could see it lasting another 2 years maybe.
tapioca: I totally agree with you! Front the beginning, VDO’s episodes always got better ratings. I think it was the 4th season? that Noth joined the cast and I never watched his episode. I know a lot of people that have said that they only watched the VDO episodes. It’s not like I disliked Noth’s character but I was hooked on Goren! I also liked Jeff Goldblum’s character because he had that smarty pants think going for him like Goren.
I’m thirilled that they are doing another sseason of Law and Order this year as the final season. It’s only going to be an eight episode season but I’ll take what I can get. I probably wouldn’t even watch it except for the fact that Goren will be back in all the episodes again! Yaaay
law & order HGF: “the dongs you would like to investigate!”
See, this is how it goes with VDO/Goren … he’s so much more compelling that the comment thread has taken a turn to opinions on him. However, I will always appreciate Chris Noth pitching in and doing the every-other-show thing in season five, as I’ve read VDO would have given it up for health reasons otherwise. And for you ladies that don’t find him appealing, that’s OK; I have a thing for big, tall lefty know-it-alls. I’m married to one, and he forgives my VDO lust because he sees the similarity.
@Maud@(9)- Jerry Orbach was such a class act. I watch Beauty and the Beast just to hear him as Lumiere!
Beauty & the Beast came out when I was 5 (target audience), & was one of my *favorites*. For the longest time, I had NO IDEA Jerry Orbach voiced Lumiere! I never associated the tough cop Briscoe with the dancing French candle. xD
I was *so* sad when I heard of his passing. He was just awesome.
And I’m definitely with everyone on the ‘Chris Noth’ love. I have no idea why, but I find him so attractive. I’ve always enjoyed his acting.
But for L&O: CI… I don’t know, it’s not ever going to touch the realm of the original, but I didn’t think it was THAT bad. I really came to enjoy the episodes that included Goren as the main detective. (The role just really seemed well represented by him.)
I think my favorite pairing of detectives on L&O is a toss up between Briscoe & Curtis (Ben Bratt), and Briscoe & Green (Jesse L Martin). Gotta love it. =)
For the VDO fans out there, I read somewhere that he and Katherine Erbe will be in the final season of L&O Criminal Intent.
@devilgirl…
That is no rumor, I saw that the network brings them back for the final 6-8 shows I think…
Vincent D’ is a creepy, brilliant, ugly hot freak who will ALWAYS be in my top three free ride magic circle. Triangle. You want to talk about underappreciated? Vincent acts the arsehairs off the rest of them (you may step outside, Mr Bale, as you are not included in this dubious demographic) and gets zero recognition. Lucky doing it well is it’s own reward.
Next to him, Chris Noth is a ghost fart. A grease stain. Please. He must have been shitting his pants every time he had to try and fill those shoes. You wont see D’Onofrio playing a robot douche in Sex etc any time soon.
Add my name to the list of those who loved L&O: CI and the Goren/Eames pairing. I like Annabella Sciora and Chris Noth as actors but I was so upset when their episodes appeared. When Julianne Nicholson started appearing as Noth’s partner on CI, she always bugged me due to her androgenous (sp?) appearance. For god sakes, grow out her hair a little longer and apply some blush at least.
The story with the college girls in NYC made me cringe in embarassment. And I never bought the Big/Carrie romance so hearing these reports of his douchery make me feel smug about loving VDO more!
VDO/Goren FTW! 😀
thats a reflection of him not the show
vincent d’onofrio ‘s stellar character is proof of that miss him…
The Good Wife is one of, if not, THE best show of the last few years. I was never a fan of Julianna or Chris before but I am now (at least I like him in this show.
Julianna deserves many awards for The Good Wife.
@Grandizer I couldn’t agree with you more. I never got into CI but I couldn’t stand that Goren was such a know it all. It was ridiculous and annoying. Although I still watch the new L&A episodes I stopped enjoying them when Det. Green and McCoy became DA. I never connected with the new detectives and adas. Jack was a great ada but became a politician and loss his edge when he became DA. SVU is still good but starting to show it’s. I haven’t watched L&OLA yet.
I miss the fitter version of D’Onofrio, what happened to him? He used to be smokin’!
Chris Noth has been consistently handsome for a loooong time. He’s holding up very well.
The Good Wife isn’t as interesting as I’d hoped, it’s a bit slow and much more predictable than I’d hoped it would be. But I watch it for Josh Charles.
Vincent D’Onofrio makes me tingle in a way that makes me wonder if I’m a closet serial killer. Remember his chemistry with Nicole? I loved him so much.
But the original L&O is always my favourite. One of my coffee table books in front of me is Law & Order Crime Scenes. For real, super awesomeness.
To any of Vincent’s fans if you haven’t seen “The Whole Wide World”, he is great as a writer with a tortured soul. Renee Zellweger is also in with a tortured face. Speaking of what with Noth’s cat-woman? I thought his bags were bad.
I liked Noth on L&O. Not as much as Greene and Bratt, but top four ain’t bad. Number one is Jerry Orbach of course. My favorite ADA was Carey Lowell, and I prefered Steven Hill as the D.A.
I loved D’Onofrio and Erbe on Criminal Intent.
Another good cop character is Brass on CSI. Unfortunately they don’t feature him enough. I’m not a big fan of the campyness of the show. Brass’ scenes however, are always enjoyable.
Chris Noth has 3 expressions: a smirk, holding his breath and laugh-turn-head.
I like The Good Wife for Alicia, Eli, Will and Diane. Noth is fit for his role, actually.
Of course this discussion had to come round to Vincent! There’s so little to say about Noth – can’t act, ugly, unsexy, arrogant. Then Vincent – ultra-talented, steaming hot sex god, intelligent, modest and ego-free, philanthropic, dedicated family man. I could go on for ever. (On my Vincent-dedicated blog, I often do!)
Along with Orbach’s Briscoe, The Belz’ character Munch is my fave of the franchise.