I know, terrible, but I couldn't resist. Will miss Esai Morales as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue. Not only did he manage to do well in what is essentially a background role most of the time, but he's pretty easy on the eye, too. (In a word--yum!)

"T-Rod," as he's referred to online, is being replaced by semi-regular Eddie Gibson, a rather hapless Sergeant who's appeared in occasional running subplots on the series. Most folks aren't pleased by the Eddie decision, since the character's rather a loser. Ironically, the actor playing Gibson, John Donahue, is an actual New York policeman, retired, who once held the job Eddie is being promoted into.

Speaking of hapless brings me to someone who's become one of my favorite series supporting characters, Lt. Randall Disher on Monk. Maybe not-so-oddly, I hated Disher when the series premiered; I'm assuming most people did, because Randy was such a sycophant you were hoping he got offed in an upcoming episode. Not only was he a yes-man, but he was a stupid yes-man. I can't remember when Disher's conversion started, but someone must have realized that a character like Disher's boss, the no-nonsense Leland Stottlemeyer, would put up with a brown-noser like a cat puts up with a rat.

I definitely enjoy Randy a lot more now that he's been turned into Monk's equivalent of what Tony Shalhoub's Galaxy Quest character Fred Kwan would refer to as "plucky comic relief." Randy even ended up saving the day a few weeks ago when Monk and Sharona investigated a lowlife who had married Disher's widowed mom under false pretenses. With Disher's conversion to nice guy, it's easier to take his obvious attraction to Sharona–not to mention that Jason Gray-Stanford's baby-blue eyes work much better for such a nice guy. :-)

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:11:00 AM

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