SPOILERS! GETCHER SPOILERS HERE!

Several hours ago, I wrote that I was having trouble moving past the “shock and denial” stage in my grief over the demise of my beloved “Law and Order,” whose final episode aired Monday. Having just watched it, I’m still not quite believing that Lt. Anita Van Buren, Lupo and Bernard and my dear self-righteous foghorn of justice Jack McCoy won’t ever be coming back with new episodes. We won’t ever hear Bernard call his partner “Lupes” while leaning over a new dead body, won’t see Van Buren give her men that Stern “Shaddup and do your job” look. No more sexual tension Olympics between Connie and Cutter.

And especially, no more scenes of Sam Waterson’s furrowed frows of fury twitching as he completely flips out on Cutter, or Connie, or at the prospect that somewhere in his jurisdiction, justice is not being served. And if he has to personally slap everyone in the head with one of those giant Westlaw books to make things right, he’s gonna do it.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I admit that I have not yet gone through all of the stages of grieving about tonight’s final new episode of NBC;s 20-year-old “Law and Order.” First off, my FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL TIME is not quite dead until tonight, and with all the reruns, the current spin-offs and the upcoming “Law and Order; L.A.” around, the ghost of Jack McCoy and the 27th precinct will linger. And linger. And then linger some more.

I’m still stuck in Stage 1: Shock and denial, although I feel Stage 1.5 – AUGGGGH! JACK! NO!!!! coming on.

I will be watching the show this evening and writing about the end of the Mothership. Anyone else?

More on Leno and late night:
Jay Leno’s late-night future up in air | Poll: Should Jay stay or go? | Video: Leno gets laughs out of rumors

Who's gonna get to keep 11:35?

NBC’s prime time/late night time slots seem like a game of musical chairs – First the Peacock network makes good on its promise to give Conan O’Brien the hosting gig of “The Tonight Show,” then takes away some of the luster of that accomplishment (no matter how they framed it) by giving Jay Leno, the abdicating “Tonight Show” host, his own 10 p.m. prime time show five days a week. People who like watching crime programs at 10 p.m., or “Dateline” episodes where Chris Hansen pulls the okee doke on “alleged” predators, or who just don’t find Jay Leno funny at any timeslot, cried foul.

And now that the show turned out to be a ratings turkey and, honestly, not all that funny, NBC is reportedly considering pushing Jay back to 11:35, meaning that Conan could be headed back to “Late Night,” and meaning Jimmy Fallon might be…oh, who knows? NBC, for their part, has released a statement confirming that they are committed to keeping Conan on NBC, which, as anyone whose ever been dumped by a vague text message claiming to want to be friends, knows doesn’t mean anything. Sure, they’re committed to keeping you around. But as what? And when? And what kind of friendship is that anyway, huh? And are you gonna pay Conan back for all those lunches when you “forgot” your wallet, NBC?

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Mike Cutter is good...

Last night’s episode of “Law and Order: Original Recipe” was so good, I backed up the TiVo and watched it over again. There was so much going on, my head almost exploded – the guy who used to play the hippie male nanny on “The L Word” as a sinister lawyer, Mercedes Ruehl as a not-easily-amused judge, a slap-down between D.A. Jack McCoy and his surly Mini-Me, Michael Cutter, a wrongful execution, and a last-minute attempted murder in a courthouse bathroom! And unlike most episodes of “SVU,” I never once stopped and said “Wait…that would never happen!”

The Stiff Of The Week turns out to be Charlie Sawyer, whose family members died in an infamous plane crash that killed 90-something people seven years earlier. The victim had been part of a class action suit against the airline, and after ruling out his estranged wife and a nutso conspiracy theorist who’d been harassing the plaintiffs of the suit, suspicion quickly comes around to attorney Winston (Dallas Roberts, the aforementioned portrayer of male nannies), who is representing the plaintiffs.

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