Why I Love Jeff Goldblum

A friend of mine describes Jeff Goldblum as the sexiest Jewish man in the world. You're free to offer up your own candidates, but I have to agree that Goldblum is at least high on the list.

He brings that quality to his roles and that's one of the reasons to be excited about his new role as Zack Nichols on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which debuted on USA last night. It was all I hoped for.

It was great to see Nichol's partner Megan Wheeler's (Julianne Nicholson) disdain for him, in part I'm sure, because when she was paired up with Mike Logan (Chris Noth), SHE was the genius and the quirky one.

There's always a joyfulness to Goldblum's characters; in this role its used, in part, to show his delight at being back on the force. In a New York Times article last week, this is what Goldblum said about his approach to playing a detective:

“You need to know,” he said methodically, “or be interested in as you watch him: What’s. He. Thinking?”

I felt that way last night. And I thought, too, 'this is so much fun.'

I'm a Bobby Goren fan, but it's nice to have a character that brings some light to the show; Goren is so heavy; Mike Logan, brooding and tightly coiled. Nichols is the exact opposite. And that NYT article says that's why Dick Wolf hired Goldblum:

As Mr. Wolf recalled in a telephone interview, when he met with Mr. Goldblum to offer him the part, he said, “I’m hiring you to be you, because it has to be like the oldest, most comfortable leather jacket in your closet. If you walk onto a set and think, ‘What would my character do?,’ we’re not writing the right character.”

I hope that Goldblum's star power won't turn Nicholson into what Eames and Goren used to be (they've give Eames a lot more to do in the last two seasons, but before that...NOTHING). And I hope Goldblum stays with the role for a while.