Last Friday when I was visiting relatives out of state, I spent a little down time in my hotel room and ended up getting sucked into a Law & Order marathon on TNT. I don’t watch the show on a regular basis, but have enjoyed reruns over the years, and enjoy the show and like to support Wayne State-grad S. Epatha Merkerson ^[1], who plays the role of Lieutenant Anita Van Buren.

After watching 2 or 3 episodes, though, I began to wonder why Mrs. Merkerson’s role has always been so small on the show. She was wonderful in the recent HBO movie, “Lackawanna Blues”, in which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress, and is great at portraying the no-frills lieutenant on L&O. Coincidentally, it just so happens that Mrs. Merkerson will be prominently featured in this evening’s Law & Order episode, which starts in just a few minutes on NBC.

You can see one of Wayne State’s – and Cooley High’s – finest in action tonight, when S. Epatha Merkerson finally gets the exposure she deserves.