IT'S WISHCRAFT: STATEN QUO

'RESCUE ME' & 'LAW & ORDER'

"Wishcraft" is a term coined for a TV show, like others I have purloined such as "Zonk!" and "redshirt". In this case, it was toddler Tabitha Stephens' attempt to say the word "witchcraft".

For my purposes, it's the perfect word to describe those crossovers which I would like to see.

'Rescue Me' returns for a second season tonight on FX. Since we last saw Tommy Gavin, the boozing, brawling, self-medicating NY firefighter has been banished to a more placid station house on Staten Island. (Although after his "punishment" at the end of last season, it could be self-imposed exile.)

But Tommy has his eye on getting back to the "real action" to be found among his old Manhattan crew.

Sound familiar? For ten years, that's been the situation Detective Mike Logan has found himself in. After slugging a city councilman in his last episode of 'Law & Order', Logan has been working out of a precinct in Staten Island. But he's been doing all he can to find a way back into the Big Apple.

He's been able to successfully execute two forays in hopes of laying the groundwork. First up was a TV movie 'Exiled' in which he capitalized on a body found floating in the harbor to get the chance to work with his old buddies back at the 2-7.

And although it did have a bittersweet resolution handed down right there in the precinct's squad room, ultimately the case led Logan right back to Staten Island.

Then last year, circumstances found Logan teamed up with Detectives Goran and Eames on a case that had echoes of Abu Ghraib, right in the heart of Brooklyn. And the way that his brash, charging-bull style clashed with yet complemented Goren's more cerebral approach must have been noticed by the higher-ups in the department.

Because this coming season, Mike Logan will be handling half the caseload of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' to ease the burden on Goran and Eames.

But since that's not happening until the Fall, there's still plenty of time during the Summer for us to see Mike Logan interact with Tommy Gavin on 'Rescue Me'.

Sure, one's a cop and the other a fireman, but that's easily overcome. After a blaze is put out by Gavin and his fellow firefighters, Detective Logan investigates a homicide found at the heart of the debris.

And for the dramatic stakes to be raised, it could be somebody that clashed with Tommy. With his string of vices, it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a viable suspect - hooker, pimp, dealer, bookie....

Or the jerk who cancelled 'The Job' over at ABC.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby