Judith Light: Yes, Still Awesome

I've devoted a lot of bandwidth in this blog to how awesome Judith Light is on Ugly Betty. And if you are not part of the choir that I am preaching to, then you're just not an Ugly Betty fan. But the fact is that Judith Light is awesome wherever she goes, including Law and Order: SVU. SVU is like my TV comfort food. If I just feel like chilling on the couch, I turn on SVU, because there's a fifty-fifty chance, at any given time, that USA is airing an SVU repeat. It's formulaic and I know exactly what I'm getting, which is what makes it good comfort TV, but occasionally the show is enlivened by Judith, in her recurring role as Judge Donnelly. Like all the judge roles, it's not one with a lot of pizzazz or drama. She shows up, makes rulings, and is generally dismissive toward the lawyers. But where a lesser actress would deliver her lines, call it a job well done and go home, Judith works the bits that she's given. Her best line of this week's episode: "Up my butt?" Not the line itself, in response to a web video of drunken teens making fun of her, but the way Judith delivers it. 49% disbelief, 47% "those kids' asses are mine," and 4% "and so are their large quantities of alcohol." (I like to think that she takes a bit of Claire Meade with her wherever she goes.)