When NBC announced "Law & Order: Los Angeles" back in May, it did so without a cast or much discussion of the show's format. Now, with the new season weeks away, the cast is set and the show will remind long-time "Law & Order" fans of the late, lamented mother ship.

First, the show will be split into a "law" half and an "order" half, not fixed mainly on the cops alone, the way "SVU" and "Criminal Intent" have done. In the "law" part, Skeet Ulrich plays Detective Rex Winters, and Corey Stoll plays Detective TJ Jarusalski. They will report to Wanda DeJesus as Lt. Arleen Gonzales.

On the "order" side, there will be a rotating cast, along the lines of the middle years of "Criminal Intent" with teams switching week to week. This was done to accommodate the two high-profile film actors who will be taking the familiar lead prosecutor role: Alfred Molina as Deputy District Attorney Peter Morales and Terence Howard as Deputy District Attorney Jonas "Joe" Dekker. Regina Hall will play Molina's Assistant District Attorney Evelyn Price. Megan Boone will be Terence Howard's Assistant District Attorney, Lauren Gardner. Originally, one assistant was to work with both, according to Deadline Hollywood

Dick Wolf confirmed at the critics' tour that the "chung chung" will be in place, which indicates Mike Post will probably be composing the score.

Among the first cases? Well, it's not "Law & Order" without ripping from the headlines and, of course, the fight over Proposition 8 (the ban on gay marriage) will be in the mix as one of the first seven episodes, according to Zap2It