"Colonel Mustard, in the conservatory, with a blog"

Last night's rather clever November sweeps edition of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, while good TV, was all the more interesting for the fact that it may have been the first show, network or cable, to use a blog as a plot device.

Really, the two-hour extravaganza had everything, including that absolute favorite suspect of courtroom dramas, the degenerate, sociopathic rich kid. It also had kinky sex, rotty bodies (all the rage these days) and, for the more serious-minded, a take on "Missing White Girl Syndrome."

As well, of course, as the standard courtroom revelations and breakdowns and some great guest stars (Chris Noth, Fred Thompson, and Colm Meaney).

Ya rotten kid, ya

This particular rich kid is a 17-year-old S & M freak who idolizes the Rat Pack and whose father, a powerful judge (Meaney), participates with him in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.

In other words, your typical blogger.

And the rich kid does indeed have a blog, to which he posts commentary on and pictures of his sick conquests. Reading it (don't know what its name was--maybe "The Try-Works") allows the detectives to figure out where he might have been at critical times (he uses the names of Rat Pack hangouts for the clubs, restaurants and bars he frequents), and to gain a couple of other somewhat minor clues about the murder and that of a black girl (the MWGS angle).

That's it. Pretty small beans, I know, but if anyone has seen another TV show that's used blogs in its plot in any way, let me know.