Crossing Jordan is an American television crime series that airs on NBC. It stars Jill Hennessy as a crime-solving medical examiner. The show uses an ensemble cast approach featuring a group of Jordan's co-workers and police detectives assigned to the various cases.
Main Characters
- Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy), a young, attractive coroner (medical examiner) from Boston who solves crimes during the course of her investigations. Jordan is emotionally scarred due to her mother's murder when she was a child in the 1970s.
- Max Cavanaugh (Ken Howard ), Jordan's father and an ex-cop. He owns a bar, where he can often be found bartending. When not working, he often helps Jordan solve murders by role-playing murder scenarios with his daughter, a tradition that started early in Jordan's life.
- Dr. Garret Macy (Miguel Ferrer), Jordan's boss. Macy must deal with her erratic behavior as well as his confused family and his own personal demons.
Supporting Cast
- Mahesh “Bug” Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy (Ravi Kapoor ), a brilliant forensic entomologist.
- Lily Lebowski (Kathryn Hahn ), a grief counselor working in the medical examiner's office.
- Nigel Townsend (Steve Valentine ), a wise-cracking British criminologist often known for his dry humor.
- Detective Woody Hoyt (Jerry O'Connell), who often works with Jordan on her cases.
- Dr. Peter Winslow (Ivan Sergei ), a recovering drug addict.
- Dr. Devan Maguire (Jennifer Finnigan), a pathology resident who was killed off in a plane crash in season 4.
- Dr. Elaine Duchamps (Lorraine Toussaint), a frequent foil of Jordan's who was killed by a mysterious toxin in season 2.
- Dr. Trey Sanders (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali ), a Medical Examination fellow who left the show after season 1.
Show Information
Crossing Jordan premiered in 2001 on NBC. The scientific aspects of the show are comparable to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation but come with a rock and roll sensibility owing to Jordan's psychological Sturm und Drang.
The show was put on hiatus for the 2003-2004 season due to Hennessy's real-life pregnancy, but returned to the airwaves on March 9, 2004. The previous cliff-hanger plotline was dropped in a new episode which featured a humorous sub-plot which paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window. The murder victim's name was even Alex Corvald--a reference to Thovald of the film.
The first episode of the 2005 season is scheduled for January 30.
External links