Correction: On Wednesday, USA Network announced it has delayed the return of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which is featured on today's TV Week cover and was expected to have its season premiere Friday. TV Week was printed before USA changed its programming.

A network representative said the delay is a strategic decision based on multiple factors, including a desire to present the new season in a run of 16 uninterrupted episodes sometime in early 2009.

USA Network's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" returns this week, but the show, which alternates its lead detectives every other week, won't see a big change for its eighth season until Nov. 14 when Pittsburgh native Jeff Goldblum debuts as Zach Nichols, who partners with Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) on New York's Major Case Squad.

Nichols arrives following the departure of Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth), whose absence will be addressed.

"Wheeler mentions something about Logan casually, the level at which he was burnt out," said Robert Nathan, a Johnstown native and the new executive producer for the series' Nichols-Wheeler episodes. "But we'll bring it back in a bigger way later in the season. We'll talk more about where Logan is and why he left and she will begin to reveal some of what she believes is going to happen with Logan."

Nathan said it's too soon to say if viewers will see Logan again on "Criminal Intent" (9 p.m. Friday), but he hopes Noth will come back as a guest star. Right now his primary concern is introducing Goldblum's new character.

In the Nov. 14 episode, viewers meet Nichols as he and Wheeler investigate the murder of a wealthy Belgian diplomat. But in the midst of the case Nichols retreats to a movie theater to gather perspective, something that will become a signature move.

Goldblum said these seeming detours give Nichols as chance to "focus consciously on one thing and allow my subconscious to bubble up with something else. It gets me to a place of receptivity where I can stop thinking in one way and something else takes place where my mind just works on its own."

Nichols' background will slowly be revealed as viewers discover he was a cop who was once partnered with Capt. Danny Ross (Eric Bogosian), but Nichols quit the force after 9-11. Nathan said viewers will learn Nichols is the son of two psychiatrists and they'll meet Nichols' daughter and ex-wife. Another episode will explore the strained relationship between Nichols and his father.

"To make the family dynamic part of the show will be unusual for the show," Nathan acknowledged. "But once you say he grew up on the Upper West Side of New York and his parents are shrinks, you'd be missing one of the greatest opportunities in narrative history not to involve them in the story."

Nathan said the casting of Goldblum couldn't help but influence the writers as they create the character.

"I don't think you make a character out of thin air when you know who the actor is who's gonna play it," he said. "You don't take a Jeff Goldblum and say, 'I'll play him as an alcoholic Irishman.' It's not gonna work. Your experience of Jeff as an actor affects how we see him."

Because Goldblum is known for playing smart, slightly off-center characters, Nathan said he couldn't imagine making Nichols someone who didn't grow up in an urban environment.

"He feels like an urban guy, so right away the actor is telling you things you should go for. Why work against what he brings you?" Nathan said.

Goldblum's last TV series, NBC's "Raines," lasted just a single season. He said it was a good experience, but he's now focused on learning more about Nichols.

"I think they've built something and they're coming up with something that's a very substantial and interesting character," he said by phone from New York. "I like that it sort of develops over a period of time in drips and drabs and is mysteriously revealed."

His work schedule -- appearing in every other episode -- isn't bad either.

"I'm nothing if not conscientious and hard-working," Goldblum said. "I like to work hard, but I love the idea of every other episode. I like to prepare and have a chance to look at the script, so this seems like a perfect way to work."