 Michael Moriarty resigned in at the end of the fourth season after  a long, loud battle of words with Attorney General  Janet Reno (I) (qv), who was making efforts to censor television  violence. He felt that NBC was trying to silence him when two talk  show appearances on the network were pulled at the last moment and  his role was reduced considerably in the fourth season episode,  "Mayhem." Dick Wolf (I) (qv) claims this was entirely  coincidental. Moriarty claims he was forced into a situation where  he had to resign. His character, EADA Ben Stone, also resigned on  the show. After quitting the series, Moriarty moved to Canada where  he considered forming a political party.