‘Law & Order’ Jumps the Shark
by Kurt SchlichterThe only surprising thing about hearing that Law & Order was going to take on the Bush administration over “torture” is the realization that Law & Order is still on the air. This car-wreck of a series has been bouncing around NBC’s schedule since the first Bush administration doing the impossible – making lawyers look even worse. Thanks, guys.
Law & Order’s mysteries are as unpredictable as where the sun will come up tomorrow morning. In a typical episode, when the cops arrest a gang member you can safely bet the climatic trial denouement will reveal the real killer to be either the wealthy corporate executive, the ambitious conservative politician or the hypocritical Christian preacher. You know, kind of like in real life.
So now Law & Order is taking on the new Bush administration and, by extension, all of those who have fought so hard to keep our country safe from terrorism since 9/11. I’m in awe at these iconoclastic artists’ bravery and courage in forthrightly expressing exactly the same views held by all of their friends and associates. Taking risky, edgy stands like this can put you in physical danger – for instance, you might be hugged to death by your fellow-traveling industry peers.
Legally, the whole theme of the episode – that a former government lawyer’s legal opinions on what constituted “torture” under various statutes and treaties can give rise to criminal liability in a state court case – is a joke. Little things like the rules of evidence, basic criminal procedure, the Supremacy Clause, and several dozen other rules, statutes, and Constitutional doctrines would never allow this “case” to exist in the first place. But the more important point is the bigger issue – the whole notion of prosecuting lawyers for their legal opinions is unbelievably short-sighted and dangerous to our democracy.
The episode makes a great deal of hay from the wicked Bush lawyer’s attempts to determine exactly what conduct is permitted and not permitted under the potentially applicable legal authority – which the writers refer to “[a] surgical parsing of words to draw hair-splitting distinctions.”
Uh, guys – after 20 years of shows, you should probably know that drawing close distinctions is exactly what lawyers are supposed to do. But now, for cheap political advantage, your bright idea is to persecute attorneys who get the answers to tough legal questions “wrong” – at least, wrong in your opinion. And this is not some clear-cut, un-nuanced (and I thought you leftists loved nuance) issue. The application of the Geneva Conventions and US law to the fact pattern presented by war on terror detainees is far from crystal clear – which is why lawyers were analyzing the issue in the first place!
Here’s the rub. Parties change, but principles remain the same. If you think it’s a really smart idea to prosecute conservative lawyers when you believe they get the wrong answer, think about what happens to the liberal government lawyer who opines that the law forbids an aggressive interrogation of a terror suspect after that failure to perform an aggressive interrogation keeps us from preventing another 9/11 – or worse. Then think about what happens when the Republicans come back into power in the aftermath of that disaster and decide to prosecute that liberal attorney for manslaughter resulting from his negligence in offering that legal opinion. Heck, maybe some members of the prior Democratic administration ought to be prosecuted too for good measure – isn’t that the logic you would find regarding Bush administration officials on the Huffington Post?
Sound ridiculous? Yeah, I would have thought so too, until liberals started about talking about prosecuting conservative lawyers for their legal opinions and maybe even some of our past political leaders as well. Like I said, parties change but the principle of prosecuting your predecessors, if we are foolish enough to let it become established, will not. If you want to tear this nation apart, it would be hard to think of a more effective way to do it.
Law & Order has once again managed to rip a critical story from the headlines, but it’s not the story its writers think. It is the story of one of the stupidest and scariest trends in American politics today – the criminalization of political opposition. And, for the sake of our country, we should hope that this lousy episode of a lousy TV show is the last we hear of it.
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145 Comments
Yeah, me too — Who knew it was still on air.
I stopped watching the show about the time that Jerry Orbach died, and I see now that I haven't missed anything.
Maybe in the next show, the Law & Order gang (sorry I don't watch the show so I don't know their names) can prosecute an elderly man who raped and sodomized a child after getting her drunk on booze and high on medication and then left the country to avoid prosecution only to be arrested nearly thirty years later.
What a plot, eh?
I haven't watched this show since the Lewinsky affair was national news. Quite frankly, I thought the original episodes with Micheal Moriarty(?) as A.D.A. were far better.
Nah, McCoy will rant about the injustice of prosecuting the man and by the end of the episode the real villain will be unveiled as the victim's mother who will be a rich, white, conservative, ex-CEO politician married to a Christian preacher.
who is a closet transvestite who likes orphans of color.
who is a closet transvestite and likes orphans of color.
I think they will, but with some tweaking.
The rapist will be changed to a wealthy tobacco executive with tie's to the NRA and The John Birch Society and the victim will be a poor black girl with sickle-cell anemia.
"Jumps" the Shark?
They have been hovering over that shark in a helicopter, for years.
I agree, Orbach contributed the best characteristics of Raymond Chandler's 1940's hard-boiled detective's cynicism to the show. I miss him as well.
Yes… and the criminal would be a white Catholic priest who ran for office on a republican ticket on a pro-gun platform, and he would be brought to justice by the unlikely combined power of a black rapper, and a film industry mogul who was a woman.
And there. I've just summed up every episode of this horrible show ever made.
…taking the easy road again….how about constitutional issues like using non-vetted clownish czars in lieu of a secrerariat that has been through the "advise and consent" of the senate…….
Just another leftist masturbatory fantasy. As they own / control the media, they can indulge themselves and push their leftist agenda on the masses. A twofer!
Law & Order has sucked since before the millenium. Were it not for Jill Hennessy and Angie Harmon, it would have sucked even worse. Wolf has Bush derangement syndrome. At least during the Clinton years, they pretended to be a little subtle with the left wing message, but once W. became president, the gloves really came off.
Yes and yes. I've disliked Sam Waterston's character more and more as time goes on, and this puts the last nail in the coffin. I will continue to stand by my Criminal Intent, however.
I haven't watched it in quite a while, but even years ago there was a definite liberal bias. I remember in one episode about the death penalty the Michael Moriarty DA character claimed that life imprisonment was a worse punishment than execution and he used as an example the case of Richard Speck the creep who raped and murdered five or six nurses in Chicago in the 1960s who had just died in prison at the age of only 45 or so.
Unfortunately for the show writers, it was subsequently learned that Speck had actually had a pretty good time in prison, taking drugs and enjoying homosexual orgies with his fellow inmates. And of course, he got to live, even if in a cell, for two decades more than any of his victims did.
as much os I think D'Onofrio is a good actor, I can't get past his mania. Is he still on the Show? Is he back on his meds.
Is this brainless crapola still on the air?
Law & Order has been EXTREMELY left-wing for a LONG time. One nice thing is that the ratings for that episode of L&O were among the lowest in the show's long history and was EASILY it's lowest-rated season premiere. If this show was on any other of the major networks it would have been canceled.
I don't watch the show anymore. I realized that years ago, we have only 3 choices when it comes to a show's premise:
1. Cops
2. Lawyers
3. Doctors
And every single one of these inevitably starts spouting liberal viewpoints. BOOOORIIIING……..
The basic premise of a Law & Order episode: Police discover a murder victim. Initial evidence points to a minority being the culprit. Ultimately it turns out the minority did not do it and the actual killer was some greedy (often affluent) white guy. If you watch this show long enough you'd think every homicide in Manhattan was committed by some rich white guy.
Oh yeah, I've been watching Seasons 3-5 on DVD (for Jerry Orbach, of course!), and every other episode they bash Justices Scalia, Thomas, and/or Rehnquist. But I also caught some snark about Hillarycare and Janet Reno setting kids on fire at Waco, and the city councilman who raped his campaign workers didn't have a party affiliation.
My wife thinks his style is like Columbo's, and she dug Columbo when she was a kid. Personally, I prefer the Jeff Goldblum episodes, because Det. Goren is just plain weird.
We stopped watching the show after discovering it's just another arm for gop bashing.
I'd love to to proclaim that from this day forward I'll never watch the show again in an act of protest. But the fact is I haven't watched the first run prime time L&O in years. Guess I was ahead of the curve! lol
I enjoy the trend where a show begins slipping in ratings so the writers decide they have nothing to lose and go political. Well, that only works temporarily. Now with the election over, SNL is in a tailspin. Really abysmal.
I watched in horror the new season of Law & Order last week. That did it, now I will watch it to see who are the advertisers so I can write them a letter what I think of their choice of TV programs, and I boycott their products. (That's not much but it's a start. Maybe thousands of other people will do the same.) It's always been the poor who were vandalized by the rich corporations or families, but this went too far. The Liberals don't get it. If doing what it takes to get information that may save thousands of Americans, so-be-it! May all Liberals suffer in the hands of the terrorist when they come to town.
Of course if the actual New York County District Attorney's office performed in the same manner at the one on "Law & Order" does nowadays by focusing on politically liberal pet issues, the city's crime problem would probably be back at the six-murders-a-day rate it was at during the Dinkins Administration.
I was the worst episode (in terms of outright partisan/far-leftness) I think I have ever seen. What I found most amusing is that the result at the end made me cheer.
I used to Love Law and Order, too. I nearly jumped out of my skin, though, when I watched the promo for the new season. What a load of crap! I have found that "Criminal Intent" is also highly critical of anything conservative. I am about to give up on NBC, period. Give it a rest already!
Meh… I watched this episode (don't remember what was on before it as I usually avoid L&O) and it was just plain stupid… It was so unbelievable that anyone that would think this plot is anything other than fiction is a moron… :/
I only watch SVU every once in a while… but even then, it's only because I didn't change the channel from USA after reruns of NCIS is over with..
"…the city councilman who raped his campaign workers didn't have a party affiliation."
Of course he did. It was implied by the fact that he NEEDED to rape his campaign workers.
[...] if he cuts my health care.” More than 700 respondents took the survey before it was shut down. ‘Law & Order’ Jumps the Shark – bighollywood.breitbart.com 09/29/2009 The only surprising thing about hearing that Law [...]
I'll agree about CI. But last three seasons SVU's writing has gone into the old porcelain convince. While the acting is top notch (would expect anything less from Ms. Hargitay), but it seems the two leads are just phoning it in.
As someone told me, Law and Order depends on some legal trick and SVU just throws out the constitution. It's CI that showcases real detective work.
I just watched this last night, and was struck by the fact that if I didn't know the show's politics, I honestly would not have known whether Jack McCoy was the nutty bad guy (he certainly came off like a lunatic) or whether the show was being brutally honest about the lunacy of it's writers.
I was also struck by McCoy's little speech about the distinction between legality and ethics. I found it ironic because I'm pretty sure that it's clear to everyone that those who advocate the kind of prosecution portrayed in the episode are under no illusion that doing so would be ethical, while they clearly do think that it could be legal, in the sense that if you split enough hairs and win enough close calls you could get away with it.
Their motives are ACTUALLY like the motives that they seek to falsely attribute to the Bush administration regarding treatment of terrorists — they are willing to use legal loopholes to realize a result that is unethical but that they like because it hurts someone else who they don't like. With the obvious, minor difference that Bush administration's actions, even under the manufactured facts used in this episode, at the end of the day still served the greater good.
I refuse to watch any comedy or drama on TV that lectures and hectors me…that leaves I Love Lucy reruns and Wipe Out.
Thank goodness we now have "Psych"ics as an option
Besides the Simpsons, Psych is the best show on TV.
Oh Good Heavens – All the L&O franchises have been among the most reliably lefty shows on TV for the last twelve years. The original show was occasionally restrained when Fred Dalton Thompson was in the castt but it's been full progressive speed ahead since he left the program. All of the franchises have used their different platforms to make snarky attacks on the military and the war in Iraq just as all of them reliably flog the medical profession (except for doctors working for the government), the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies and anything else that pops up on the Democratic Party radar. One of their favorite tropes is to have the actual crime committed by some poor minority kid but then reveal how some evil white-guy dominated organization was really behind it. Sam Waterson is the typical media representation of a NY "compassionate lawyer – A guy in a rumpled suit "with eyebrows the size of squirrels." (P.J. O'Rourke's phrase.)
Try NCIS, its the BEST!
But NOT NCIS LA. PHew!
Typical Hollywood hack. The writers sit around at coffee shops and bitch and moan about things. Most Hollywood writers don't really know about real life.
CI is definitely better than SVU.
NCIS is a great show, and very popular, even if you don't hear much about it. It's the exact opposite of shows like The Wire and Gossip Girl, which are much talked about but little watched.
Well it's actually not the rich white guy who did it in every episode. Sometimes it actually IS the poor minority illegal alien. It's just that the rich white guy made him do it.
I also quit watching awhile ago, for the same reason.
Perhaps a better show to watch would be NCIS, especially the one where an amnesiatic Gibbs is told about 9-11. When asked about the response, the look on Frank's face said it all. At least one tv producer has a set.
This show has been a leftist message peddler for years. I tuned out Law and Order years ago. Statists are especially good at ruining governments, TV shows and movies!
I miss Mr. Orbach too….. he was just "old school" enough to make it interesting…..the dialog they wrote for him was a crack up. We haven't watched since they changed characters.
"Law and Order" should have been really titled, "Crime and Chaos" because its leftist producers like to "criminalize" the right and promote chaos in America and by prosecuting the good, hard-working guys and protecting the poor, wretched deviants.
"'Law and Order' Jumps the Shark"
I think that happened a while ago. I haven't watched much since Jerry Orbach left. Then they went and ruined the formula, adding a chick cop then two young cops.
Still, jumping the shark after 20 years isn't so bad, all things considered.
I never watched any of the Law & Orders, at first because the local NBC station was too far away (yeah, I live in the boondocks), then, when I could get it, because they kept having all these "ripped from the headlines" stories that were not merely based on, but virtually identical to the news stories of the day. I could just watch the news and get about the same level of entertainment. This "prosecute Bush" thing just validates my decision.
"They also enjoy twisting it so that the real criminals aren't those that fit with profiling."
I have a feeling the writers/creator realize they skew reality, but there are a few things working against them. First, the "ripped from the headlines" formula they're so fond of makes it more than likely white criminals/victims will be involved, because minority-on-minority crime doesn't set the media on fire. Second, they don't want to be seen as beating up and black/hispanic people. Third, unless they're on niche cable networks, TV shows love to cast white people.
Oh, and fourth, no doubt they're libs.
That should be: beating up ON black/hispanic people.
"It's CI that showcases real detective work."
Fine, but the criminal side of the story is a bit too melodramatic, wouldn't you say?
"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test, wrap your napkin around your neck Sheree and we provide the rest!"
Beauty And The Beast was one of my daughter's favorite Disney movies, second only to Aladin. Mr. Orbach will always be Lumiere to us.
I can tell you if it were my daughter, there wouldn't be a thirty year run. I'd go over to Europe and drag him back to justice by his balls.
Don't mean to disturb you NCIS fans to each his own but I watched the first couple of shows
and do like Harmon and the cast except for Harmons male sidekick, These guys are suppose to be intelligent detectives but the dialog given to the skirt chasing side kick is the most juvenile I have heard for what is a somewhat serious show. I watch very little TV comedy drama shows of this type and thought this show might be interesting but this guys role on the show, for some reason gives me the teeth grinding, nerve twitching throw a lamp at the TV heebie jeebies to quote an old fashion term.
Nothing against him as an actor except for the role thrust on him. Sufficent to say I now watch no weekly drama/ comedy show. I gave up on L&O many years ago.
"Now with the election over, SNL is in a tailspin"
SNL got6 a lot of notice, and ratings I assume, for ripping into the chicks. However, despite the buzz, they get a fail from me for laying off Obama. Every time I saw him on the show, the joke was that he's too smooth/intelligent. That's pathetic.
Remember way back when they had Phil Hartman as Clinton and Dana Carvey as Bush/Perot? Or all the '88 and '92 debates? I don't know which was better, the Democrats or Republicans. But I remember Dan Aykroyd made a great Bob Dole. That's when they were relevant.
Exactly. Who on earth would willingly f__k a Republican?
Have never watched a full episode of this show. But laughed very hard when I saw the commercial for this episode during the break of Rush on Leno.
Oh, wait, I forgot abotu Keifer Sutherland, who I never considered to be at all funny before, as Loyd Bentsen, which I enjoyed.
No, I think SVU is just the most consistently liberal. L&O is actually worse when they decide to go into political territory.
Has anyone besides a white Republican ever been found guilty of anything in Law and Order history? When will this upper class white christian republican crime wave end!
Angie Harmon, Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell, they were, indeed the hook. Once I realized that every episode can be solved around 11 minutes in with the introduction of the ‘ostensibly insignificant character’ (that is, the nonplussed stepchild, the busy-clearing- up-the-victims-final-loose-ends-secretary, the overly stricken in-law, ECT.), all the wind was completely sucked from the show for me forever. Of course Law and Order has been a liberal soap-box for years, but until 2000 (and for a bit after 9/11) there was at least the pretense of an attempt at balance. You got to love Sam Waterston those The Nation commercials. As an aside, Vincent D'Onofrio and Richard Belzer are detestable and SVU is salacious crap. Rest in Peace, Jerry Orbach.
Angie Harmon, Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell, they were, indeed the hook. Once I realized that every episode can be solved around 11 minutes in with the introduction of the ‘ostensibly insignificant character’ (that is, the nonplussed stepchild, the busy-clearing-up-the-victims-final-loose-ends-secretary, the overly stricken in-law, ECT.), all the wind was completely sucked from the show for me forever. Of course Law and Order has been a liberal soap-box for years, but until 2000 (and for a bit after 9/11) there was at least the pretense of an attempt at balance. You got to love Sam Waterston those The Nation commercials. As an aside, Vincent D'Onofrio and Richard Belzer are detestable and SVU is salacious crap. Rest in Peace, Jerry Orbach.
Angie Harmon, Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell, they were, indeed the hook. Once I realized that every episode can be solved around 11 minutes in with the introduction of the ‘ostensibly insignificant character’ (that is, the nonplussed stepchild, the busy-clearing-up-the-victims-final-loose-ends-secretary, the overly grief stricken in-law, ECT.), all the wind was completely sucked from the show for me forever. Of course Law and Order has been a liberal soap-box for years, but until 2000 (and for a bit after 9/11) there was at least the pretense of an attempt at balance. You got to love Sam Waterston those The Nation commercials. As an aside, Vincent D'Onofrio and Richard Belzer are detestable and SVU is salacious crap. Rest in Peace, Jerry Orbach.
Angie Harmon, Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell, they were, indeed the hook. Once I realized that every episode can be solved around 11 minutes in with the introduction of the ‘ostensibly insignificant character’ (that is, the nonplussed stepchild, the busy-clearing-up-the-victims-final-loose-ends-secretary, the overly grief stricken in-law, ECT.), all the wind was completely sucked from the show for me forever. Of course Law and Order has been a liberal soap-box for years, but until 2000 (and for a bit after 9/11) there was at least the pretense of an attempt at balance. You got to love Sam Waterston in those The Nation commercials. As an aside, Vincent D'Onofrio and Richard Belzer are detestable and SVU is salacious crap. Rest in Peace, Jerry Orbach.
Maybe they can do a show where they ask for a Birth Certificate, and instead they work out a plea agreement for a beer.
Law and Order jumped the shark a long time ago… this just named the coffin closed!
Here is a video of the Washington Acorn Extorting a Washington state WAMU, makes you think why WAMU went down.
http://mywhitehouse.org/2009/09/29/acorn-extortin...
With the move to friday nights, it's clear to me that Law & Order is on its way out. The folks there know it and will probably try to fullfill every lib fantasy they've got. I've watched L&O almost from the beginning and despite the obvious lefty slant I've enjoyed the show immensely. It was hard to watch the season premier last week because it was so blatant and tied to the real world. Interesting how they ultimately chickened out in the end and didn't reveal the verdict.
By the way, the show was best when it featured Fred Thompson, Dennis Farina and of course, Jerry Orbach.
Because of Jerry Orbach I gave this show a try. When they started doing hatefulness like conversations
"Oh look, the silent majority."
"I'd wish they'd stay silent."
What were they inferring, that they had some sort of right to silence other people? That was when I completely stopped. I'm surprised all the 'good' characters on the show don't have paintings of Chairman Mao in the background of their offices and homes.
I think the value of torture is overrated.(It was banned by such people as Napoleon Bonaparte as "producing unreliable information"
That having been said, I stopped watching Law & Order when Michael Moriarty left the show way back in 1994 and substituted the smug, politically correct Sam Waterston in his place
Garbage In, Garbage out. Hack actors pretending. Ghastly
I too used to watch it regularily when Jerry Orbach was on the cast. I think of him as a stereotype NPPD detective. I'll bet I haven't watched 5 episodes since he died.
In the 90s, L&O reruns were my substitute for the evening news. If the story was big enough it made it to L&O. I stopped watching it when The Formula (the richest whitest guy did it) went into BDS* overdrive and haven't watched it for about a decade.
*Bush Derangement Syndrome
Before I stopped watching there was episode that completely shocked me. It invovled an immigrate who came to America and joined the Army. When his son became old enough he thought he should also join since he believed it would benefit his son as it did him. His son is killed in Iraq. Some liberal punk gets in his face and starts telling the father his son got what he deserved. In a rage the father kills him. During the trial the father's lawyer makes it clear the liberal creep is well a liberal creep that should have got his face kicked in a long time ago. The father takes the stand and breaks down saying how he was proud of his son being in the Army because America had given him so much. The father is found not guilty. Fred Thompson had stated at various points in the episode he knew the jury wouldn't find him guilty. At the end when Sam Waterson asks him how Thompson replies "The ones who dodge jury duty are the same ones who dodged active duty." I don't know if Fred Thompson knocked out the writers and tied them up in closet that episode but it's sad that I found the episode so shocking because it was such break from the usual liberal leaning crap the show shoveled out.
How's about we prosecute people in the Clinton administration for not stopping 9/11? Some lawyers somewhere decided that terrorism was a law enforcement problem, not a war, despite claims by the terrorists to the contrary. Their law enforcement strategy after the first World Trade Center attack could be said to be to blame for subsequent attacks, including the Cole and 9/11. Criminal negligence?
I'm also pretty sure that civilians occasionally got killed in the air war in Kosovo. Murder?
Kurt's right… it's insane to go there.
And for dinner eats steak with french fries containing double doses of transfatty acids….followed up by an after dinner cigarette!
This is about what I would expect from this left wing network and their actor stooges.
Jumped the shark years ago. Used to watch all the Law & Orders, now I turn them right off. The murdering MinuteMan show a few years ago got me.
As long as there are three versions of CSI (Vegas, Miami & New York) on CBS, who needs L & O on NBC.
I knew there was a reason I stopped watching this show after they eliminated Mike Logan.
"I think the value of torture is overrated"
That depends on what you mean by torture and what the circumstances are. The sort of "torture" that scares the heck out of people without actually hurting them has its uses. As does making people uncomfortable.
Also, Napoleon certainly never had to deal with the sort of urgencies we have today.
After reading through these comments I have an idea for a new show that will be more popular among conservatives. It's a cop show where at first the suspect is a white CEO or housewife, but at the end of the show it's revealed that a minority gang member did the crime. Maybe we can work waterboarding and some kind of Acorn/Nation of Islam criminal organization that is behind the crime wave into the plot also. Maybe they are engaged in white slavery along with the red chinese?
He shoots! He scores!
The easiest way to make a statement is to invent a parallel dimension where everyone that disagrees with you is a murderer.
NCIS and the new NCIS Los Angeles are very good alternatives to most of the liberal garbage we see on most network shows. JAG was good as well. And we should all watch Gary Sinise on CSI New York. Mr. Senise is great American who has done so much for our troops and veterans.
[...] Read More: by Kurt Schlichter, Big Hollywood [...]
I have been a fan of Law and Order in the past. But recently have lost interest.
It has always been a bit liberal, but there have been off sets built in. That is part of what made it good. The interaction of ideaologies or the adherance to principles.
It seems to have lost that part of the successful formula.
And I haven't watched in a couple of years anyway.
I miss Jerry Orbach
they have stuff that is similar to real head lines all the time. they change it up enough to make you wonder who it is they are talking about. So this will become the masochist 13-year old stalked the humble pious film director with the intent to embarrass him, because he wouldn't cast her cousin in his last award winning film.
They also enjoy twisting it so that the real criminals aren't those that fit with profiling. For example the drug addicted parents are the real heroes not the evil foster parent who had the audacity to take on a troubled child. those doggone do-gooders, how I hate them.
I'm a Law and Order fan but I'm a bigger fan of America and protecting our citizens, so you can keep your "global hug" mentality. I noticed in the beginning of this particular episode, they made it more than obvious that the characters and themes were strictly fictional, yet it didn't stop them from employing fictional character names such as "Vice President Dick Cheney" or "President George W. Bush". Oh, and Sam there is medication for your condition -look into it, please.
So, what are the chances that L&O will follow up this episde with one on the Acorn issue?
So, what are the chances that L&O will follow up this episde with one on the Acorn issue?
Answer = 0.
Law & Order jumped the shark about ten years ago, around the same time that the phrase 'jumped the shark' jumped the… Well, you know.
On the other hand, Criminal Intent and Special Victims Unit are still pretty good, and tend to keep the lefty politics as an occasional thing rather than making it the whole point of the show.
The whole series is just getting ridiculous. Last time I watched, it involved the 'ripped from the headlines' HS teen girls pregnancy pact, teen suicide involving cyber bullying by a mother on a social networking site, and your everyday murder. I think this all affected one family.
C'mon, it's just become so over-the-top.
as much as I think D'Onofrio is a good actor, I can't get past his mania. Is he still on the Show? Is he back on his meds?
I notified TD Ameritrade this morning that I would be removing my account funds from their services as long as they continue to employ Sam Waterston as a spokesman.
You should try NCIS again. Everyone has matured, most especially Tony. It has become our favorite.
I shut off this episode and will not watch again. Last season when the lab tech went nuts was also pretty lame.
I shall do so DallasE. Thank you.
Did anyone notice how the main theme was re: a poor, mentally-tortured soul who was a Marine guard … OOOPs, but he was stationed at an Army site (Abu G)? MAYBE that would be plausible with the Gitmo tie-in, but why did the ignorant writers choose a Marine character? Simply reinforces their utter ignorance about all things military & honorable.
Kurt, Turn the "depraved indifference" thingee around; we got a case on Janet Reno, Larry Potts, Eric (the Red) Holder (Miami and Ruby Ridge). Wow, once we get in, we can do the same thing Holders doing. They don't need no stinking laws, they are the power and the law. L&O is simply the Stallinist artists of our time, and have been since they ignored the weatherman and ACORN to bash the minuetmen, and were probably in the cesspool long before that. Harmon and Thompson were allowed on the show so the producers do know they"ve sold out and are doing propaganda. We should demand equal time to do Reno/Holder.
I have always loved Law & Order. I will not be watching it again……ever! We were safe for 8 years…..and now look at what is happening. I live in a Dallas suburb. One of our downtown buildings was targeted for bombing a few days ago. The man would have completed his mission, but was given materials for his bomb that were fake.
I guess when the Eastern Seaboard is targeted by one of Iran's nukes, maybe they will rethink things.
I respectfully disagree, I find CI to be the most politically agnostic of the three.
And as bad as Law and Order is most of the time, it doesn't come close to the political grandstanding on SVU.
He'd still have them? You're slipping.
What ever happened to Michael Moriarty? I liked him as an actor.
Turn off Law & Order and turn on Castle. It doesn't take itself so seriously and it doesn't have a political viewpoint. Of course, with Hollywood, you have to watch every episode with trepidation thinking, "Is this the one where they go all liberal?"
I wish they would bring back both "The Unit" and the other "Shark" starring James Woods.
I think that plot line would go a long way — according to today's mood.
I don't know if he's still involved, but Donald Bellisario has made it clear that he is a conservative in most ways, though pretty socially liberal. That side kind of came through in Quantum Leap, though often in topics that conservatives are supposed to oppose but really don't (civil rights, non-radical women's lib) In any case, he has enormous regard for the military and a pretty stellar track record: Black Sheep, Magnum, Airwolf. I've never seen JAG or NCIS, but they have good reps.
Oh no. He'd have still have them, a handy handle to make sure he follows. Then he could keep them while he's in prison. Because if there's one thing murderers, thugs and more thugs hate more than the system that put them away, it's pedophiles. My Dad told me stories that he heard from his friends who did time. They used to draw straw to see who got to beat up the pedophiles that day.
Then, when all that is done, then we'd sit down and have a really important discussion.
If you get the names of the advertisers pass them along. Then the rest of us wouldn't have to watch this cr@p.
Speaking of "ripped from the headlines," Marvel Comics put out a new Iron Man comic to tie in to last year's movie. In the first story, his girl Friday Pepper is badly injured in a terrorist attack perpetrated by religious fanatics. Who were they? Radical fundamentalist Christians. Ripped straight from the headlines, that one. Christians are always behind terror attacks. I think it was the Amish who pulled off 9/11.
I'm a pretty big fan of Law and Order (only the original–SVU and Criminal Intent are terrible), and when I saw the promo for this episode, I was pretty disgusted. But then I remembered that over the year, Law and Order has tackled a lot of hot-button issues, and the writers and actors usually do a pretty good side of presenting both sides. With that in mind, I decided to watch the episode, and I wasn't as mad about it as I thought I would be. Although they made the Bush administration look worse than they should (by over-exaggerating the enhanced interrogation techniques, as well as the lawyer's justifications of them), I did appreciate that Executive Assistant DA Michael Cutter had severe reservations about the prosecution, and even the lawyer representing the new administration (I thought it was interesting that they mentioned Bush, but not Obama–then again, the new administration in the show didn't want a prosecution, unlike Eric Holder) wanted McCoy to drop the case. And even though the ending was fairly predictable, I thought it turned out the way it should. In short, I'm not going to abandon Law and Order. It's not as good as it once was, but other episodes of the show have made me angrier than this one did, and I kept watching.
I stopped watching "Law and Order" 6 years ago when it did a show sobbing over the poor little soft-spoken black boys who'd been falsely arrested for gang raping that white female jogger in Central Park. Turns out the bad guy was — drum roll, please – the white male cop. Yeah, I kicked that series in the teeth then and have never looked back.
'Ripped from the headlines' should more accurately be called 'ripped from hatred of anything white, conservative and Christian'.
I believe the part Tony portrays is a man that covers his lack of self-confidence with women by bravado and smart remarks. He fears showing people that he really cares about them.
Actually, I do like the Tony character.
Thats a bit deep for me but I have been told the group has matured a bit and to give it another try, which I well. Thanks for your comment.
Thats a bit deep for me but I have been told the group has matured a bit and to give it another try, which I well. Thanks for your comment.
I seriously hate the Hell out of NCIS. I don't see how anyone could enjoy a show that makes one of the worst law enforcement agencies look good.
Jack McCoy's character arc is a counter-point to the obvious liberal-bait of recent plot lines. His character has consistently abused his power to convict defendants, shade grand jury testimony, get his assistants into bed, benefit his political allies, or soothe his damaged late 1960s ego. The individual cases come and go, but in the large the show's message—intentional or not—is that better people move on from the corrupting influence of government office, lest power transform them into abusive, angry, incoherent caricatures of the ideals they once espoused.
McCoy's job as District Attorney is due to the peter principle and seniority: he was not elected to the position, he could not have attained the position through traditional means. His longevity and loyalty got him into a position where he could leverage inside information against higher-ups to maintain his position and consolidate his power. Ben Stone bailed out of the system rather than be corrupted by it.
On a per-episode basis, the show has knee-jerk liberal slant that seeks to equate corporate evils with more base evils like murder, rape, and kidnapping. These leftist revenge fantasies fail on their own terms: the prosecuted evil is less appalling than the prosecution itself. Stabs at exploring the evils of leftist crusades (there seems to be a critical take on affirmative action at least once every two seasons, for instance) typically are unwound in the last act by some deus ex machina that relieves the principals of their responsibility (e.g., the phone rings, exposing the really evil perp) or provides an entirely different explanation of the principals' behavior (e.g., we thought it was about race, but really its about money).
SVU is even more egregious in this regard. Benson and Stabler are sanctimonious, moralizing vigilantes with little self-control, self-awareness, or wisdom. They doggedly pursue perpetrators as a means of indulging their own daemons at the expense of their colleagues, superiors, and the public at large. Yet they—and McCoy—still have jobs! and are portrayed sympathetically as burdened heroes by the producer and his writers.
Not being well versed in the land of good guys and bad guys beyond
Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, why do you say that? Is that a badly run agency.
I believe it is an actual arm of the service is it not?
CRIMINAL INTENT IS THE BEST SHOW WITH OR WITHOUT GOREN AND EAMES
Too bad about Law and Order. I saw the first 6 minutes and had to move on. L & O lost some appeal when Jerry Orbach died, and Fred Thompson and Angie Harmon left the program.
Now, L&O storylines are predictable: Whites and conservatives are villains. Racial / ethnic minorities and gays are always 'good, and in some cases, approach divinity status. Now, it's an exercise in boredom. HOPE (that the L&O staff will CHANGE their concepts)., won't triumph over experience if this first show is an indicator.
Sure you did.
You and the rest of the I-cancelled-my-season-pass and I-was-a-loyal-fan-but-no-more crowd are hilarious. I doubt any of you can tell the difference between Law & Order and L.A. Law (and, yes, there's a difference!). The next poster (masstexodus), is confusing Law & Order and SVU.
And it's hilarious to read a rich West Coast ambulance chaser (That's you, Kurt) lambast the Hollywood crowd. It's really the pot calling the kettle black.
You're talking about "Criminal Intent", and the case it referred to was an actual case — the Central Park Jogger "wilding" case, where a bunch of black kids confessed to raping her. They went to jail….And more than 10 years later, the actual rapist (unrelated to the kids) confessed to a cellmate, the cops tracked him down, did the DNA tests (which weren't available when the rape happened) and finally nailed the right guy — turns out he'd done several other rapes. It also turned out the kids's confessions were coerced, the cops involved spoonfed details of the crimes to the kids (most were minors) to make their confessions sound legit. But I guess it comes as a complete surprise to you that sometimes people are convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Talk about living in LaLaLand.
Sam Waterston has been refered to in many hagiographic magazine articles as ' The most moral man in Hollywood.' The sad part about it is that they are probably right about that one.
Yes Buckwheat, they might make the thirteen year old the villian, or maybe the prosecuter or judge from thirty years ago looking to build their credentials with the rape conviction of a famous director. Sounds like a standard pious lib Law & Order plot.
Most of us stopped long ago. On a different vein, a couple of years ago a woman who had recently moved to a black/latino neighborhood in upper Manhattan was killed jogging in her neighborhood after dark. I told my wife she was killed by Law & Order, as they gave her the fatal impression that all criminals in NYC were white, making her black/latino neighborhood safe to jog in at night.
Watch Bones. Last week's episode had a nice homage to CIA agents, wrapped up in a tense diamond smuggling plot.
OH you mean they would actually have the people who do these crimes the guilty ones? What a novel idea!
Boy you must be one of them mind readers, you know what everyone does no matter what they say. I'm something of one my self, so I'll give you a reading. Your the standard issue liberal troll who runs his mouth on sites like these and then pats himself on the back for being "brave" for taking those right wingers. No what's really funny is you think liberals have any room to mock anyone now that you pray to a coke snorting, racist, commie.
agreed. But the fare is better than most crime shows. Or maybe that is just me.
Speaking of La La Land did Law and Order ever do a ripped from the headlines where a black girl claimed she is rapped and the case is picked up race baiting "civil rights" leader, as the girls story falls apart she actually accuses the people involved in investigating the case as the ones who raped her and this is championed by "civil rights" leader and the press doesn't call him on it because he is black and they won't dare question him for fear of being labeled racist. Or how bout one where a college sports team made mostly of white kids is accused of attacking a black woman who can't keep her story straight but the media and DA go beserk because it's what everyone wants to believe. Yeah LaLa land I think you have property there.
As a matter of fact, Law and Order did do exactly that first story about 18 years ago. Not sure about the second story.
"Coke-snorting racist" — you mean, Dubbaya is still in the White House?
90 percent of the people doing the criticizing haven't even watched the episode. You people are complete idiots. Who gives a f— what you watch anyway?
This show is more realistic than reality tv, and make no mistake, it's Kurt that's jumping the shark.
Nice to see people using this blog to hawk the shows they work on. Such sincerity.
I watched Law & Order years ago, and even during the beginning of the series, there were some very disturbing liberal biases to be found there. Not only that, but in early episodes circa 1990-95, even then they had some ludicrous situations where Christians, Jews, Conservatives, ended up villified. Maybe these biases weren't as noticeable then as they were in later seasons, but they were there.
After awhile, I realized that the subjects they presented there (which consisted 95 percent of the time of vicious murders, rapes and child abuse), in and of themselves, were already excruciating enough to watch as it was, and finally I decided I wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Yes, it was THAT painful to watch some 15 years ago, and this was at a time when I was about 18 years old! Suffice it to say I even lost respect for some of the performers there.
Since then, I have very rarely ever seen it, and those episodes that I have seen since that time certainly do not impress me. The Mike Logan character, I'll say, was depicted very unlikably, and in an episode of Criminal Intent, where Chris Noth returned to the franchise, he continued with this terrible characterization. Honestly, what's the use? It doesn't really surprise me that the series and its spinoffs would get that bad in their political biases by now, because even at the beginning, they had some of that.
Law & Order jumps the shark like a drug-addicted k…
A writer for Big Hollywood reports that the Law & Order TV series, one of the most pretentious would-be crime dramas ever made because of its bizarre leftist slant, has really done it this time…
He does act that way… and yet, he always seems to have done his research for a case while looking like he's been goofing off the whole time. Amusing, especially when Gibbs remarks that at least SOMEONE's been working around here.
Of course, then Tony does something that earns him a Gibbs-slap and order is restored to the Universe.
Jumps the shark? L&O jumped the shark years ago, when it became Dick Wolf's leftist wet dream. Pressing charges against gun manufacturers instead of the criminals who actually perpetuated the crimes, the list goes on and on.
I watched every second of that ridiculous episode and for you to call it "realistic" is the funniest thing I've seen all week. Law & Order is about as realistic as most cartoons, and that could comes from a lawyer who practiced in NY for over five years. Ever notice that anyone who puts "truth" or "reality" (or something along those lines) in their posting name is completely FULL OF SHIT.
I stopped watching around the time they started the "Ripped from the headlines" premises, years ago. My disagreement with this idea is that they'll take an issue or case being debated in the public, but the version they present has had a few details altered to make the point or outcome they want. In writing a novel or script, the author has total control over the characters. They are only what he makes them; they don't have minds of their own. Their motivations are only what he makes them be.
So when you base a fiction piece on something in real life, you are substituting the real person's internal thoughts with those created or assumed by the writer. Although the character's outward actions might be the same as the real person's, the fictionalized character thinks only what the writer wants him to think. He's still the writer's creation.
They make a "compelling" drama out of it, admittedly, but this is likely to shape subtly the viewer's outlook on the real issue at hand. When you watch this fictionalized version, you are emotionally manipulated (at least, if the writer's any good) to come to the judgement on the character the writer wants you to have. But since it's made to imitate a real person and a real issue, the viewer is pushed to transfer that judgement to the real version.
It's a dangerous way to influence public debate. It substitutes opinions on fiction for opinions on reality. And fiction is written to direct you to a predetermined outcome.
One last note: a terrific[ally bad] example of this was a made-for-TV movie on the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill debate some years ago. I heard the writer or director interviewed on NPR, saying that he wanted to present both sides and let the viewer decide whom to believe. But one scene in the movie has Anita Hill learning of Thomas' nomination from TV, and she (watching this alone) reacts something like, "That's the guy who harassed me!" Yet one of the issues being debated in the real case was whether he'd done any such thing at all–and whether Hill was being pushed by Senate liberals to accuse him falsely. It's essentially the fallacy of "complex question": the drama is premised on a fact that was actually in dispute.
Similarly, SNL's (admittedly funny) skit of the Thomas hearings had Thomas admitting to one of the harassment incidents, when in reality he disputed them.
Law and Order has been my favorite show for years. That is until this episode. I turned it off as soon as I realized what was happening. It is off my "TIVO" list and has now joined the ranks of any show or movie with Alec Baldwin, Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and even "Heroes" thanks to bad writing and Hayden Panetieri's profane rant about John McCain on youtube. Those ranks are a few of the hollywood knuckleheads I refuse to watch under any circumstances. I wounder if the cast and producers of L&O have bumper stickers asking "Have you hugged the enemy today?" The leftist America hating traitors of Hollywood . . .
Exactly, the minorities who actually do the crimes, right you got it.
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