Law & Order
WHEN Friday, 9 PM
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
They used to seem invincible. This was particularly true of the original L & O. When it caught its groove, it was as rigorously stylized as Kabuki. You just knew that approximately 12 minutes into any episode Lenny Briscoe would make a bitter joke about his marriage (usually some version of “He’s been stabbed 25 times in the back–just like my ex-wife did to me at our settlement hearing”). At 38 minutes in, Adam Schiff would declare the case unwinnable and tell Jack McCoy to make a deal. (Schiff was amazingly defeatist for a DA; it’s a wonder he lasted at his job for so long.) There’s never been any show better suited to a drinking game.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
This is just where the shows have turned into self-parody. The old anger has escalated into uncontrolled fury. Anytime a defense lawyer comes on, you expect an organ chord of doom on the sound track; a motion to suppress evidence instantly sends the cops and prosecutors into a tailspin of dithering despair. It just seems so unfair to them that the accused is even permitted to put on any defense at all. And you can see why, because the judge–particularly any judge who doesn’t happen to be a white male–is invariably some insane liberal cretin who’s happy to torpedo the prosecution’s case for sheer spite.
