Action/Adventure
Law & Order: Special Viewers Unit
I started watching Law and Order in 1998, the year after I graduated college and discovered free time. A&E ran two syndicated episodes a day, so within six months I had seen almost every episode of the
series that had run since its inception. When there were no new episodes to watch I had to go to rehab, the withdrawal was crippling.
Law & Order was my first adult TV drama addiction and also my longest. I still make sure that all episodes get recorded, and I’ll usually watch them in batches off the DVR. I think I love this show so deeply
because the characters of the show are not the individual players. The main character of the show is the CRIME. Law & Order is the kind of show where they can change out the cast members and it’s still holding
me rapt. They’ve created spinoff after spinoff and I’m still drawn to the original, even though there isn’t a single cast member from 1998 except Sam Waterston.
My favorite moment was the final episode of a certain season when the hot blond assistant DA played by Elizabeth Rohm gets fired by the conservative DA (played by Tennessee’s own Fred Thompson). She asks,
without missing a beat, “Is this because I’m lesbian?” WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? In the entire time that she was in the show there was NEVER a hint that she was a lesbian, at least never an overt hint because it
never related to the crime being investigated. I get the feeling that they left out that detail like some evidence in trials is excluded because it’s too prejudicial.
One other endearing part of Law & Order is how New York is also treated as a main character. Every time I visit Manhattan, I see locations where they found a body or an apartment building they had to raid to capture a suspect. And yes, I’m aware of how much it makes me look like a tourist when I stop along a sidewalk and scream about how Jerry Orbach once pinned a guy to a trash can RIGHT. THERE.
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Renee
I can’t remember when I started watching L&O seriously - maybe about the time we moved to Long Island from Milwaukee. I needed a primer on NYC - we’ve since moved to the Left Coast, but I still watch it and when the talk gets especially fast and furious and the characters way out there..I think “Yeah, that’s what it was like - I love New Yorkers! ” Anyplace that can spawn the Long Island Lolita is a great place for the imagination!
I like the trial phase of the episodes - deal making, knit-picking the law, closing arguments, the DA doesn’t always win. Great flawed characters too - but they still have to go to work and do their jobs.
Wendy
I watched reruns of L&O so much when I was pregnant with my son, when he was born and heard the beginning voice-over, he would sit up and look at the TV. I love Chris Noth, and I particularly like to watch now and see actors return for different parts, like “previous scumbag” returns as “bad attorney” and things like that. Love it!
J.
I think my favorite episode doesn’t deal with a crime at all, it deals with the aftermath. It’s the after-the-execution episode, and it’s different in that it focus’ on the characters. Also, the ending is completely wrenching.
And why are ALL the ADAs smokin’ hot, white women? Not a guy or ethnic type to be found. I think that’s the most unrealistic aspect of the show.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
To my fellow L&O junkie…I recognized this phenomenon (L&O addiction) in 2000. Before I had my son, I watched L&O as much as possible. For a year, I worked at a company that was about 3 miles away from my house. I would go home for lunch (timed strategically for 1:00 PM Eastern) to catch L&O on A&E. I have 8 brothers and sisters. On Thanksgiving of 2000, I was talking to my eldest brother and describing my addiction. He had it too (he even went home at lunch just as I did). A couple of my sisters overheard us. They joined the conversation and had the same viewing habit. The funny thing is, that the addiction crossed all sorts of demographic boundaries (male/female, ages ranged from 48 to 33, our professions were lawyers, nurses and office administrators). We laughed it off as just being part of the family. Until…I talked to some of my friends and they had the same addiction. I remember reading an article in the New York Times about 4 years ago that described this very phenomenon (I felt so validated). I just spent about 10 minutes trying to find the article, but couldn’t.
So..which first assistant do you like the best (on L&O)? I am partial to Jaime.