Law & Order

For the past few weeks, I have relaxed at night by watching back-to-back repeat episodes of Law & Order on TNT. For those of you who don’t know this, TNT plays close to daily two or three episodes of the show, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Since I also watch Jeopardy, which airs at 7:00 where I live, I always miss the first half-hour of the first episode, but that doesn’t matter. I am still amazed that, since I started this little routine, which has only been disrupted lately by the fact that TNT covers the NBA season about two nights a week and, thus, doesn’t show Law & Order on those nights, I have caught only two episodes I had seen before.

I cannot, by any means, describe myself as one of those rabid fans of Law & Order -- i.e. the type who knows every single of the show’s past episodes. Let’s face it, the show is in its 15th season, so there are hundreds of past episodes, and I have not watched the show regularly on NBC, where each episode premieres on Wednesday night at 10:00. This season, I have actually only watched the first episode on NBC, because I was curious about the new character, Detective Joe Fontana, played by Dennis Farina, who replaced Jerry Orbach, who had retired from his role as Detective Lennie Briscoe (I loved the Orbach character, and was a bit disappointed with his replacement.) Neither can I name every regular cast member since season 1, and there have been multiple changes in the cast through the life of this show. However, my favorite character remains Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, brilliantly played by Sam Wasterson (geez, I am in love with that man!) I also like some of the women who have been his sidekicks as Assistant District Attorneys – I particularly like Claire Kincaid and Jamie Ross played respectively by Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell. Of course, in the real world, Assistant District Attorneys are probably not fashion models with a brain.

Law & Order also has its spinoff shows, and the only one I really like is Law & Order SVU (Special Victims Unit), which focuses on sexual crimes. In this version of the show, although I like the entire set of characters and the entire cast, I especially like Chris Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler, and Mariska Hatigay as Detective Olivia Benson (an honorable mention goes to Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch.) I do not like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, mostly because I find the character played by Vincent d’Onofrio, Detective Robert Goren, downright creepy.

The format of Law & Order has remained the same since its inception: The first half-hour is devoted to the discovery of the victim, the inquest, and the second half of the show focuses on the trial. It is a smart show, with a tight, masterfully written script whose quality is consistently excellent. Each episode tackles a social problem and/or a moral dilemma, which adds to the richness and substance of this show.

Heck, if DVD compilations of Law & Order were not so expensive, I’d buy them all!