...the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.
One of the first posts I made on this blog was about the longevity of the television show The Simpsons and how it came to define a generation of viewers. The impact that show has had on television history, popular culture, and the sense of humor its fans can never be understated, and there is no other show like it. But in it's own right, there is one other show from the modern era that has become an institution of similar magnitude.
Law and Order debuted in September of 1990, shortly after my 5th birthday. Since then the show has gone through 9 Detectives, 10 Prosecutors, and 4 Distract Attorneys (5 if you count the pilot). We knew just enough about these characters to form a bond with them, but little enough to keep the program about the cases and not about the cast. Along the way they defined a genre of television. Shows like CSI and NCIS would not exist if it weren't for Law and Order, and though it wasn't the first police or courtroom drama on television, it's success paved the way for shows like The Shield, The Wire, and The Practice. And Law and Order didn't only pave the way for these programs, it competed with them and usually won.
The only criticism I've ever head about the show was that it was too formulaic. Usually I feel the same way about shows that so obviously stick to a formula, but Dick Wolf found one that really worked and was able to keep me interested for twenty years.
Most discussions I've had about the program have turned into debated over which era was best and which characters were the most effective. I'm partial to the late 90s with Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis as the detectives and Jack McCoy and Abbie Carmichael as the prosecutors. But throughout it's history and the revolving door of cast members there really hasn't been a weak spot. People who tell me that Ben Stone was a better character than Jack McCoy have a pretty decent argument, even though they're wrong.
But recently it was announced that this season, the twentieth, will be the last. Sure it will live on in shows like SVU, Criminal Intent, and the soon to debut Law and Order: Los Angeles, it still feels like the end of a television age knowing that the original series with it's twenty year character continuity is over. I've read that they're working now on some sort of closure for the series as the final episode of this season was written and filmed before the decision to cancel was made. There's speculation that it will tie into the start of Law and Order: Los Angeles and that assumption makes perfect sense. I just hope they find a spot for Jack McCoy. That guy is my hero.
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