Law & Order

Law and Order...branching out of N.Y

Law and Order is a legal drama series that our country seems to be obsessed with. With 20 seasons under its belt, it’s safe to say that most people have seen at least one episode. Whether it is Special Victims Unit (SVU), Criminal Intent, or the short lived Trial By Jury; the popularity of these shows in our country is tremendous. The show covers anything and everything one could imagine. Rape, assault, kidnapping, drugs, domestic abuse, and incest, are only a few of the topics the show regularly deals with. The show also faces topics such as hate crimes for minorities, gays, and illegal immigrants. The show makes the viewer feel like they are unraveling the mystery of the crime with the detectives. Special Victims Unit has been around since 1999; it is centered around sexually based offenses. The viewer gets to know Stabler and Benson so well, that they feel as if they have their own personal relationship with them. So for a show that is about disturbing and taboo topics and the crimes that go with them, the main characters have helped to keep the show running for the past 20 years. All of the episodes are based in New York, but recently New York’s crime rate has dropped a considerable percentage, many say this was due to having Giuliani in office, and 9/11. Is it a coincidence that as crime rate in NYC drops, a show about crime in NYC has a new branch of the show in the works to be based in L.A? Law and Order: Los Angeles was proposed just last week, and Dick Wolf, the creator of Law and Order is trying to find writers and is working on getting the show off the ground. It is interesting how positively our society has received a show that is centered on crime. It is yet another example of what sells in our popular culture.