Your thoughts on Law & Order?

Submitted by FreshmenMan t3_10j5lqo in television

What are your thoughts on Law & Order

I have seen all 20 seasons of Original Law & Order (Season 21-Present Notwithstanding), and I must say The Show is Great

Actors like Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Sam Waterston, Steven Hill really made the show, and actors like Fred Dalton Thompson, Carey Lowell, Dennis Farina and Alana De La Garza, I thought were underrated in the show.

Law & Order, I think really thrives on the ensemble, and makes sure no one outperforms one another, and is willing to do cast turnovers in order to make the show fresh, but when a character is great, that character stays for a long time.

What are your thoughts on Law & Order?

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PineappleBetter8444 t1_j5jfs9k wrote

I love Law and Order. One can say it's formulaic, but they've found a "story of the week" formula and it works for them. It's easily digestible and the plot is resolved in one episode. That's why it has been on for as long as it has been.

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guy_fieri_2020 t1_j5iop5t wrote

perfect watch in the background show. Every damn episode follows the same format. Lenny was the best.

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DMPunk t1_j5k7ga2 wrote

Lenny Brisco and Jack McCoy were two of the defining male role models of my childhood.

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Bomboclaat_Babylon t1_j5ikwon wrote

I think Law & Order thrives on the format. The cast is always changing, but regardless of the characters, it's the format that people like so it keeps trucking. Like Marvel movies. You could swap out Spiderman a hundred times and it wouldn't effect anything. It's just the same story over and over again, not actor driven, people just love that format / same story with little variations.

I think producers have learned a lot about certain formats longevity in recent years and Law & Order was an early success in doing the same thing over and over and over again and still having it entertain people. It kills creativity, but it guarantees money flow, so now everything is kinda the same.

I'm not shitting on Law & Order. I just wish it wasn't so successful / the repetative format wasn't so successful, because now that it's clear to producers that about 5 different formats make the most guaranteed money, there's no room for other less guaranteed formats in the mid-level like sci-fi and comedies for instance. It's all either huge budget 8 episodes per year, or no budget indie Syfy channel when it comes to new creative ideas. There's still some, but why try something new as a producer when the guaranteed money is in repetition?

The show was good. Dick Wolf (great name) has gone on to spawn 9 direct spin-offs, not including Law & Order: UK. Or the other spin-offs of the format like FBI, FBI: International, Chigago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago Justice, and on and on. Wolf has made like 100 versions of what amounts to the same show, and it squeezes out potential newcomers from getting air time. So. Just my thoughts. The money goes where the eyeballs go, so it's all fair in the end.

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aw-un t1_j5phm5o wrote

I don’t know man, the format might be the same, but Law and Order (original) was often one of if not the best written procedural around. Using that same format but still being able to tell different stories takes an insane amount of creativity.

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trubs12 t1_j5imw63 wrote

I love Law& Order. I also love the spin offs (SVU and Criminal Intent). I haven't watched season21 yet, but I'm gonna watch it.

I think the show is the best legal drama

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5ikwxf wrote

The original run is one of the best shows of all time.

If you can get past the technology (payphones, $6000 plasma TVs, etc) it's surprisingly still relevant today but thankfully not completely. Gay marriage is the law. There were several episodes where the inequalities they had to endure (from not being able to adopt to mundane things like health insurance) were shown. Shit a young guy like myself never would have thought much about. Very thought provoking to be honest.

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orangemaroon25 t1_j5k0335 wrote

Remember the episode where Jack McCoy went after whether gay marriage in a state that was legal made spousal privilege apply in a state where it wasn't?

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Bomboclaat_Babylon t1_j5ilbr3 wrote

You should watch "Mike Hammer". It's so dated and corney it'll be hard to watch, but push your way through if you want to see some honest popular ideas and themes on society in the 80s. If you like / can find over the top corn funny and want to see something you can't imagine was on TV, try that.

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5immu8 wrote

>You should watch "Mike Hammer".

Thanks for the recommendation I'll add it to my list. It actually a few times a week on YouTube TV so that's cool.

The old tech doesn't bug me... I remember when it was new.

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bernsteinschroeder t1_j5im330 wrote

I love the S1-S20 of Law and Order but S21+...I haven't had a desire to go past I think 3 episodes into 21 (and just now realized it's on S22).

Anthony Anderson was great in the previous incarnation and I can't recall the last thing I didn't like Jeffrey Donovan in but...they really caused me to stall on the "continuation." I was pleased that other issues I was anticipating were handled well (or well enough) at least in what I saw and I was opening to buy-in with the non-Waterston prosecution side.

It was like sailing into a headwind with "Kevin Bernard and Frank Cosgrove" and I can't quite put my finger on a 'why'. I can't even say 'nostalgia glasses' because when S21 started, I was just 6 episodes from the end of re-watching the 20 seasons of the first incarnation.

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orangemaroon25 t1_j5k0drw wrote

The very first episode of S21 when they had the conversation about being filmed all the time and the accountability surprised me that they addressed it.

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ubiquitous_archer t1_j5jtox4 wrote

Great show, faded for a few years, but overall, a great procedural show that did a great job of making the cases the forefront, and not the personal lives of the characters.

Basically cemented the modern police procedural in television.

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orangemaroon25 t1_j5k0lwu wrote

This wasn't a thing that was done 20 years ago, but I can't believe they had Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin together for several years and never found the opportunity for a musical special episode.

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staedtler2018 t1_j5o8lmz wrote

I think the original Law & Order is pretty great, and quite underrated. It has a lot of character and has aged better than a lot of stuff from the 90s.

I'd say seasons 4 to 10 were great. Maybe up to 11. After that, it's good until maybe season 16 or so. Then it gets pretty bad for a while.

I know the latter seasons were considered a 'return to form' by a lot of people, but I don't think that stuff aged very well.

Tried to watch a bit of the last season and it was atrocious.

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AgentElman t1_j5k1y37 wrote

It was good for a few episodes but the need to have a twist at the end that made the rest of the show irrelevant made it tiresome.

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BringerOfDoom1945 t1_j5l9s73 wrote

i Love the Show especially the first Series

i also Love SVU however in SVU i have to say sometimes it's a little much with that Sex Crimes

i don´t know the other Law & Order Tv shows

Maybe i Love Law&Order and SVU for the same reason i love ,Magnum. A-Team or the First US Power rangers series , Nostalgia? i was 11 when SVU was released so it could cloud my Judgment?

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but no matter what i really love most of the old 80s and 90s shows

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WooTkachukChuk t1_j5m8282 wrote

I just put on the old shows on amazon prime to fall asleep.

just like i did whe i was in college and it started syndication...only no commercials chefs kiss

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Bushgjl t1_j5itxya wrote

Daytime TV, enough said

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mickeyflinn t1_j5j829b wrote

I watched it years ago and grew tired of it.

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razloric t1_j5ilav1 wrote

Are there any episodes about officers who use excessive force ?

Serious question since you watched the whole series.

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[deleted] t1_j5ipeu1 wrote

[deleted]

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5im2dl wrote

Yes

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razloric t1_j5imjem wrote

Can you illustrate one example ?

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5intod wrote

>Can you illustrate one example ?

Sure, if I find the free time to read the synopsis of nearly 500 episodes I'll point you to the episodes in question.

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razloric t1_j5ipjt0 wrote

You could have just said "I have no clue" then instead of responding to a comment that wasn't directed at you. Thanks for your time.

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5iqyeh wrote

And you're the one that's curious. Why not go and look yourself?

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aw-un t1_j5pirt7 wrote

I know one episode where detective Fontana essentially waterboarded a guy to find where a kidnapped little girl was being held. Then the whole second half was the DAs dealing with the repercussions of that action and telling him how stupid and wrong what he did was.

Can’t remember which episode specifically, but Fontana had a short run, so should be easy enough to find

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staedtler2018 t1_j5o9pfc wrote

Not that many. But there's this one: DWB.

There's lots of corrupt cops in L&O, but they don't typically portray the 'average' cop doing crimes.

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razloric t1_j5oqmgl wrote

Thanks for the honest answer. The feigned amnesia from the others was amusing.

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MasterTeacher123 t1_j5k5vfq wrote

It’s police propaganda

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PPQue6 t1_j5knitx wrote

This!!!! Fuck this show and every show like it.

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[deleted] t1_j5ikkgr wrote

[deleted]

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INMATEofARKHAM t1_j5il7np wrote

>This lastest season is hot garbage. Dick Wolf used to at least camouflage the copaganda. This season removed all pretenses.

Completely agree with the last two seasons being hot garbage but it's the order side of things that has been suffering. The DAs are incompetent in basically every episode.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j5k8gx0 wrote

wait his cops fucked up like 1 out of every 2 episodes in the 'before times', resulting in stuff getting thrown out and the ADAs investigating to pull it out of the fire.

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ThoughtseizeScoop t1_j5kl1vt wrote

The criticism is usually that the, "cop fucks something up," elements usually are constructed so the audience feels like they're on the cop's side. Cop does something illegal that jeopardizes the case, and the audience feels like, "bull shit, this guy deserves to go to jail, it's not the cop's fault the system is broken."

Basically, it's real easy to walk away with the impression that incredibly important legal protections that ensure justice is fairly doled out are actually preventing justice from being served.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j5kmxdi wrote

Ahh ok I see your argument. Same as how on the show "24" torture yielded results in finding the terrorists, giving the impression that it's an acceptable process.

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