Oh how much do I love any show that has the title Law and Order? That is a trick question as I love this show beyond any words that presently exist so this blog in essence is a fools errand. I will try however to express how much I enjoy each show from the stalwart original all the way to the vapid LA version I shall try to explain why I am obsessed and why you should be as well.
LAW AND ORDER
This one is to me the best of the best and I am well aware I am in the minority here. I feel that this show does what I like best which is tell a story and let the characters flesh out through they're responses to external stimuli. Meaning there was no real time dedicated to they're personal lives and the only things we knew was what was said over the course of organic conversations. I dislike too much character reliance as if I for whatever the reason dislike the person the show suffers. Here over years you learn about motivations and family entanglements loves gained and loss through the very real reaction to the cases they tried to solve. I also loved that they lost quite a bit which made the stakes real as you never knew from one week to the next if they would win or if in some cases they even had the right guy. I think this show above all the others showed that you didn't have to do anything more then tell a great story and let the people integrate into the story as opposed to having the story integrate into the characters to be successful. This is my favorite but most people enjoy..
LAW AND ORDER SVU
This is great but for none of the reasons that a drama should. It is so damn silly in the way that the cops do they,re job episode after episode. The two main characters go between mad zealousness to obvious disinterest depending on the "Vic". If its a Caucasian teen girl Elliot stabler will fly to another country to not follow any of the rules of procedure and/or go after someone who is innocent based on the flimsiest of evidence. If its a woman or any girl really Olivia Benson will badger and badger and "help" them into a tub of warm water with slit wrist(this has happened more then 4 times). Also if it is a black victim or a junkie Ice T will step in and get 0 help from the normally rabid leads also he is always given a Jet beauty of the week love interest that happens "organically and not at all forced. I enjoy the insane leaps they make and the fact that they should all be fired for one thing or the other since season 2. This one is the most popular one and as of nest year will be the last one left which is sad despite my love of the series. This is mostly based on the fact that a silly goofy dessert is hollow without a solid and excellent dinner.
LAW AND ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT
Staying on the dinner analogy a bit longer if SVU is the dessert to the first ones dinner then this is the lunch. I say this because its just as silly at times(sometimes more so) then SVU but at its core its a old fashioned procedural with Colombo style gamesmanship. When this show started the hook was the idea that we saw the show from both the cops point of view and the killers but everything else stayed the same law and equal parts order and the cat and mouse game that came from this. I think when Vincent D,Onfrio decided he would play Det Goren like batman that idea went out the window. The fact that he plays the guy like Colombo and Sherlock Holmes makes the order part a bit more messy as he is the entrapment kid every week. In the first seasons they had a d.a played by Courtney Vance who sole purpose was to say "nice theory but i need some proof" and despite Goren being right 100% of the time he had to treat him as a crazy wild card every case. Somewhere between the beginning and the end they shelved the idea and the show closed with the arrest which at first bothered me. This being I know that the arrest is the beginning and could very well mean nothing but This show felt more like macmillian and wife era crime show which that was the norm so I was ok with it. I like this one second due to the competence of the detectives and the stories that were interesting and involved.
LAW AND ORDER LOS ANGLES
And finally we come to this(apologies to law and order trial by jury but I hold you responsible for the great Jerry orbachs death from a sickness you did not cause please understand. Anyway this show started and tried its hardest to be sleek and L.A and in most cases it achieved this by telling OK stories with a L.A feel. The cast was OK but no one watched this thing and instead of letting the ax fall they retooled it in such a strange way I scratched my head from the relaunch all the asy to the second cancellation. They decided that the reason no one watched the show was both female D.A,s and one of the detectives. they put one of the main Lawyers(Alfred Molina) to capitalize on the name no doubt as a detective which would be fine if he wasnt like 60 years old. secondly they brought the assistant from NYC Alana de Garza to I assume court Hispanics but without Jack and cutter for her to play off she was inert. Terrence Howard as the DA was OK if it wasn't for his playing it like a guy who was more interested in being promoted. all and all I think this show could of fixed things in season 2 if it had the chance but it didn't so it wont.
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