I’m through with Law & Order as the TV program has become more political and leftist
Michael Moriarty, the actor who portrayed the original assistant district attorney on the groundbreaking and very original Law & Order TV program, has written a piece for http://bighollywood.com denouncing his former show’s producer for allowing the popular program to become increasingly left-wing.
I used to be a big fan of Law & Order, having watched the program from its premiere episode. The program used to offer first-class writing, acting and direction, and the plots — ripped from the headlines, as the show used to say in their promotions — were basically realistic.
I also tuned in to the spin-off Law & Order shows. I was a very big fan of Law & Order: SVU, and I once believed it was the most realistic police show on TV.
As a crime reporter and columnist for a couple of Philadelphia’s weekly newspapers, I covered Philadelphia’s Special Victims Unit. I interviewed the detectives and saw how they worked sex crimes.
Other than murder, sex crimes are perhaps the most horrendous of all crimes. When a child is involved, a sex crime is truly awful. I thought the TV show handled the cops, the crimes and the victims reasonably well.
I recorded and watched Law & Order and the spin-off programs every week.
But no more. Like Moriarty, I began to cringe more and more each week as the show offered more and more left-wing political talking points. I suppose the election of Obama cued producer Dick Wolf and his team to present more politically correct and leftist points of view on their dramas.
The mothership Law & Order ought to be put to sleep, as it has clearly run its course. Law & Order SVU, in addition to becoming too leftist, also showcases the two lead actors far too much in my view.
The actors are fine and I like them, but nearly every plot line features a personal involvement for one or the other of the leads. They are so emotionally and personally involved in their cases, that no police department would allow them to continue in such a sensitive squad as the special victims unit.
I’ve watched Law & Order faithfully for more than 20 years, but now, like many other Americans, I believe I’ll flip that dial.
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What about it is more “leftist”? I don’t watch the show, I’m just curious — you failed to offer a single example throughout your piece.
The characters sound like Obama administration appointees sprouting left-wing talking points.
I don’t site specific examples, but my short piece links to Michael Moriarty’s piece, and he does, and he in turn links to a John Nolte piece that offers the most glaring examples.
I don’t watch L&O; only SVU. While you are absolutely right that the main characters get way too involved personally to remain professional, their personal dramas are what keeps my interest.
Would you care to elaborate on how SVU is veering to the Left though, since Moriarty’s piece is focused on L&O Central? I’ve been watching SVU for years and haven’t noticed. (My idea of Left is “left of center,” not “a little to the left of the extreme Right.”)
Paul, you and I are coming to the same decision, though for very different reasons. There is a certain … I don’t know … ‘grittiness’ to the early years of this show, in the movements of the camera, the lighting, the sound. I found it all very appealing. I also enjoyed Mr. Moriarity so much more than his successors in the ADA’s office, and Steven Hill remains my favorite DA. I also miss Richard Brooks’ contributions.
It’s funny, I never thought too much about the politics of the show … just whether or not I was entertained. Left, right, down-the-middle, whatever … I’m still flipping that same dial … just for decidedly different reasons.
Paul,
I cannot get the link up to the Moriarty piece. Moriarty was excellent as Ben Stone, the assistant d.a. to the district attorney played by steven hill. In fact, it took me awhile before I thought Sam Waterson was up to par when Waterson replaced him.
But Moriarty is notorious for having imploded on the show, accusing the producers of the same left wing bias that he is apparently doing now. That was in 1994, during what you seem to identify as the heyday of the show. . He had a odd conflict with Dick Wolf that involved Janet Reno and Reno’s comments on violence on tv.
Just for the record: Dick Wolf is a straight shooter from what I can tell. He’s not known to be part of the “liberal” hollywood establishment. He’s his own man and is one of the few producers, for example, to consistently hire older writers.
It’s hard to keep up the quality at this point, this many episodes later. But I am not persuaded that a leftist bias is the reason … Law and Order is famous for starting one way and then revealing more and more mysteries as the case proceeds. It starts with a particular frame, but then always transcends that frame, at least when it’s at its best.
I’m guessing the problem is the low quality of the writing recently makes bias or politics stand out. They’re desperate for fresh conflicts these days.
Man, you conservatives sure are thin-skinned little infants. You dish it out all day on the internet and on talk radio and Fox News, but whhhoooooaaaaaa Nelly, a cop show takes a swipe at Bill O’Reilly and this EXACT SAME ARTICLE pops up everywhere.
Here’s an idea, be the bigger person and just ignore it.
Robert Watts,
Yes, Michael Moriarty blew up and quit the show. That was during the last left-of-center administration.
Moriarty felt Wolf should have stood up to Janet Reno over her comments on TV. (Moriarty was right then, he is right now).
Wolf is a well-known Hollywood liberal who publically and financially supports Democratic leftists and left-wing issues. There was also a bit of leftist blather on the show, but there used to be some balance. That is not the case today, in my view.
To my mind, the original Law & Order began to go downhill when Moriarty left.
Titov,
Ignoring the program – by not watching it – is what I and many other Americans are doing.
This is why NBC is the network in last place.
I see the word “left/leftist” is used in reply to Robert four times (not counting “left” meaning “walked away”). Still no details, explanations, or examples of what makes the show left/leftist.
I read Moriarty’s piece. It’s a rant. He obviously has it in very personally for Balcer (be Balcer Right or Left). It’s not informative and it’s not well-argued; it’s just a histrionic fit. I find it disturbing that someone as intelligent and educated as Paul Davis would use it – or Big Hollywood – as a reliable source of objective information. What next, NewsMax?
Dick Wolf is still very much a hands-on producer of the show – again, I only follow SVU, and I know people who work on all L&O shows – and out of four networks, I’m not sure about Fox, they have some damn good dramas, but the assertion that NBC is in the last place is inaccurate, gratuitous, and overwrought. NBC leads ABC and especially CBS by a healthy margin in the ratings.
And what exactly was Moriarty right about in 1994? …
…. so Dick Wolf is the big hollywood liberal, supporting leftist causes … is there a difference between a liberal cause and a leftist cause? …
So you now same the show went down after Moriarty left. Is that because Moriarty was such a good actor or because the scripts suddenly turned leftist? … And if the scripts suddenly became so leftist in 1994, why did you keep watching until now? …
I can think of a billion L & O episodes that start with some political frame, a black activists protesting against a construction site gets offed. First, the detectives investigate possible political enemies … then it always comes down to something very personal in the person’s life … either some deeply personal motive or the person is a lunatic with some strange interpretation of the law or an inflated sense of his importance …
So let’s hear about the leftist episodes, particularly those between 1994 and now.
I stopped watching virtually all NBC shows and not because of any political reason, but for the fact that they started putting extra text on the screen touting some upcoming episode of whatever. It’s bad enough they and the other stations block the screen with their vanity logos (and channel names), but once you put on “New episode of Jon & Kate – Monday @8” you lose me. And yes I know J&K isn’t an nbc show.
Nowadays, NBC doesn’t seem to do it anymore, but once I stopped, I just never went back to it. And I never watched the C.I. version and I gave up on SVU after a couple of episodes when I saw that the show was going to focus on the personal lives of the officers (In all the years I watched the original L&O, I recall very few instances of personal involvement and even then it was only a tangential connection for an episode, not an ongoing thing).
Titov Sang Etc.: You are so right, by which I mean correct. American conservatives and other right-wingers have an exaggeratedly skewed notion of conservatism and the political right. You take the Conservative Party of Britain, for example, and plunk them down in the U.S. — kicking and screaming, it goes without saying — and they would be centrist Democrats or slightly left-of-center Democrats. American right-wingers are definitely of the hairy-eyeball school, red-meat-fed and out for blood.
As for Law & Order and its many manifestations, never watched it/them.
If Jerry Orbach had written this piece; I would of totally agreed. I would of started watching Fox News, Bill O’Reilly could do no wrong, and Glenn Beck would be the voice of God.
But Moriarty? He got most famous for being a raging drunk. He left New York were they frowned on his drinking and came to Nova Scotia. Here being thrown out of a bar is a typical night on the town not cause for an intervention.
Want to be taken seriously, have somebody write about the show that’s not from Fox News or in rehab. Until then I’ll just let you nice folks go back to polishing your guns and reading your bibles.
Jerry Orbach is dead and so is L&O..about time. As for all the Fox news and conservative comments. I watch shows for entertainment not to be lectured to by the left on how to think on political issues. Stopped watching years ago and am glad it is dead. The problem is that we have MSNBC to go on the left, Fox news on the right for political viewpoints, I watch TV programs for pure entertainment. Once you take political sides, you alienate half your audience. Alec Baldwin and Bono learned that in the 90’s. Good riddens to Wolf!!!
I agree with jamie, the show is way to political. Can I cite and example? Not verbatim since I haven’t watched in months but it usual one character turning to another and saying something off the wall like “this is crazier than _______.” fill in the blank with Palin, the tea party, Newt Gingrich or someone else not liberal. You never hear crazier than Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Alec Baldwin or Barney Frank. It’s Agenda driven with out of nowhere Timed zingers that fall flat. Are they trying to solve a murder or get invited to the White House? Seemed like there was a formula of how many lame zingers but I turned the channel instead of figuring it out.
As others have said the characters are way to involved to the point they seem to be having nervous breakdowns at least twice on every case, often for “victims” that aren’t exactly sympathetic themselves. The characters are fairly inconsistent too and always have been. One week Sam Watersonton’s character is saying the guy should not have done the crime so he feels nothing for him, Next week he’s whining about convicting a huge jerk.