I received the bad news today. A loved one had died. The body had been found by an early morning jogger. The police were called and the Morgue’s office was determining time of death, and most importantly, the cause. Detectives were searching the scene making ironic comments tinged with dark humor based on their observations. I’m not exactly sure where in NYC the crime took place, but I know a large part of the story will play out in February, and if the cause of death turns out to be murder, then it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be down on Centre Street. The name of the deceased is Law & Order.

Why? WHY? WHYYYYYYY? Not my baby!! Dear Lord Jesus please don’t take my baby!! Sorry. I’m still in shock. I think murder may be involved. George Dzundza must be rolling over in his grave…still alive? Are you sure? Anyway…

In case you’ve never met L&O, let me tell you about the deceased. L&O was the first of its kind. A hybrid of two shows, the Cop show and the Lawyer show. L&O devotes approximately half of its time to the detectives solving violent crimes and the district attorney’s office who prosecutes the offenders. It was also the first show to make the prosecutor’s office heroic. Generally, up to that point, the law hero was the defendant’s attorney, who saved their innocent client from an overzealous District Attorney’s office (a la Perry Mason). L&O’s last big original innovation was stories “Ripped From The Headlines.” In New York, we know that when a news story is local, extraordinary and juicy, like say an ex-Attorney General Governor caught using hookers or a rich family fighting over a dying matriarch’s money, it would eventually be an episode of Law & Order. The show created so many modern genres that its children are more numerous than just the ones that share the L&O in its name.

When L&O premiered, it was a refreshing change from the cop shows and lawyer shows that stank of bullshit. Rather George Dzundza and Chris Noth reeked of realism as the original senior and junior detective duo. Michael Moriarty’s quirkiness and Richard Brooks’ expressiveness made me feel the stress and uncertainty of prosecutors working in ethical gray areas doing whatever they could to ultimately try and enact justice. Since the original cast, there have been numerous outstanding actors who have either portrayed cops, lawyers, criminals, victims, and even a few actors who have had the honor of playing more than one of these roles on different episodes during the show’s 20 seasons. That’s not to mention the lineup of lady hotties that have played the junior role in the ADA’s Office. Someone should check on who’s doing the hiring for that position. There have been crossovers with other series like Homicide, TV movies, spinoffs that have come and gone, along with the ones still here, guest appearances by real political figures and iconic New Yorkers. The show has had actors who later became famous, as well as famous actors who wanted to be a part of something so much a part of NYC lore.

It has been one of the few series that is not only based in NYC, but shot here as well. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to see Studio City California trying to appear to be NYC in shows like How I Met Your Mother, CSI: New York, Friends. Even Seinfeld, the ultimate NYC sitcom, mostly showed the cast walking on streets with curbs too high, sidewalks too tight and street lights that don’t look anything like ours. No production outside of NYC can ever get the lighting right, with Toronto coming the closest, but California never coming near the grey grimy lighting that is so close to my heart. New Yorkers were also used to seeing L&O being shot around town. It’s practically a game for people to yell out the actual location of scenes while watching the show. I read a figure that says that the L&O series, including its spinoffs, employ directly and indirectly over 8,000 people in its production in NYC. This will be a serious loss felt throughout the 5 boroughs.

L&O has been so popular, it is tying Gunsmoke for the longest running series and has numerous spinoffs including L&O: Special Victims Unit, L&O: Criminal Intent (a take on the Colombo formula of crime drama), and the soon to be produced, L&O: Los Angeles. So it will not be totally gone, but there’s actually a good reason why it’s really hard for me to let L&O go…

Look, let’s be clear, many things had gotten old and stale on L&O. The jokes told by the DT’s in the opening segment continually got worse and worse. Jerry Orbach’s eyes would pop out of his head if he saw how bad some of the deliveries were for these punchlines. And I knew who the murderer was once I saw the semi famous actor make their way into the storyline. The DA’s conviction record was near flawless, and no one ever took a phone call that didn’t happen to be directly related to the case that they were working on at the moment. In fact, things had gotten so bad that I had decided to take L&O off my DVR Record list when something big finally happened. Assistant DA Jack “Mad Dog” McCoy was finally appointed as the District Attorney. Things instantly changed on the show and the new political intrigue, involving a corrupt Governor, re-election campaigns, office politics, a new Asst DA who shared Jack’s zealousness to prosecute and convict, all led to a better show. They opened up some of the personal story lines that used to peek their heads up every once in a while into weekly storylines that intrigued me and never went too far into soap opera territory. Long story short, the last couple of seasons of L&O were great! The show was as close to its original top notch form as it had ever been in the last decade. And now it’s gone.

I have to be honest, I’m not sure if I’m ready to let this go without a fight. I feel like there might be a groundswell of support for some sort of continuation of the show. I’m not sure that this was a natural death. There’s something fishy here. I have a hunch. An investigation into this death is warranted. Chung CHUNG!

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