Is Law and Order going out of style?

I think there are very few people that recognize these four characters. Unless you are a fan of Firefly in which case you recognize Richard Brooks as the Bounty Hunter in the final episode of that season, or Chris Noth from Criminal Intent... or Sex and The City.

But these guys are what began Law and Order. Before Sam Waterson, there was Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone. Before Lennie Brisco there was Max Greevey.

I'll tell you. Law And Order was a very different show back in the 90s.

This is to be expected, crime had a different face in the 90s. This was prior to Rudy Guliani cleaning up the streets of New York. Things look really shitty in New York City in these episodes.

Aside from the environment and the 90's clothes throughout, the topics in which these Law and Order episodes cover are pretty diverse.

There are a couple episodes on the Mob, public corruption. But the episodes that were the most interesting were the ones on hot topic issues that are still controversial today. Like racial divides and violence, rape, and abortion. There is actually an episode where a woman bombs an abortion clinic.

What's even more interesting is the way they handle race. This was prior to 9/11 so the biggest threat to national security was actually the IRA. They actually have an episode on the IRA which was pretty cool itself. But there was one episode where there was a quick and subtle reference to people from the Middle East. It's not overly politically incorrect, just an interesting comment about a middle eastern man who died and is "going up to Allah" As far as racial tensions go, its very prevalent in the show. There's an entire episode about a girl who pretends to be raped by a white police man and the black community goes nuts about it. I personally think that was one of the better episodes of the season.

The interesting line that this season and the earlier seasons of Law and Order slightly cross are ones regarding rape. Now this was before SVU, there were only a couple episodes surrounding rape. But I was surprised to see a couple of episodes that slightly talk about victim blaming. The detectives have a couple of back and forth conversations about whether a victim is making up the fact that she got raped. Now there's only one episode where that is actually the case. The show is actually giving me a lot of material to add to a Criminology class I'm taking.

As far as characters go, its a solid start to a show that went 20 years.

I understand now why Chris Noth was on the show for so long. And why they brought him back in Criminal Intent. He's a really good actor. He's a young detective from an Irish Catholic background. I'm starting to realize that they don't make characters like Mike Logan anymore. Partly because it was used too much but Chris Noth's character is the stereotypical good looking, male caucasian protagonist in the role of a detective. And its done really well. I'm not saying that all main characters need to be caucasian and male but when they are, they should be like Mike Logan.

The cool thing about this show is that it often pits characters against each other when it comes to political and ethical views. Noth with his partner played by George Dzundza often are at odds in opinions due to their age difference and their background growing up.

I'm bummed those two weren't in much more than this show. They're solid actors and they bring a lot to giving this show an awesome beginning.

On the DA side, you have Michael Moriarty and Richard Brooks. I was hesitant at first, especially

because the DA was a balding white guy who looked very boring. I know now that that surface view works perfectly with Moriarty's character. The two play off each other, not as much as the detectives but still pretty well.

Ben Stone is a seasoned District Attorney while Richard Brooks is a little bit more green. But he sees things in a totally different light mainly because of his upbringing and the fact he's black. That actually becomes a part of the story in a couple episodes. Today it would look forced but in the 90's it made perfect sense. It was right about the time when white privilege and discussions of race were beginning to actually happen as opposed to being put aside for another time.

With these characters and the execution done in each episode, no wonder this show made Dick Wolf famous. The funny thing is, most people only know Dick Wolf by name. Do you know what he looks like?

Now you do.

The amazing thing is this guy has been doing this for over 20 years and he's still doing it. SVU is still very very popular. However, is this style of television going out of style? 20 years of Law and Order and they decided to end the show. I don't know the real reasons, but 20 years is a long time, maybe it was just time to end it. 

But then I look at Law and Order: LA. 

Law and Order LA had a solid cast, with big names like Terrance Howard, Alfred Molina, and Corey Stoll (he wasn't as known back then but since House Of Card, I put his name on there).

Everything seemed to be in place and it just didn't work. Granted I only watched one episode of it. I don't know exactly how things played out for the show but perhaps we're in a time where Law and Order is no longer relevant. 

With shows like Breaking Bad, Dexter, and Board Walk Empire, maybe American TV viewers aren't interested in the Law and Order side of things, maybe we're more interested in the criminals themselves. 

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. 

Look at the era of Noir films. 

Many Noir films had protagonists that weren't protagonists at all. A lot of them were morally gray characters wandering in a world where good and evil isn't always prevalent. 

I think we may be slipping into a similar period around this time. In the 90s, it seemed like the only thing that could save us from a world of crime was the law and order in it all. The judiciary system, although they mention it is flawed, is there to protect us and prosecute those who would do evil in the world. 

The detectives and district attorneys are the clear good guys and the criminals are the clear bad guys. Now of course in Law and Order there were times when you sympathized with the criminal, maybe a guy put in a bad place and commits a crime. But those guys are usually given the deals and plea bargains. Its the clearly bad guys that Michael Moriarty makes sure he sends to jail for life. Its the rapists that Benson and Stabler put away that are the clear bad guys. 

I said before the New York looks shitty in the early seasons of Law and Order. Maybe that was the world view we had in the 90s. Things were so dark from the Cold War and pre 90s world that we needed a knight in shining armor like the detectives and District attorneys of Law and Order. 

I think there's a reason Captain America movies didn't do as well as the other Avengers movies. Thats because Captain America represents that knight in shining armor, the do gooder. The symbol of the

America, we just don't often see anymore.

Look at our current events today. NSA wire tapping, Congress shutting down the government, and unpopular threats of going to war. People don't like the establishment these days. The picture to your right is Captain America in the Winter Soldier. He's not the bright symbol of America that he used to be when he first appeared in comics, he's dirty, in a gray world, because that symbol of America is not clean right now.

Maybe there's a belief that the clean, straight arrows like Captain America, or Ben Stone don't exist anymore. Or if they exist. They're not as exciting as the Walter Whites (Breaking Bad), Frank Underwood (House of Cards) or Dexters (Dexter... duh) of the world.

I may be wrong but I think this started with the Wire. Which makes sense. It started in 2002, a year

after 9/11 and although there was a lot of patriotism back then, The Wire may have been the start to an anti-establishment, noir style message that I have been talking about. I have yet to watch it, I will though and be sure to review it on here.

If you've seen the Wire, don't give anything away. I would just like to know if I'm right about that. From what I have heard about it, it delves into the criminal world and is more focused on the message rather than the characters.

I'm basing this mostly off of a Cracked Video I saw. But that also gives a good look into the kind of shows that are made today. If you're interested I'll put a link on for you to see. Its a comedic view of something similar to what I've been talking about. It doesn't go into Noir or why that started being a thing but it does talk about the kinds of shows being made today. \

The Only 8 Types of TV Shows That Get Made

You can see, that they are much different than the Law and Order that started up in the 90s.

Well this post went in a direction I didn't plan on it going. I started with Law and Order, then went to Noir, then to Breaking Bad, then to Captain America. I did not expect that. Have you guys seen the trailer for Captain America though? It will explain the grayness that Captain America has a hard time being a part of. I'm very excited for this movie.