5 ways of looking back at Law & Order

“chung-CHUNG.” After so many “ripped from the headlines” plotlines and fungible  prosecutrixes, Law & Order gets the death penalty this month. What was its near-record 20-year run all about? Depends who you ask:

•   “[I]t's not a crime show at all. It's a fable about the field called tort law—the branch of civil justice in which people hurt by others' sloppy or vicious conduct can wring some measure of payback from those who hurt them.”  (The Atlantic)

•    “The secret vice of power women.” (Slate)

•    “The favorite show of Sonia Sotomayor.” (wcbs.com)

•    “[I]t was a moral voice. It was certainly an economic engine for New York City, employing countless actors.” (religiousdispatches.com)

•    “[I]t's a gesture of contempt toward ordinary Americans … and part of a conspiracy against the American way of life.” (The Village Voice)

-posted by brian