Media supplement: Law and Order

Is there anyone, anywhere, who hasn't seen a single episode of Law and Order? Not me, certainly. Since the series, created by Dick Wolf, was first aired in 1990 I must have devoted literally hundreds and possibly thousands (if we include the countless commercial breaks) of hours to it, and its several children, including Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. In its twenty year run, it outlasted other notable cops/robbers/lawyers shows such as Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. One of the keys to success was the writer's practice of "ripping stories from the headlines", using big crime stories from the US and further afield. (in one episode of Criminal Intent, for example, they chose to transpose Dr Shipman to a Manhattan setting, but then leaving almost all the other details extant.

The format, which has become a classic of its kind, has remained remarkably consistent over twenty years, though that may indeed part of its attraction: First there is the opening segment, giving us, the viewers, an overview of the crime itself. This is where they packed in the high production values, in order to hook the viewer in and keep him or her watching. From there the story divides into two halves: the first part of the show dedicated to seeing the cops at work, developing suspects and bringing them to the DA (what we would call the CPS)  who, in "part two" would then take them to court. And of course, its clarion call salted through each episode in regular procession, the famous Bom bom! (in D flat; we checked) which itself became an unmistakeable trademark of the show

Both sides of this story proved absorbing, though was I the only one who felt the real meat of the programmes lay in the police "half" of the story, whereas the lawyers seem to spend most of their time arguing over a deal? Will it be murder 1, and a possible death sentence, murder 2, usually 25 to life, or even a lesser charge if they give someone else up?  Because while Michael Moriarty (Ben Stone) and later Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy) were both great actors with well written parts (the series has been faultlessly written from the beginning, which of course is the best way to keep your audience), the fact remains that for so many years by far the most charismatic figure on the screen was Jerry Orbach's detective Lenny Briscoe. And when he died, something in the show died too, and the writing was on the wall for one of the most successful franchises in television history.

You could see them getting desperate as their ratings gradually dwindled: more and more spin-offs, like Law and Order: Los Angeles and even Law and Order:UK  (I never went there), and more and more new personae with increasingly brief half-lives. They learned their lessons, putting less emphasis on the legal eagle segment and focusing more on the detective work, but these are all crucial signs of the decline and fall of a great media empire. The final, frantic change occurred quite recently in Criminal Intent (featuring the excellent Vince D'Onofrio) when they changed a perfectly acceptable opening music theme to a hideous, hysterical blaring which did more to engender a migraine than ensure the viewers didn't reach for their remotes.

So, farewell, Law and Order. You have served me well over two decades, but all good things, even on the tellie, must come to an end, and we must move on with our lives somehow...