10th Mar 2004
Law & Order: Embedded
There’s a reason why Law & Order is one of the most popular shows on TV. I just saw a repeat of an episode titled Embedded, which involves a Geraldo Rivera-like journalist character who is shot, presumably by a soldier angry at his exposing troop locations in Iraq. One thing that was remarkable about the episode was how politically controversial it was — beloved characters fighting over whether the war in Iraq is a good idea or not. It’s hardly PC in general — I am now watching a rerun on TNT where Lt. Anita Van Buren shoots an unarmed retarded kid, Competence, in which an internal police investigator says, “I got an A in sensitivity training. I like Afro-Americans and I love Gyno-Americans.” Can’t get dialog like that even on Fox.
The other thing that sets the show apart from all other cop shows is that they don’t always get their man. Frequently, they lose, get the wrong guy and can’t find the right one or just are screwed by politics. Something that always bugs me about NYPD Blue, how easily they always extract confessions from suspects.
That and lots of episodes are filmed in my neighborhood. This Competence episode had an arrest go down at my subway stop, a stone’s throw from our apartment, and an episode the other day (don’t remember which) had an interview at the corner of Riverside and Tiemann, a few doors down from our place.
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