Note for the American Reader:
The following has been adapted from my original paper written in French and published on pages 8-12 of Generation Series #23. This is not a mere translation, it's an original essay written in English, based on the early French Version. I hope you'll forgive the style (it may sound strange and a little awkward) and I apologize for any silliness or inappropriateness that might be included: they would only be a mark of my incompetence in English. I love this show and I hope my words make it (almost) perfectly clear.
PAGE 8-12 OF GENERATIONS SERIES:
New York District/Law & Order
The (dis)order of things, the laws of storytelling
This probably will be a surprise for most readers: in my opinion, Law & Order has much in common with the classic series Mission: Impossible. (Note for the American Readers: I co-signed an important Mission: Impossible book, published in France in 1994, and most readers of this magazine are aware that M: I is one of my all-times favorite shows) Some of these similarities are obvious: both are formula shows, telling separate stories, in which the private lives of the main characters are almost never addressed; both have recurring characters working in teams - there, a handful of adventurers; here, policemen and district attorneys, and a few smaller but strong characters.
Some say the similarities end here: Mission: Impossible is an elliptic and almost theatrical show, its characters have few or no feelings at all. L&O is a realistic drama, shot with hand-held camera on location in "the Big Apple"; its stories are often based on fact. Though the private lives of the characters remains vague (at least, during the first five seasons), their hesitations and prejudices and intuition or disgust do have a part in the case handling.
But the main similarity between both shows, what makes them so close is, essentially, their concept, based on writing as strong and efficient as it is concise and sharp.
For those people who still haven't seen the show (in France, they're still too many), I'll summarize. The concept: Each case starts when a bystander, a janitor or a schoolboy discovers or witnesses a crime. The first part of the episode shows the detectives' investigation; the second part deals with the prosecution of the (so-called) "criminals". So-called, because truth is evasive and twists are frequent. Each show ends with a sentence or a plea (read: "a deal") between the people and the defendant, or sometimes with an acquittal or a mistrial, which means the D.A.s must start all over again.
The characters: Like Mission's, the cast evolved through the years. One of the detectives present in the first season is also the most endearing. His name is Mike Logan (Chris Noth). For the American fans of the show, he is Law & Order as much as D.A. Ben Stone was - more about him later on. Logan was in the show during the first five seasons (the only ones aired in France to this day). He's handsome and single and impulsive, one feels he could have become a hood, if his father himself hadn't been a cop.
Logan leaves the precinct in Pride, after he's rightfully struck the wrong person. His first partner, Max Greevey (George Dzundza) was a small, round man, a devout Catholic. He was experienced and hearty. He was killed in the opener of the second season. Sgt. Phil Ceretta (Paul Sorvino) took over. He too was a family man, good-hearted and physically more impressive than Greevey. He was also more protective with Logan. He was shot and severely wounded in Prince of Darkness (beginning of the third season) "after 30 years on the job without ever pulling my gun", and ended up getting a desk job. Mike Logan's third partner, Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) is another kind of man, dryer, more cynical; he's also an ex-drinker. He's divorced, has two daughters he doesn't see much. He quickly understands the witnesses and suspects' ambiguities and lies and loose answers. He can " play good guy " to trick an offender, and he's sly as a fox. A very much disillusioned one. His current partner, ever since Logan's departure, is Reynaldo Curtis (Benjamin Bratt), a young Hispanic detective, an up to date cop (he has a cell-phone and surfs the Internet like no one else), who's also very rigid in some ways. The detectives had two chiefs over the years. Captain Cragen (Dann Florek, seasons 1-3), an ex-drinker too, barks a lot but has strong good sense. Captain Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson, season 4 to present) is an African-American woman who worthily takes up her duties of being a black cop in a white environment.
And then there are several small characters - first of all Det. Profaci (John Fiore), a favorite of the American fans (and mine, too!) who gets the calls when he's not on the street canvassing with his colleagues. And there's the ballistics expert, and the M.E.s, and the psychiatrist (or is she a psychologist?) Dr Olivet (Carolyn McCormick), a key character in many of the shows.
On the D.A.'s side, characters have also come and gone over the years. The first team, that lasted three years, included E.A.D.A. Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) and his second chair Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks). Note that the character was re-named "Paul Robards" in the French dubbed version because "Robinette" sounded silly and awkward in French. Just imagine if he was called something like "Kitchenette" in English, that's about how silly it sounded. Paul is a tall African-American male with a distinctive haircut. He comes from a poor family and is eager to bring Justice to everyone. His ethnic background does have an importance in many stories, and in the way some suspects or families react to what they view as a prejudiced justice system. Paul's character was canceled along with Cragen's without any explanation at the end of Season 3, supposedly because the network wanted more women on the show. Richard Brooks guest-starred as Paul in a later episode (Custody, 6th season). The character had then become a defense attorney. At the beginning of the 4th season, he was replaced by A.D.A. Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), a young and somehow shy woman lawyer, whose character grew and became very present and subtle during the next three seasons. Claire died in a car accident in what I personally view as one of the very best shows of the series; a very untypical ep called Aftershock. It tells of the aftermath of a capital execution on the characters' feelings, beliefs... and lives. If anything, this controversial segment is, in my opinion as a writer, the proof that the main issues of the show (justice, guilt, punishment, crime) could be efficiently addressed within its one and only " no-case " segment.
Since the beginning of season 7, the second chair has been occupied by A.D.A Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell), a divorced lawyer, and mother of a young daughter. She is a harsh professional, not as obviously sensitive as Claire was. She still needs some time to gain an " épaisseur " (French word for "character development").
A.D.A. Ben stone (M. Moriarty) was and still is, along with Mike Logan, one of the most notable characters of the show. Logan was the young cop who despised and fought violence and crime, while Stone embodied, all by himself, the will to enforce the Law, with as much equity as he could, in spite of his own deep beliefs. He's not an obsessed character, he's hypersensitive. He once says, "I'm Catholic. I can feel guilty about anything." His culture, his deep knowledge of the deepest prejudices of man help him understand and prosecute the criminals. Michael Moriarty inhabited the character with such strength and truth that when he left the show at the end of its fourth season; the writers made Stone resign (in Old Friends) because he had provoked the death of a witness. His guilt is what makes him leave, and this decision makes much sense when you know the character; it also tells much about the strong coherence of writing throughout the whole series.
Stone's successor, E.A.D.A Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) is a very different person. He seemed at first much more cunning and devious, and less preoccupied with the enforcement of law than with efficiency. Actually, he hides the same guilt as Stone's behind his sarcasms and cynicism. He's a brilliant lawyer. He could make a lot of money if he had a private practice. How can one understand he'd rather remain in the D.A.' s office with its low wages, if not because he craves much more for justice than for money or power?
The last recurring character of the show... takes us back to Mission: Impossible. D.A. Adam Schiff has the features of Steven Hill, who was Dan Briggs, the first head and brain of the " Impossible Mission Force " (Peter Graves took over as Jim Phelps at the beginning of season two). Schiff has little screen time, almost as little as Briggs' character had in some of the first season shows of Mission. But Schiff is not a leader; he's a wise man. A mentor. An old timer of justice, he knows his office can disappear after the next election. He is always careful when things seem to look better for the rich against the poor, or for the White against the African-American or other ethnic groups (or the other way around). He also is absolutely righteous. But, being an old man, he knows better. He appears scarcely (a couple of two-minute scenes in most episodes) but he's very much here, and his remarks and questions are often very provocative. His relationship with Ben Stone is very much one of father and son. His relationship with McCoy is more complex - but still very interesting and profound. Schiff is incorruptible, whether through money or personal feelings. He demonstrates that in several instances when he refuses to "help" one of the judges, or an old friend. In the seventh season finale (Terminal, another masterpiece IMHO), he'll refuse to go for the death penalty to help with the governor's election campaign. Adam Schiff is the only original character left from the original cast, and this makes him appear like the "memory" of the show, just as Ben Stone could be called its "soul" and Mike Logan its "heart" by many fans. And I think Steven Hill is a truly exceptional actor. The whole cast, past and present, is utterly fantastic.
Even though we got used and close to Ben and Mike and Claire, later characters like Jack McCoy and Lennie have become also very close to the watchers. More controversial ones like Rey and Jamie might (and given time, will) become important and close, too. This is a show that can go on forever (or at least for as long as, let's say, Gunsmoke). No wonder characters come and go: people do come and go in true life. And this is a very lifelike show.
In Law & Order - this is one of its major traits - the "good guys" don't always win. First of all, because truth is hard to uncover.
What makes this show so important in my Foreigner's view is not its variation- on-a-theme "structure, but the fact that, in spite of it's immutable formula" (crime, investigation, prosecution, trial), no story is like the next one. Law & Order is a great show because its episodes sometime start in a very brutal way and take us into dark places, but many stories also start in a very conventional (robbery, murder, kidnapping) and apparently predictable fashion (the murderer gets caught right away, the "abducted" child reappears in the first scene following the credits) but lead to issues of an astonishing complexity, to intense and unique dilemmas. In effect, most episodes are strong and the weaker ones can never make us forget the power of the majority. Each episode of L&0 leaves a very uncomfortable mixture of sadness, anger, and wonder.
In truth, life seems very bleak when you watch it through this show. There are few mobsters or hired killers or complex elaborate criminal schemes. The crimes fit their perpetrators: they are pathetic, accidental, caused by greed, envy, passion selfishness, absentmindedness or straightforward perversity.
What makes the task of the investigators and D.A.s so difficult is not the alibi of the suspect (they usually know who the offender is). It is an important all-time issue of the American Society: "Where do the rights of the individual person start; where do they end?"
In Law & Order, one hears of mistrials, enforced confessions and dismissed evidence more often than of "victory over crime". Each case addresses one or several key moral issues, and studies a person rather than a crime. Understanding the offender's personality is what helps men of the Law score. Or lose. In L&O, no one is innocent, starting with the "honorable" people. Some of the criminals are policemen; some of the sexual abusers are priests; a doctor can be a rapist; and there are corrupt judges or prosecutors. Even the main characters sometimes find themselves under suspicion because of former or current personal relationships.
Crime doesn't always breed in ghettos, amongst street gangs or drug dealers; it can breed in all kinds of environments, in all ethnic groups. Jealousy, revenge, pride, madness or hubris are responsible of those crimes, as much as greed. Even worse: crime is often a family thing. When you watch L&O, you discover - as if you didn't know! - that the most gruesome crimes happen in families : men hire killers to get rid of their wives, women abandon or kill their babies, children beat their parents to death, young women let their grandmothers starve to death.
In spite of this rendition of the darkest sides of mankind, L&O is not a desperate show. Justice sometimes triumphs. Life goes on. Friendship and loyalty do exist and endure against hate and evil. "I'd like to see this bastard rot in hell. Unfortunately, that is out of my jurisdiction", says McCoy. And, as Ben Stone would say, one can't get rid of crime, but one can at least prevent it from growing. As best as one can. And one can also keep on living. Life seen through Law & Order and its characters is like the rock of Sysyphus: you know it will eventually roll down the hill, but you keep pushing it up. These characters are truly on an impossible mission. A real one. Still, all those stories are narrated with huge talent and are the result of the very demanding work of all participants. Law & Order is "une très grande œuvre". In French, that is close to "un chef-d'œuvre", a masterpiece.
Martin Winckler, Nov 1997
Thank you, Randee Dawn Cohen and Debbie White, for your invaluable transatlantic help.
Box on page 10
TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF FRENCH NETWORKS:
(Note: all names are those of the main French networks)
- Don't do like TF1: it airs Picket Fences once in a while, in total disorder. Don't do like France2, it bought Chicago Hope three years ago and hasn't aired it since. Don't do like France3 : it has aired Law & Order past midnight for several months and decided to quit airing it.
- Follow Canal Jimmy: it airs NYPD Blue, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Profit in English with French subtitles. Follow Série Club: it airs Twin Peaks and Murder One and just bought Brooklyn South and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Follow 13e RUE, it's currently airing another of Dick Wolf's cop shows, New York Undercover.
In the U.S. of A., Law & Order is shown three times a day on A&E. It is a very popular show on that network and on NBC.
Honor yourself and buy the rights to air this major Dramatic Series. Don't let L&O vanish from the French TV screens. For a TV network executive, it's never too late to make an intelligent move!
MW
Box on page 11
THE BARE FACTS
Law & Order was created by Dick Wolf who had been a writer and producer on Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues. The show is aired on NBC since 1990. The pilot episode (Everybody's Favorite Bagman) had been ordered one year before and rejected by another network. In that pilot, Roy Thinnes briefly played the part of the D.A. When NBC bought the show, the pilot was aired as episode # 6. Ever since it was created, the show has earned quite a number of awards including a Peabody Award, two Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Awards, and the 1997 Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series. During its 6th and 8th season, two crossover episodes have joined L&0 and another major dramatic series: Homicide: Life on the Streets.
MW
Box on page 12
L& O AND FRANCE 3 : PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
Ever since France 3 bought it, three years ago, Law & Order has been cursed with an inane schedule: it was first aired on Saturdays and Sundays at 2: 00 P.M. for several months. Then they only aired it in occasional empty niches. In the summer, it could (barely) be seen late at night on Sundays, during the recess of one of those stupid political talk-shows French TV keeps producing, even though nobody ever watches them. Last September, the network repeated airing the five first seasons episodes every night (usually between 1:00 and 2:00 A.M.). After L& O got its Emmy Award, I called the network's press agent. She had never heard about the show's Emmy. Nor had anybody else there. They just didn't care. One of the executives even told me: "We don't have any good time slot for this type of show. Derrick is a better show for our public". Now Derrick is the worst cop show ever produced for Television. (It's a German show. There are very bad French and British cop shows on our screens but Derrick just happens to be the worst of all.) Heaven knows why a French public network, supposedly devoted to the education and enlightenment of the masses, should choose to put on primetime such a piece of crap rather than an undisputed masterpiece like L&O. Anyway, only the first five seasons of L&O had been bought by France 3. It's off the air now. It could not get a regular time slot for three years. Now, the French public might not get to see it again before long, and it's a shame.
MW
reprinted with permission from Generation Series