Box Scores

When I see a blog like Overthinking It, I know I'm not alone. Excellent. Courtesy of Lowering the Bar, I bring you Overthinking It's graph on wins and losses (that is, convictions, plea bargains, and The Dreaded Acquittals) on Law and Order. The post, aptly named "The Law and Order Database: Cracking the Code," is devoted to Logged and Ordered: The Complete Series, and breaks down the results of the TV gang's 20 years of chasing felons. Enjoy.

Good Bye To Nearly All That

Alessandra Stanley provides a look back at yet another series in Dick Wolf's venerable franchise, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which aired its last first-run episode this week.

USA Announces New Legal Drama For Summer

USA Network announces the launch this summer of a new legal drama, Suits (previously titled A Legal Mind). It will debut June 23 at 10 p.m. following the series return of Burn Notice. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Suits stars Gabriel Macht as a "top Manhattan corporate lawyer" who "recruits a new hotshot associate and hires the only guy that impresses him, a brilliant but unmotivated college dropout," (Patrick J. Adams). Continues THR, "In order to serve justice and save their jobs, both unconventional thinkers must continue the charade." Wait...I missed something. Is the associate actually an associate (i.e., an attorney just out of law school) or is he a college dropout, or is he a college dropout pretending to be a law school grad? Is that the "charade"?  Hmmm. Stay tuned: the series doesn't appear on USA's website yet but joins several other law-related shows on the network, including Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Fairly Legal, Psych, In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, and White Collar.

The Villains of "Law and Order"

Stanley Fish on Law and Order: TOS. (And a law and pop culture doink-doink to everyone.)

An End To Law & Order?

Will "Law and Order" disappear from the airwaves? Rumors are flying as NBC executives apparently discuss furiously with Dick Wolf over broadcasting a final year of the long-running drama. Keeping the veteran series for the 2010/2011 season would mean L&O would have outlasted legendary oater "Gunsmoke" (1955-1975) as longest running TV drama. Read more here in a post from James Hibberd's blog The Live Feed and here in an article from the Washington Post.

Update: It seems as if L&O has been axed. Mr. Wolf may try for a home for his flagship series on TNT at another network. He is, according to at least one source, George Carlinly angry at the cancellation.

Update to the update: It's official, according to the Hollywood Reporter. L&O has finished its run on NBC. Dick Wolf's comment: "Never complain. Never explain." L&O: SVU still airs on NBC, and L&O: Criminal Intent airs on the USA Network. Another series, Law & Order: UK, airs on the British network, ITV1.

Here's a quick look at the roll of some names that have graced the L&O roster. Meanwhile, fans can look forward to "Law & Order: Los Angeles" (aka LOLA) for the fall.

For analyses of L&O, see:

Keetley, Dawn, Law & Order, in Prime Time Law (Jarvis, Bob, and Paul Joseph, Carolina Academic Press, 1998).
Mader, Shannon, Law & Order, in Lawyers in Your Living Room 117 (Michael Asimow, ed. ABA: 2010).
Rapping, Elayne, Law and Justice as Seen on TV (NYU Press, 2003).

Life Meets TV

Colin Miller, of EvidenceProfBlog, has this interesting blogpost about Kathy Reichs as an expert witness, in the notorious Ohio nun killer case, State v. Robinson. Dr. Reichs is the author of the Temperance Brennan mystery stories and the inspiration for the Bones television series.

Reminds me of another recent life meets tv case: the one in which the prosecution's expert witness mentioned a Law & Order episode that Andrea Yates watched. The problem: no such episode. Eventually, Mrs. Yates's conviction was overturned. Along with the now-documented "CSI" effect, can we doubt that tv's dramatic riffs affect jurors?