Credit where due

Dorothy Rabinowitz takes on the "crude falsifications" of TV drama especially Law and Order and 24.

L&O used to be a pretty good show. But it is long in the tooth and its relentless ideological slant has become laughable. They brag that their stories are "ripped from the headlines" but they are circumspect about what the whole L&O treatment entails: "Rip it, bleach it, bless it, and move it up-market."

As whores are wont to do, the network suits appeal to the god of the marketplace. L&O draws ratings, so all must be forgiven. There are limits to the obeisance. The appeal to the ratings will never work with a show that was accused of being anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-Muslim, or racist. L&O managed to work an anti-Ken Starr storyline into a New York cop show, but i'm not holding my breath for them to tackle the issues raised by Mike Nifong's travesty in Durham.

See also:

Hollywood and the war on terror