I have a question for anyone who watches "Law and Order" often.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Specifically, those who watched an episode in which some Eric Lund, consultant to a politician, was accused of exposing an undercover cop.

I just want to know whether there is ANY other episode in the series that demonizes the Right at least half as much as this one demonizes the left.

Anyone versed enough in the show to know the answer?

[SoCalDem]

1. Actually I think L & O routinely "goes after' the right

Sometime I chuckle when an episode does that, and ole "former senator" is on that episode..

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Never mind, I got it. It's the DA you're talking about. -nt

[SoCalDem]

6. Fred Thompson

BIO

[terrya]

9. And that's when the show seriously began tilting right.

When Thompson was cast.

[Bryan]

16. Yeah, L&O is constantly putting the boot into white-collar criminals

The show is fairly non-partisan on the whole; a month ago, they did an episode in which the DA's office was prosecuting a thinly-veiled KBR for producing substandard body armor for the Army.

The Criminal Intent spinoff is even tilted somewhat to the left; in the past year, they've done a roman a clef about Jack Abramoff and stories about a coverup of a massacre of Iraqi civilians and an Army psychologist who was guilty of war crimes.

[angry_chuck]

2. i had this friend who watched it a lot but

it was strange to me becuase he was an anarchist and the show made me feel like I do whenever you hear the rhetoric of a freeper. It has all sorts of cool plot twists but it is ultimately an assault on individualism intended to foster support for one world government.

edit: At least that's the way I felt. It seemed like the gov was portrayed as saintly. anyway that is just me, I was merely present numerous times while my friend watched it intently.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. "One world government?" Where do you see endorsement of that? -nt

[angry_chuck]

14. everyone is eaten up by insurmountable problems

and their time is spent concentrating on such thus preventing any serious debate about the problems created by the NWO. The show is all about problems. So many that you want to quit fighting and just give in. The show is a cod-piece for NWO, part of the long arm of the collectivist mind. It is like that movie 'Touristas' I recently saw a commercial for; it is to show that leaving the country is scary and dangerous so you should stay at home, watch LO and relax. GWB and the NWO is in charge, they know what's best, so chill; they got your back...right?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. The only part of government that I saw painted as saintly there was

law enforcement. In other words, the part the RW likes. (Other than the military, which I never saw as a subject)

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I am an avid fan

They demonize the right a lot more often than the left. But they have gone more right since Fred Thompson joined the cast. He seems to get a rw dig in about every other show. Bastard.

[asjr]

8. Yeah, don't you just love it--

a NY district attorney with a Southern accent! He is no better an actor than he was a senator.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Writers have changed over the years

and I've heard from some folks "in the know" that there have been some more right leaning folks recruited for the series. Edited to add: this episode was one that had me asking the question you asked, and that was when I got the response.

[CaptAhab]

11. That has been my impression, as well

I only watch television casually, so I don't claim to be an expert on any TV show. However, I enjoyed and regularly watched Law and Order about eight or nine years ago. Then I went off to college, and practically stopped watching television for five or six years. When I started regularly watching L&O again, I was shocked. Perhaps it was that my political views had shifted to the left, or it was the constitutional law classes I had taken while in college, but I found that many of the new episodes demonstrated blatant disregard for the rights of the accused in criminal cases. Almost every recent episode I've seen featured a leading character expressing their disdain for fundamental protections provided by the Fourth, the Fifth or the Sixth amendments to the US Constitution, sometimes in direct contradiction to landmark Supreme Court cases that defined the Due Process revolution of 1939-1962. I am glad that other people have noticed the extreme right-wing bias of this show.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Thanks folks, I now think I have a good picture of this. -nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Dick Wolf, the show's executive producer,

was a classmate of George Bush's at Phillips Academy. Whether they are big pals or whether they just took the same classes, I do not know.

Dick Wolf, Wikipedia

Early life of *, Wikipedia

Richard Brodhead, Wikipedia

[pretzel4gore]

15. i saw one show several years ago, it was a doozie...

1)guy robs a store, runs away, tosses gun in river
2) police divers looking for gun find 1968 volkwagon (really)
3)when hauled up, skull falls out when door opened- skull has bullet in between eye sockets, and no grin :(
4) vw belongs to hippie leader who disappeared 30 plus years ago, in fact the night of anti war protest at a nearby gov office
5) also found, a plastic security guard id!
6)investigators track security guard to retirement home in florida. security guard admitts he killed the hippie leader
7)hippies had held protest at office where sec. guard was working on day he learned his son was killed in nam. he thus went nuts. the hippies had also used the flag as toilet paper during protest; which further inflamed the security guard's rage...
10) just to cover all bases, the 'hippie' leader was really an undercover police agent. the prosecutors decided not to prosecute the security guard ....
the show was astonishing in its hatred for the counterculture, of the ideas of the 60's. it was naked in its efforts to help the busheviks (this episode predated the junyer bush era, if i remember correctly)

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. Tell me, did you really expect any different

from a show called Law and Order?

I noted in another thread the militarization of the police, the prevalence of SWAT and black-masked door kickers -- but before it was all common on the street, we saw it on TV. We've been adjusting the public to this for two decades.

And now, all the CSI stuff - "See? This is what the evil-doers do, and it's not good who when the police kick in YOUR door, cooperate!"

Creeping fascism.

[submerged99]

18. Watched a few times about 6 or 7 years ago-prosecution painted in best light

A bout 6 or 7 years ago I spent the summer in Okla with my family. This was out in a rural area and we had no cable and only the basic channels.

I tried to follow this show but it the plots were irritating for me.

From what I saw, and admittedly it was only a selection from the whole, every defendant was guilty of the crime they committed. The only time the prosecution "bent the rules" was when a guilty party might get away.

The only case I saw them lose was when some skinhead killed an Asian person and it was "oh well, that happens sometimes."

Has this show ever done an episode where an innocent person is ruined or jailed for no reason?

[mnhtnbb]

19. They've gone after health insurance companies a number of times

There's one show where Richard Thomas guests as a crazy guy
who's killing prostitutes. Turns out he has end stage syphilis.
He was turned down for medical insurance years previously--but the insurance company didn't tell him why! So the DA files charges to hold the insurance company responsible because Thomas' character could have gotten treatment.

There's another show where a man whose daughter is denied treatment by an HMO kills one of the HMO administrative types. In the end, the HMO is held responsible for denying treatment.

They've gone after murderers of abortion providers. They've gone after the Rev. Fred Phelps anti-gay types. You could go on and on.

I admit to being a Law and Order and SVU junkie. Even though when
Fred Dalton Thompson showed up the shows took a right-leaning turn,
they take on the right a lot.

[fudge stripe cookays]

23. Yep, me too.

I love Munch.

For all the bitching people do about Thompson, Munch gets in some good anti-Bush/anti right wing digs from time to time too.

[WinkyDink]

20. They've gone after anti-choice extremists, e.g.

[XanaDUer]

21. Angie Harmon is a Bush supporter

I watch L & O a lot.

[Zhade]

22. They lie about marijuana on that show a LOT.

Part of why I stopped watching it.

But the topper was when McCoy's rightwing scumbag boss called Iran-Contra "far-left nonsense from the lunatic fringe" - and it was allowed to stand.

FUCK that show. A show about justice, that lies about history? Worthless.

[WilliamPitt]

24. It's equal opportunity

I've seen episodes that lampoon the Right's ridiculous activities in Florida 2000.

I've seen episodes that connect Iraq to 9/11 (albeit this was just after the invasion).

It is an excellent show, and if you watch enough, you get the gist of the characters' politics. The fact that they all tend to disagree on matters of substance makes the show better.