Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my argument is simple – the revival of Law & Order should have never happened.
The original series, created by Dick Wolfe, ran from 1990 until it ended in 2012. For the majority of its run, Law & Order was a captivating, must-watch series. It examined the police and the district attorneys’ approach to law enforcement, delved into hot button social issues, and it took “ripped from the headlines” cases and fictionalized them in fascinating detail. However, by its final few seasons, the series ran out of gas. The series stopped showcasing interesting stories, having complicated cases, or caring to spark an honest conversation about a real-life issue.
Instead, it became paint-by-numbers in the worst way possible. Cases would too often come undone by the incompetence and arrogance of the police and, in particular, the prosecutors. Our protagonists often came off as buffoons who should’ve never held the positions of power given to them. When they did succeed in cases, it was by the skin of their teeth. Societal issues were either hand-waved with little care or were handed clumsily and often problematically. “Ripped from the headlines” stories were barely given a fresh coat of paint outside changing the names of the people involved.
Quite frankly, it was time for the series to go away. Yet, since it ended, the series has emerged as the go-to series for networks to fill up air time. There’s not a day or time you can’t find a Law & Order marathon – sometimes on multiple channels at the same time.
With 12 years of hindsight, one would believe that the revival of the iconic television series would have improved upon the weaknesses that lead to the show’s cancellation.
Unfortunately this is not the case.
Despite bringing back series originals D.A. Jack McCoy (Sam Waterson, Grace & Frankie) and Detective Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson, Black-ish) and introducing a whole new cast including television stalwarts Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Camryn Manheim (The Practice), Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) and Odelya Halevi (Good Trouble) this is the exact same show.
The police still do blatantly nonsensical things, and yet somehow the writing team has made Anderson and Donovan’s characters extremely unlikable. Donovan’s Frank Cosgrove is a poor man’s Elliot Stabler, who is always two seconds away from denouncing “the woke mob.” If you wanted Cosgrove to be a hothead, that’s one thing, but he’s so unlikable and such a loose cannon that you can’t bring yourself to give the guy a break.
As for the prosecutors, they’ve cursed Hugh Dancy’s Nolan Price with the same arrogance and hubris that plagued Linus Roache’s Michael Cutter. Price, like Cutter, is someone who believes he knows better but is undone at every corner by his own doing. This happened on occasion with Jack McCoy as well, but this wasn’t the only reason McCoy would lose. He was often opposed by the brilliant or tenacious or unethical defense attorneys and/or defendants he was prosecuting. It was a marvel to watch McCoy get flummoxed by his opponent, only to figure out a clever way to either win or at least make it a nail-biting finish. With Cutter and Price, they’re just two arrogant men that get slapped off their moral high horse.
The shame here is that both Donovan and especially Dancy are strong actors who are given little to do in the premiere. While the episode doesn’t have much time to dive too deep into either character right away, we’re not given any sort of backstory or any shred of a character trait here for the audience to latch onto. Who are these guys? Why are they the way they are? Instead of giving us some meat on the bones with these characters, we’re instead given bland caricatures that are portrayed in the most unlikable way.
For some, the revival of Law & Order is exactly what they want as it follows that familiar formula that’s allowed the series to become intrinsically woven into the cultural tapestry of American network television for over 30 years. For some, that’s all they want or need. However, the quality of this show has declined so much that if you really want to see a good episode of Law & Order, go to the many networks that run marathons of this series from its glory days. It’s much more interesting, entertaining, and compelling than this revival.
Law & Order airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. on NBC and will stream on Peacock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLAoM6Oaaqs
