# Law and Order: Pulled from the headlines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430 "2006-04-12T20:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/1 "2006-04-12T20:29:25Z")
Occasionally, Law and Order will advertise an episode as being based on real events. These are my favorites. There’s one with a pedophile standup comedian who pays parents to allow him to have sex with their children. They really hammer home the fact that he’s supposed to be based on Michael Jackson. There’s another episode that very obviously is a fictionalized account of the Michael Skakel case. What other episodes are pulled from real events? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/2 "2006-04-12T20:34:23Z")
There was an episode so closely based on the Joel Steinberg case that L&O was moved to run a disclaimer pointedly denying that the ep was based on the case, going so far as to note differences between the outcome of the episode and the outcome of the actual case. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/3 "2006-04-12T20:40:48Z")
There was one years ago (“Indifference”) about a man who beat up his adopted/foster daughter, which was based on Joel Steinberg, Hedda Nussbaum and Lisa Steinberg. It featured multiple guest star Marcia Jean Kurtz, who can currently be seen as the woman who won’t undress in **Inside Man**. A number of the recent events [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_New_York_City_crimes) were made into L&O eps. The Staten Island Ferry crash, rape of Abner Louima. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/4 "2006-04-12T20:42:38Z")
There was one years ago (“Indifference”) about a man who beat up his adopted/foster daughter, which was based on Joel Steinberg, Hedda Nussbaum and Lisa Steinberg. It featured multiple guest star Marcia Jean Kurtz, who can currently be seen as the woman who won’t undress in **Inside Man**. The Staten Island Ferry crash The fire at the Happyland Social Club (sad ep, end with the reading of all the fictional names of the dead) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/5 "2006-04-12T20:42:49Z")
They did something based on the Tailhook story, and also one based on the police fingerprint expert who falsified results to convict people. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/6 "2006-04-12T20:44:34Z")
The doc who impregnates his fertility clinic patients with his own sperm. Comatose patient who is raped (turns out her parents arranged it to get a grandchild) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/7 "2006-04-12T20:47:38Z")
[Plot Inspirations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_and_Order:_Special_Victims_Unit#Plot_inspirations) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/8 "2006-04-12T21:34:56Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > There was one years ago (“Indifference”) about a man who beat up his adopted/foster daughter, which was based on Joel Steinberg, Hedda Nussbaum and Lisa Steinberg. ::: sigh ::: It’s like I’m not even here… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/9 "2006-04-12T21:38:24Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > There’s one with a pedophile standup comedian who pays parents to allow him to have sex with their children. They really hammer home the fact that he’s supposed to be based on Michael Jackson. Nitpick: That character was a toy-store magnate, not a comedian, and paid some parents hush-money but did not pay them in advance to play with their kid. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/10 "2006-04-12T21:49:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Nitpick: That character was a toy-store magnate, not a comedian, and paid some parents hush-money but did not pay them in advance to play with their kid. That was a seperate episode. The toy store magnate one was on Special Victims Unit. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/11 "2006-04-12T21:55:38Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Comatose patient who is raped (turns out her parents arranged it to get a grandchild) I thought it was arranged by a millionaire with some disease and he basically paid the parents to impregnate the girl with his sperm and then to have an abortion so he could get the stem cells in an attempt to cure his disease? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/12 "2006-04-12T22:05:17Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > ::: sigh ::: It’s like I’m not even here… Well, the title _is_ “Indifference.” Isn’t the usual phrase _ripped_ from the headlines? In any case, there was also an episode featuring a female Navy pilot (aviator, if you prefer) that had some vague similarities to real-life pilot Kara S. Hultgreen. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/13 "2006-04-12T22:08:05Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I thought it was arranged by a millionaire with some disease and he basically paid the parents to impregnate the girl with his sperm and then to have an abortion so he could get the stem cells in an attempt to cure his disease? No. What happened was, the woman’s mother wanted a grandchild, and her daughter was in a coma, so she paid a hospital employee to basically rape her own daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/14 "2006-04-12T22:11:08Z")
There was the O.J.-based California murder where the film director killed his ex-wife. Then there was the P.Diddy/J-Lo club shooting. And of course, the stabbing of the young tennis star. I can’t remember the name of her real-life counterpart, though. I watch way too much of that show. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/15 "2006-04-12T22:28:32Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > Occasionally, Law and Order will advertise an episode as being based on real events. These are my favorites. There’s one with a pedophile standup comedian who pays parents to allow him to have sex with their children. They really hammer home the fact that he’s supposed to be based on Michael Jackson. There’s also the creepy toymaker who was based on Michael Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/16 "2006-04-12T22:49:57Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > And of course, the stabbing of the young tennis star. I can’t remember the name of her real-life counterpart, though. Well, Monica Seles is a tennis player who was stabbed by a deranged fan of her rival, Steffi Graf, but that episode involved a club attack and had more in common with the assault on skater Nancy Kerrigan, at least at first glance. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/17 "2006-04-12T23:41:08Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I thought it was arranged by a millionaire with some disease and he basically paid the parents to impregnate the girl with his sperm and then to have an abortion so he could get the stem cells in an attempt to cure his disease? Again…two different episodes. One was a regular L&O, and the millionaire one was an SVU episode ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/18 "2006-04-13T00:09:51Z")
> [@JPen](#): > > Again…two different episodes. One was a regular L&O, and the millionaire one was an SVU episode The SVU episode was entitled “Waste”, but I can’t seem to find the title of the other episode. Seems to me that it might have been during the Abbie Carmichael years. I could be wrong though. And yes, I just spent the last half hour trying to find that episode name. Apparently, I have no life. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/19 "2006-04-13T00:12:54Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > [Plot Inspirations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_and_Order:_Special_Victims_Unit#Plot_inspirations) Thanks for that! I’ve been looking for a website like that to show the similarities, but I forgot about SVU, and was focusing mainly on the first Law and Order series. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430/20 "2006-04-13T00:13:42Z")
There was an episode that closely mirrored Canada’s Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka killings. BTW, Indifference may very well be the best. episode. ever. At least in the top five. ‘Pookie’s scared!’ _shudder_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-and-order-pulled-from-the-headlines/352430.md?page=2)