Anybody watching this? I gave up on L&O long ago, but this got some good preliminary reviews. It’s pretty good through the first two eps, and the cast is good, with Edie Falco as lead. My only beef with it is all the significant glances the cops keep giving each other because the viewer is too stupid to pick up on what’s happening and needs visual clues, dammit!
It’s been way too long since I watched anything on network TV while it’s airing, so the commercials drive me nuts. Even if you record it, you can’t fast forward through the commercials; but they can’t take away my mute button.
I’m a huge L&O fan from wayyy back, so I’ve been watching it. It seems a little … staid, even by L&O standards. And I hate hate hate hate that high-pitched electronic buzzing sound they use as a “soundtrack” to increase the tension. In fact, that buzzing sound is what will make me stop watching. And soon.
I’m not able to watch this (I’m one of those guys who proudly brags of not having a TV, remember?), but I wonder: Is the portrayal on L&O suggesting that they were railroaded in a more-or-less kangaroo court?
As I remember the real case, they were tried twice: In the first trial, the judge made a variety of rulings (on admissibility, sustaining or overruling objections, and such) that largely tended to favor the defendants. The jury hung and a mistrial was declared, IIRC.
For their second trial, a judge was chosen at random (apparently the standard procedure for all trials), and they drew the SAME judge. Of course, many of the same questions arose over admissibility, objections, and such. But this time, that same judge ruled largely in ways that favored the prosecution. I remember noticing that at the time.
From what I remember reading in the news (and remembering that the public sees a different view than what the jury sees), I kind of thought they really were abused and my sympathies were at least a little bit on their side. I never really believed that they killed their parents for the money. And I thought that at the second trial, because the same judge changed his rulings on various questions, the brothers were railroaded.
The abuse angle only works on the Dad. They murdered their Mom at close range and in cold blood. Then they went on a spending spree. I think I read that Dick Wolf thinks they were only guilty of manslaughter.
I’m still wondering, though:
– Is there any substantial body of opinion to the effect that they were railroaded by the judge at the second trial?
– How is L&O portraying that aspect?
This show takes us back to the time when the Law and Order franchise produced serious and intelligent television rather than the embarrassing soap opera that is SVU. It has Dick Wolf’s imprint all over it and I’m enjoying it thoroughly.
Yeah, I’m another hater on the “music”. There are other series that do this, and it’s annoying as hell. Let’s try using good writing and acting to create tension, shall we?
