# Law & Order: SERIES FINALE (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658 "2010-05-25T02:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/21 "2010-05-26T05:31:53Z")
The saying is that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, so I agree it was implausibly bad luck that Cutter found himself facing a grand jury made up of vegetarians. Or civil libertarians. > [@friedo](#): > > Sadly, the episode’s depiction of the NYC Education Department rubber rooms is not exaggerated in the slightest. Every few years the New York Times does another expose about them, which inevitably includes statistics about the current administration’s failure to abolish the practice. Everybody writes about those periodically. [The New Yorker did a piece about them last year](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill), and the depiction of Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, was not at all positive. I know L&O took a lot of its ideas from the Post, but I found myself wondering if that article influenced this episode. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/22 "2010-05-26T06:41:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Oh, I know about the rubber room system, it’s just that the episode’s drama was dragged out not by the normal dogged pursuit of leads and evidence, but in being stymied by people for no apparent reason. The Feds aren’t interested, the union isn’t interested, the Department of Education isn’t interested, the grand jury is actively _dis_interested… what the hell? It would have been an interesting final show if Lt. Van Buren told the guys, “Oh, fuck it. Go get a brew. If you hear sounds of explosions and screams, check it out.” ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/23 "2010-05-26T12:00:54Z")
I think the whole Leno thing messed it up for some of the used-to-be-at-10/9Central shows. I used to watch L&O, but then when they moved it around to make room for Leno this fall, it wasn’t at a good time for me to watch anymore. They moved it back, but by then I had other shows I watched at that time… ---
**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:** [May 26, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/24 "2010-05-26T17:06:14Z")
Why the _hell_ did Leno get five weeknights? Couldn’t NBC have given him two to start? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/25 "2010-05-27T03:51:44Z")
I hope they do some kind of two-hour finale wrap-up. This last episode was good, and a fine end to the current season, but as the series finale for a 20 year run, it deserved something bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/26 "2010-05-27T04:02:09Z")
How about a fantasy episode? Crime actually ends. Finally they shutter the precinct and retire. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/27 "2010-05-27T04:50:52Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > How about a fantasy episode? Crime actually ends. Finally they shutter the precinct and retire. I’ve wordered what a Law & Order episode set in the aftermath of a Romero-style zombie outbreak would be like. The NYPD & National Guard would more or less have the situtation under control, but there’d still be the odd zombies running around or someone harboring a zombie relative. There’d be the radom slice-of-life opening; somebody would get attacked by a zombie, police would terminate it, then sexy ME lady would determine that it’s original cause of death was homicide, and so on. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/28 "2010-05-27T05:03:19Z")
Speaking of which, if any character was going to continue, I’d love to see Rogers (the “sexy ME lady”) jump networks to _CSI: New York_, which might actually make that show barely watchable. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/29 "2010-05-27T06:35:22Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I hope they do some kind of two-hour finale wrap-up. This last episode was good, and a fine end to the current season, but as the series finale for a 20 year run, it deserved something bigger. It has been running for 20 years??? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/30 "2010-05-27T11:57:34Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I hope they do some kind of two-hour finale wrap-up. This last episode was good, and a fine end to the current season, but as the series finale for a 20 year run, it deserved something bigger. Dick Wolf is looking for another venue to continue the show (USA?). If he can’t find somewhere to continue the show as is, he plans on doing a L&O Mini-Movie kind of thing to wrap it up. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/31 "2010-05-27T12:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] It has been running for 20 years??? [/QUOTE] Yeah, Rip. The first episode aired that night you tipped back a few with Henry Hudson and his men while playing ninepins up in the hills. Did you think Sam Waterston had aged that much overnight? 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/32 "2010-05-27T13:36:31Z")
Dick Wolf was hoping to get TNT to pick up the show but was unsuccessful (TNT is tightening the purse strings, it just announced major budget cuts for its cop show Southland). One factor in NBC’s decision to cancel (L&O wasn’t doing that badly in the ratings) was the spinoff Law & Order: Los Angeles which is coming in the Fall. It’s clear that they’re hoping this will pick up the all-important younger audience which L&O wasn’t attracting in enough numbers. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/33 "2010-05-27T15:45:56Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Grand juries are always an interesting twist on L&O. In real life, your average grand jury would indict a ham sandwich for first-degree being delicious. Would it also indict the dill pickle as an accessory to being delicious? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/34 "2010-05-27T15:55:59Z")
A group called the Alliance for Justice presented the cast and crew of _L&O_ their annual “Champion of Justice” award. There’s a very nice story and video with comments by some of the cast [here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/05/26/ST2010052604912.html?sid=ST2010052604912). ---
**Author:** ![mountvernon1805](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@mountvernon1805](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mountvernon1805)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/35 "2010-05-29T23:14:05Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > Incidentally, the teacher with the Tesla coil is based on a [real incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Freshwater): One of the teachers in this episode appears to be based on a teacher in my hometown. Like Law & Order science teacher Ron Kozlowski, Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher John Freshwater was accused of “branding a cross” onto a student’s arm with a Tesla coil. Both Kozlowski and Freshwater responded that they never branded anyone and had only done a harmless demonstration as they had on hundreds of students previously. Although the main part of the drama of “Rubber Room” was on identifying and apprehending the suspect, it was good to see the show’s producers shed some light on the issue of teachers’ careers being harmed by “nuisance complaints” from students. If you are interested in Freshwater’s story, you can [watch a video of him addressing the school board.](http:// [www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgtfePmIkPQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgtfePmIkPQ)) Also, I have been providing extensive coverage on my website of Freshwater’s battle with the school system. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/36 "2010-05-29T23:27:34Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **mountvernon1805**. We hope that you’ll stick around and participate in many conversations here. That said, we don’t allow people to post here for the sole purpose of promoting their own websites and blogs. I have thus removed that link from your post. You’ll find more information about the rules and etiquette of life at the SDMB in our ATMB (About This Message Board) forum. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/37 "2010-05-30T02:40:16Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I read in the NYTimes that canceling the show is putting 8,000 support people out of work. If I were responsible for a long-running show that had 8,000 support staffers attaching themselves to it, I’d probably cancel it too. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658/38 "2010-05-30T02:45:49Z")
They’re setting up the next series, _Law and Order, Showbusiness Fraud_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-series-finale-open-spoilers/540658.md?page=1)