When “Law & Order” first hit the airwaves in September of 1990, I was an immediate fan. The concept, the ignoring of the personal lives of the lead characters, the wonderful acting and especially the endless plot twists hooked me a few seasons before the public would catch on and make the show a regular ratings hit. The first four seasons are among four of the best ever produced for dramatic television, thanks mainly to Michael Moriarty’s exceptional work as Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, a resourceful, Robert F. Kennedy-style hard-nosed prosecutor determined to see justice done (though the whole cast was top-notch).

After 88 episodes Moriarty left, Sam Waterston (one of my favorite actors) took his place, and while the show was never quite the same, it remained regular viewing until around 2002.

The program’s eventual deterioration was a case study in the boiling frog theory. The quality of the production and acting remained, but the politics slowly shifted to the far left almost without my noticing. And it wasn’t the actual politics that first became apparent; it was the negative effect of those politics on the quality of the storytelling.

The fun of the show, especially in those early seasons, was that you never knew how the story would end.  Certainly, there were political moments, but the overriding theme of every episode was the determination of smart, dedicated people who carried a respect for the law doing their best to bring the guilty to justice. This was what the show was “about,” the agenda was to tell a helluva story, therefore the plot could go anywhere, and did.  

But as the year 2000 closed in, this agenda slowly turned more towards the political, making the plot-twists predictable to the point that once the detectives interviewed a white businessman or anyone wearing a crucifix, the game was pretty much over. This all-too common phenomenon in all branches of fictional storytelling today is what I call the “Liberal Tell,” and the “Liberal Tell” sucks the suspense out of everything. Simply put:  Once you understand the politics of the entertainment industry, you know the story can only conclude one way.  

Living with the “Liberal Tell” is much easier than living with the “Leftist Sucker Punch,” and after September 11th, “Law & Order” went off the rails. Increasingly, and from out of nowhere, one of the show’s characters would invariably launch a jarring partisan shot at President Bush, the Iraq War, or the Patriot Act… and things quickly got to the point where sitting and waiting for the sucker shot made it impossible to relax and get lost in the show.

Last week, and for the first time in 6 or 7 years, I tuned in for a new episode. Someone tipped me that the season premiere revolved around the indictment of the Bush Administration, specifically Dick Cheney, for the so-called “Torture Memos.”  The episode was titled “Memos from the Darkside.” Here’s a synopsis:

When young war veteran Greg Tanner is found murdered in a Hudson University parking garage, Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) connect the murder to law professor Kevin Franklin (Guest Star David Alan Basche), an attorney who formerly worked for the Department of Justice. But when the case is brought to court, it seems Tanner (Guest Star Creighton James) may have been more affected by the war than his discharge stated. Lupo and Bernard find that the pieces start to fit when Franklin’s memos from the Bush Administration are leaked.

Well, that’s only half the story. Jack McCoy (Waterston, who’s been promoted to D.A. since I last watched) loses the murder case against the law professor/former Justice Department lawyer and decides to prosecute him for writing the “Torture Memos,” which outlined the legalities involved in the enhanced interrogation of terrorists. Essentially, McCoy tries to put a lawyer in jail for interpreting the law at the request of his boss.

The episode is worse than partisan, it’s stupid.  You don’t have to be Clarence Darrow to understand that interpreting the law isn’t illegal but McCoy’s malicious prosecution probably is.

Worse than that, the show was awful. And this may not be the case every week, but on this particular episode everyone’s acting meter was broke (including the normally reliable Waterston), the score was over-the-top with melodrama and the story was ludicrous to the point of intelligence-insulting.

The show’s theme was also the very worst one any storyteller can choose: Sanctimony. McCoy’s unbearable superiority and smugness penetrates every scene. It was like listening to George Clooney accept an Oscar for an hour.

So what happened to this once must-see show whose ratings last season were less than half of their 2001 peak?

In two words: Rene Balcer.

Balcer not only co-wrote last week’s “Indict Cheney” episode, he’s been the show’s executive producer since 1996, and judging from this 2005 interview, what he calls “the so-called War on Terror” seems to have affected his approach to the show. He has nothing but contempt for the Bush Administration’s efforts to keep us safe and isn’t shy in stating how his show is used to promote his Bush Derangement propaganda:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

“There’s a balance, but anyone who’s been watching knows our best shows make the public question what’s going on. We don’t necessarily give them the answers, but we do encourage them to question what’s going on.”

Balcer truly does believe television can sway the way people think. Later in the interview he actually claims, quite seriously, that the use of torture as a dramatic device on “24” could influence an Iraqi insurgent to torture an American soldier.

And if you’re wondering if Balcer’s Leftist extremism extends only to national security, here’s another video where he complains about the L.A. Times and New York Times not being liberal enough:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

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Using “Law & Order” as his own personal Leftist-Wet-Dream-Machine is not only an abuse of the public airwaves, it tarnishes the legacy of a once great show and insures it will limp off the field remembered as just another “liberal Hollywood” punchline.

This is how degenerate Hollywood’s become: Today it’s more damaging to your career to buck the “cool kids”  and speak out against the child rapist than it is to be the child rapist.

The round up below took twenty-minutes to put together. Who knows who or what else is out there. And don’t forget it’s early. Hollywood’s Rally ‘Round the Child-Sodomizer is only 36 hours old.

Harvey Weinstein:

“We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said. Sources close to The Weinstein Company said the mogul would reach out to Hollywood to lobby against any move to bring Polanski to the US, where he could face up to 50 years in jail.

Patrick Goldstein:

We live in an age that is so thoroughly post-modern that you can find an obvious literary antecedent for nearly every seamy media storyline. The same goes for the Polanski case, which is full of echoes of “Les Miserables,” the classic Victor Hugo novel about Jean Valjean, an ex-con trying to turn his life around who is being obsessively tracked and hunted down by the Parisian police inspector Javert.

Hugo’s story is a tragedy, as is the life story of Polanski, who was a fugitive as a boy and is now a fugitive as an old man. Whether the L.A. County district attorney office has its way or not, it is not a story that can have a happy ending. I think Polanski has already paid a horrible, soul-wrenching price for the infamy surrounding his actions. The real tragedy is that he will always, till his death, be snubbed and stalked and confronted by people who think the price he has already paid isn’t enough.

Jeff Wells:

Has Polanski suffered at all for his crime, apart from going to jail for 42 days in 1977? Of course he has. The crime has been haunting his head and heart for 32 years and it has defined the political and geographical limits of his life and career for same amount of time — more than half his adult life. He’s lived as a fugitive, a restricted man, a hider in the shadows — never a good thing for anyone in a spiritual sense.

But in the minds of the haters, Polanski hasn’t begun to suffer enough. They’re determined to lash him to the rack and keep him there. They want Pilgrim justice, flayings, black caps, thumbscrews, howls and clanging metal doors.

Zurich Film Festival:

The Zurich Film Festival jury donned red badges reading “Free Polanski” at a news conference Monday and accused Switzerland of “philistine collusion” in arresting Polanski.

“We hope today this latest order will be dropped. It is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities,” said jury president Debra Winger. “We stand by and wait for his release and his next masterwork.”

Festival de Cannes president Gilles Jacob, Italian star Monica Bellucci and directors Costa-Gavras, Wong Kar Wai and Bertrand Tavernier are among the signatures on a petition demanding Polanski’s immediate release.

Mark Urman of Paladin Films:

“I am both surprised and concerned,” said Mark Urman of Paladin Films, who has worked with Polanski for decades, echoing sentiments expressed by many on the eve of the Jewish holiday of atonement.

Producer Mike Medavoy:

“I find the whole thing sad all around,” wrote producer Mike Medavoy by email. Referring to the unrelenting policeman in ‘Les Miserables,’ Medavoy added: “While it isn’t exactly Javert, the original story — going back to Roman in Poland, the murder of his pregnant wife, and the strange mother-daughter story, the judge — I think they should drop the charges and he should come and end all of this.” … “He needs to be able to live a normal life without feeling this shadow over his head the women involved want him forgive and feel he should be left alone.”

Cinematical:

You might wind up asking yourself: ‘But was it consensual?’ And if it’s consensual, does that really make a difference when you’re talking about a girl that young? …

In France, where Polanski has been living for the past 30 years without trouble due to the country’s limited extradition laws, they’re appropriately upset and “dumbfounded” by the Swiss’ decision to detain the filmmaker. The Zurich Film Festival will still go ahead with its planned retrospective of Polanski’s work and a special ceremony will be held Sunday night “to allow everyone to express their solidarity for Roman Polanski and their admiration for his work,” according to the festival manager.

Neil Jordan, Mike Nichols, Salman Rushdie….

Apprehended like a common terrorist Saturday evening, September 26, as he came to receive a prize for his entire body of work, Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison.  …

We ask the Swiss courts to free him immediately and not to turn this ingenious filmmaker into a martyr of a politico-legal imbroglio that is unworthy of two democracies like Switzerland and the United States. Good sense, as well as honor, require it.

Kim Morgan:

Roman Polanski Understands Women: Repulsion

I’m not going to go into my Roman Polanski defense. I’ve been doing this all morning, nearly ranting and raving over my views on the matter, and have grown frustrated and depressed. But in short, I’m not happy about his arrest. So, I would rather discuss one of his greatest pictures, a brilliant portrait of female sadness, alienation, sexual neurosis turned to psychosis. A movie all women should watch is his masterpiece Repulsion.

This is how degenerate Hollywood’s become: Today it’s more damaging to your career to buck the “cool kids”  and speak out against the child rapist than it is to be the child rapist.

The round up below took twenty-minutes to put together. Who knows who or what else is out there. And don’t forget it’s early. Hollywood’s Rally ‘Round the Child-Sodomizer is only 36 hours old.

Harvey Weinstein:

“We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said. Sources close to The Weinstein Company said the mogul would reach out to Hollywood to lobby against any move to bring Polanski to the US, where he could face up to 50 years in jail.

Patrick Goldstein:

We live in an age that is so thoroughly post-modern that you can find an obvious literary antecedent for nearly every seamy media storyline. The same goes for the Polanski case, which is full of echoes of “Les Miserables,” the classic Victor Hugo novel about Jean Valjean, an ex-con trying to turn his life around who is being obsessively tracked and hunted down by the Parisian police inspector Javert.

Hugo’s story is a tragedy, as is the life story of Polanski, who was a fugitive as a boy and is now a fugitive as an old man. Whether the L.A. County district attorney office has its way or not, it is not a story that can have a happy ending. I think Polanski has already paid a horrible, soul-wrenching price for the infamy surrounding his actions. The real tragedy is that he will always, till his death, be snubbed and stalked and confronted by people who think the price he has already paid isn’t enough.

Jeff Wells:

Has Polanski suffered at all for his crime, apart from going to jail for 42 days in 1977? Of course he has. The crime has been haunting his head and heart for 32 years and it has defined the political and geographical limits of his life and career for same amount of time — more than half his adult life. He’s lived as a fugitive, a restricted man, a hider in the shadows — never a good thing for anyone in a spiritual sense.

But in the minds of the haters, Polanski hasn’t begun to suffer enough. They’re determined to lash him to the rack and keep him there. They want Pilgrim justice, flayings, black caps, thumbscrews, howls and clanging metal doors.

Zurich Film Festival:

The Zurich Film Festival jury donned red badges reading “Free Polanski” at a news conference Monday and accused Switzerland of “philistine collusion” in arresting Polanski.

“We hope today this latest order will be dropped. It is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities,” said jury president Debra Winger. “We stand by and wait for his release and his next masterwork.”

Festival de Cannes president Gilles Jacob, Italian star Monica Bellucci and directors Costa-Gavras, Wong Kar Wai and Bertrand Tavernier are among the signatures on a petition demanding Polanski’s immediate release.

Mark Urman of Paladin Films:

“I am both surprised and concerned,” said Mark Urman of Paladin Films, who has worked with Polanski for decades, echoing sentiments expressed by many on the eve of the Jewish holiday of atonement.

Producer Mike Medavoy:

“I find the whole thing sad all around,” wrote producer Mike Medavoy by email. Referring to the unrelenting policeman in ‘Les Miserables,’ Medavoy added: “While it isn’t exactly Javert, the original story — going back to Roman in Poland, the murder of his pregnant wife, and the strange mother-daughter story, the judge — I think they should drop the charges and he should come and end all of this.” … “He needs to be able to live a normal life without feeling this shadow over his head the women involved want him forgive and feel he should be left alone.”

Cinematical:

You might wind up asking yourself: ‘But was it consensual?’ And if it’s consensual, does that really make a difference when you’re talking about a girl that young? …

In France, where Polanski has been living for the past 30 years without trouble due to the country’s limited extradition laws, they’re appropriately upset and “dumbfounded” by the Swiss’ decision to detain the filmmaker. The Zurich Film Festival will still go ahead with its planned retrospective of Polanski’s work and a special ceremony will be held Sunday night “to allow everyone to express their solidarity for Roman Polanski and their admiration for his work,” according to the festival manager.

Neil Jordan, Mike Nichols, Salman Rushdie….

Apprehended like a common terrorist Saturday evening, September 26, as he came to receive a prize for his entire body of work, Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison.  …

We ask the Swiss courts to free him immediately and not to turn this ingenious filmmaker into a martyr of a politico-legal imbroglio that is unworthy of two democracies like Switzerland and the United States. Good sense, as well as honor, require it.

Kim Morgan:

Roman Polanski Understands Women: Repulsion

I’m not going to go into my Roman Polanski defense. I’ve been doing this all morning, nearly ranting and raving over my views on the matter, and have grown frustrated and depressed. But in short, I’m not happy about his arrest. So, I would rather discuss one of his greatest pictures, a brilliant portrait of female sadness, alienation, sexual neurosis turned to psychosis. A movie all women should watch is his masterpiece Repulsion.