Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Or Second. Or Third. Or So.


This evening I happened to catch this ad for Law and Order: LA (a show which, just a couple of weeks ago I wondered aloud about the continued existence of...obviously having been mesmerized by the one and only episode of it I watched last fall).



What struck me was the apparent ignorance of the network, or the producers, or an advertising agency, or whoever wrote and approved these lines:

For the first time in twenty years, a Law and Order detective will fall.

Oh? Really?

If by “fall” they mean “will die,” then they obviously have forgotten the very first L&O lead detective, Sgt. Max Greevey, who was murdered in the 1991 episode “Confession.”

I imagine they would argue that Capt. Danny Ross, who was killed at the beginning of the ninth season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent does not qualify as a “detective”--but the fact that he was killed while working undercover sure makes it feel like he was another L&O detective to “fall.”


Perhaps there have been others as well--I don’t follow Law and Order: Special Victims Unit--but in any event, I’m thinking it’s not exactly accurate to portray this apparent killing-off of a Law and Order franchise detective as a “first.” More of a “second” or even “third.”

But, who's counting?

2 comments:

LawDesk Computers said...

First time in 20 years.... well let's see, it IS 2011, 20 years ago was 1991, so yeah, that's about right.

William J Reynolds said...

Yes, "about"...as in "almost," but to say "For the first time in nearly twenty years" isn't as sexy (Greevey was killed in an episode that aired in September 1991, so we're several months shy of twenty years). Also, I still maintain that the murder of Capt. Danny Ross, who was killed in the line of duty just over one year ago, gives the lie to the whole "first time" angle.

But I spent enough time in advertising to know that factuality is not well prized.

I am curious to know what the "Law and Order first" alluded to might be. Clearly it can't be bringing a character (in this case, Connie Rubirosa) from one L&O franchise to another--they did that already with both Mike Logan and, all too briefly, Lenny Briscoe.

It may be that the ad induces me to watch next week's "Law and Order: LA" just to see what all the hoo-hah's about. In which case we would have to say that the advertising worked, despite or perhaps because of its flaws.