One of the most famous - or infamous - aspects of L&O is the creators' tendency to rip characters, scenarios (and sometimes whole plots) right out of the headlines. The first-season ep 'Indifference', for example, so closely paralleled a child-abuse case of the time that it raised a real furor over libel.
Ever since, a careful disclaimer has appeared at the end of each episode...but the parallels go on.
I can remember unofficial references to Heidi Fleiss and the Menendez brothers, for starters. Anybody else?

There were two that relate to Malcom X and the Minister Farakhan. In the first, the "Malcom" character was killed, and the organization was cooperative when it looked like a white wannabe was responsible, but then they closed ranks when it started looking like the "Farakhan" character's bodyguard might have done it under orders.

In the second, the bodyguard was killed, and the "Farakhan" character barely escaped. The suspect was the "Malcom" character's son (In real life it was Malcom's daughter that was implicated in a "revenge" plot against Farakhan)

Another "borrowed from the headlines" plot involved a couple of youngsters - boyfreind and girlfreind - who left a frat party for an hour or so to check into a hotel and deliver and (apparently) kill a baby. The producers were threatened with a big lawsuit by the lawyers of the real-life couple, but they avoided it by managing to prove that the fictional couple were innocent - at least of the murder.

The way NBC promotes them, they're all "Ripped from the Headlines -- on this weeks Law & Order".

They will have a lot of headlines to rip-L&O will go thru 2005 and SVU thru 2002, at least.

NBC is a bunch of chicken s**t a**holes. First they pull a "Seinfeld" ep in 1998 for insulting a self-appointed pressure group, then they do the same thing with last week's "L&O" as that show also offended the same pressure group. Would CBS, ABC, Fox or UPN cave as easily as the sissies at NBC did? Any so-called pressure group gets the slightest bit offended and NBC caves in like a frightened puppy. What else could we expect from the network that cancelled "Star Trek?"

Adam: What epsiode got pulled?

Last weeks (1/24) ep re: wilding at the Puerto Rican Day Parade (as the papers made it out to be.) NBC stated they will not repeat it, after outcries from self-appointed watchdogs who were offended by the ep. (Maybe the same ones who were offended by the penultimate "Seinfeld" ep in '98.) Personally, I did not see it (I watch "Once and Again".) This reinforces my belief that some people look for things that offend them. NBC is a bunch of cowards to cave into ANY pressure group. Dick Wolf was not consulted, and he is very unhappy about the situation.

>> re: wilding at the Puerto Rican Day Parade (as the papers made it out to be)

Could somebody bring me up to speed on this? I vaguely remember a controversial ep based around this theme, but not the details.

Adam: Well, I don't know about where you live, but the Denver affiliate didn't go along with it. And this is a predominately Hispanic city.

Okay, memory's returning. I read a newspaper article last summer that indicated L&O would be making an ep based on the incident, and how local activists were trying to stop it even back then. Guess they eventually succeeded.
I don't quite get it, myself. After all, as Dick Wolf points out in the official press release on the subject, his series has always explored controversial topics; they've ticked off so many different 'pressure groups' by now that it's become something of a trademark. No amount of censorship is going to change the fact that the parade wilding itself happened - a real issue that these activists should probably be devoting their time to instead.
As for whether 'ABC, CBS, Fox (etc.)' would have done the same, Adam...they have, many, many times. The history of television is littered with silly censorship decisions...like the one where Italian-Americans complained they were getting a raw deal on Robert Stack's 'Untouchables' series, and eventually succeeded in getting the series cancelled.

Italian-Americans also bashed "The Godfather" and "The Sopranos", and they are both considered top of the heap in movies and TV, respectively. Early eps of "St. Elsewhere" involved Irish gangs bombing Boston, and NBC never pulled those eps, or censored them. (To Brian-I was born and raised in New York City. I now reside in central New Jersey. I am Irish-American-my father is from Ireland, as was my mother's parents-she was born here. I am married to an Italian-American woman.) I agree with you, kerriem- A lot of these "activists" spend too much time rationalizing antisocial behavior, instead of getting at the root of the problem. Most of them are also media hounds who have NOTHING to say when the cameras aren't rolling. I am very liberal when it comes to censorship, and I am tired of seeing so-called media watchdogs from Rev. Donald Wildmon and his "American Family Association" to whoever complained about "L&O" dictating what should and should not be aired.
If every network and cable channel caved to all these pressure groups, we would be watching pablum 24/7, instead of challenging fare like "Trek", "L&O", "SVU" and "Oz". (BTW-"Oz", one of the best shows ever, puts EVERYONE in a bad light.)

When is "L&O" going to do the Queens Wendy's massacre. One of the creeps pleaded guilty, the other is awaiting trial and could get the death penalty. They did the Rae Carruth story the other night, transposing basketball for football.
Comment: I am so sick and tired of athletes, especially football players, getting a pass on some of these henious crimes they commit. Ray Lewis was involved in a double murder. So what happens? Super Bowl MVP. Latrell Sprewell attacks his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. (Give me P.J. Harvey over him anyday.) Sprewell is traded to the Knicks, where he is practically canonized. We glorify these creeps, pay tham millions, then give them a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for their criminal behavior. Enough already.

Another real-life crime they handled was the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka killings. They changed a few details, but it was easily recognizable as the death of Homolka's sister.

Last week's SVU ep (02/23): I recognized the story of the school photographer kidnapping kids. Did that happen, or did they rip it off from a book or something?

Another real-life crime they handled was the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka killings.

Mlieko, which one was that ep? I'm not familiar with the case, so could you describe the ep?

Paul Bernardo and his wife Karla nee Holmoka are Canadian serial killers who tortured first Karla's young sister, then two random pretty schoolgirls, to death in the Niagara Falls area in the mid-'90s. (Bernardo was also the highly prolific Scarborough (Toronto) Rapist at the time. Fun couple, eh?)
For L&O to reenact even the first victim's death would make for a grim ep, believe me. Essentially, Paul expressed an interest in deflowering his then-fiancee's 15-year-old sister Tammy. Dutiful Karla (who would later claim she was acting out of fear for her own life) helped him drug Tammy in their basement in preparation...except Tammy wound up choking on her own vomit. The incident was labeled an accident and the Happy Couple went on to have a delightful fairy-tale wedding, etc. etc.

Events like this are blessedly rare up here, especially in New England-esque Niagara, so you can imagine the shockwaves that still reverberate. (Recently, a proposal to make a movie out of the whole mess was challenged in the House of Commons - our Congress!)
Count me out of ever watching this ep - and heaven help Dick Wolf if the victims' families ever catch up with him.

I hope you are being facetious about the Homolkas. I am unfamiliar with the case, so if they got a pass, the police and prosecutors should be ashamed of themselves.
The puppy angle of last week's "SVU" may have been taken from the Megan Kanka case, where a twice-convicted pedophile named Jesse Timmendaquas lured seven-year old Megan Kanka into his home on the ruse of seeing a puppy. He then proceeded to rape and murder her. Timmendaquas is now on death row here in N.J.

I was being facetious...sort of. Paul Bernardo was eventually convicted of murder and rape, and is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole (he's survived one prison stabbing already.)
The trick is, the only evidence against him was his wife Karla's testimony, for which she received leniency...except that just after that deal was sealed it was revealed that the duo had videotaped every horrible moment of their terrible crimes.
But the plea couldn't be changed, apparently, so Karla - according to the tapes an enthusiastic participant in the tortures - gets off with twelve short years for manslaughter (!)...and instantly becomes easily the most hated woman in Canada.
(Actually, rereading this, I can see why L&O would be interested in this legal angle - especially the part where Niagara police searched the crime scene inch-by-inch and missed the tapes, only to have them produced with a flourish by lawyers later. I just can't imagine anyone wanting to reenact the crimes.)

That is most appalling, kerriem -a willing participant in the torture, rape and death of one's own sister-and then to have made a snuff film out of it. What kind of degenerates are these "people?" Once Karla is released from prison, she may be a target. In fact, due to her notoriety, she just may be one now, like her husband.
Here in New Jersey, baby dumping is almost an Olympic event. First the two rich trash, Brian Petersen and Amy Grossberg (who got off incredibly lightly-less than three years apiece-they are from Jersey, but had the baby in a Delaware motel, then dumped in in its dumpster) then Melissa Drexler, the "Prom Mom" (who had her baby in the toilet, killed it and went back to dancing.) Now a dead infant girl was found this past weekend in an abandoned car. To me, the murder of a helpless infant is just as warped. Has "L&O" done any episodes based on the Peterson/Grossberg or Prom Mom cases?

Was the L&O episode the one where the one sister "drafted" her sister and the family exchange student into S&M where they got killed?

I'm thinking there was an ep based on the 'Prom Mom', Adam, but I can't place it. Maybe when the rest of the seasons go up on the board.

Whoops - maybe sooner than that. Check TomM's post near the top of this thread (albeit it still doesn't give ep details.)

Sounds good, Tom and Kerriem. I don't know if a frat party was involved in the real Peterson/Grossberg case, though. I will keep my eyes out for it in the daily repeats, as A&E runs two eps daily, twice a day. Thanks.
P.S. I think A&E will lose "L&O" this year, as it may be heading to TNT. Where will TNT fit it in?

A&E is losing L&O? Lifetime had Homicide, and I don't know where it went to. Anybody know?

ScottN: CourtTV before Profiler and America's Most Wanted. If Law & Order goes to TNT it will be with Pretender. L&O did crossovers with Homicide. Pretender did crossovers with profile.r Why can't they put L&O and Homicide on CourtTV, and Profiler and Pretender on TNT?

I only heard once about "L&O" going to TNT once, about two years ago. I have heard nothing more since. A&E treats it well, leaving it in its four daily slots for a long time now, despite the addition of "L.A. Law," "Magnum", "News Radio" and "Night Court." I don't see how the overcrowded TNT will fit it in.
Lifetime originally purchased "Homicide", but they didn't know what to do with it, so they sold it to Court TV.

I doubt A&E will EVER give up Law & Order, given the amount of prestige they gain from running it. Also it's just recently become a feature attraction on the channel's website (www.aande.com), with its own episode guide and everything.

I don't remember much of the ep I was thinking about, but a couple were involved in the sex-killing of her sister and at least one other girl. The woman made a deal to testify against her boyfriend and after the deal is made someone unearths Polaroids of the crime.

The episode story was nowhere near as horrifying as the real thing, but it had just enough similarities that I was mildly disgusted with them.

That's the ep I was thinking of... A truly horrifying ep. And the girl was nastier than the boyfriend!

I hope A&E does not lose L&O, because I am just now catching up with it. TV Guide this week gave it a Jeer, saying that they rely too much on "ripped from the headlines" and have not had an original story in a long time.

If I were human, I'd say, "To h*ll with TV Guide".

TNT starts running "L&O" on June 5, 2001, according to promoes currently running. I don't know if it is the entire series (which means A&E loses one of their mainstays) or just a package of the later seasons.

TNT seems to have a different package of episodes, probably from season seven on. Also, they only run the show once a week (Tuesdays at 8 p.m.) Did anyone get a load of TNT's new logo bug, BTW?

A&E only runs the early seasons in repeats, presumably the right to the later eps were what was sold to TNT... I hope

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but a long time ago, L&O did one that was almost exactly the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding fiasco.

Think I just saw that one recently. Didn't it involve two tennis players instead of skaters?

They also did one based on the Robert Blake thing in LA.

I know that they already touched on the subject of paedophiliac priests (Bad Faith), but in light of the scandal in Boston, I expect that they will revisit the issue. (It might even give them a chance to cross over with Crossing Jordan)

a chance to cross over with Crossing Jordan

Would that be a Crossing Over Jordan or a Crossing Jordan Over?

They've done so many obvious ones that I've lost count... Just saw the Tawana Brawley (sp?) based one the other night...

Tawana who?

From Court TV Online:

In November of 1987, a 15-year-old girl named Tawana Brawley was found in upstate New York, covered with ••••• and racial slurs written in charcoal. Brawley, who is black, claimed to have been abducted and raped by six white law enforcement officers.
(No, CourtTV hasn't relaxed it's broadcast standards. The word dotted out is 'fe ces'.)

As you can imagine, Brian, New York was convulsed with horror. The national press - and high-profile African-American activists, most prominently the Rev. Al Sharpton - followed in short order.
The catch was...there was no rape. Brawley had made it all up, apparently to avoid a beating for staying out all night.

Oh, I remember reading about that! I guess i just forgot the name. Yeah, that was awful. And what's worse was that even after the fact that it was a lie came out many in the black community wante something done to white officers anyway. The reasoning is beyond my comprehension.

TNT ran the ep based on the Bernardo/Homolka case the other day. I couldn't help but think about the contrast between the episode (in which the judge threw out a plea bargain) and real life, in which Homolka got off lightly. And yes, the Homolka character in the ep was very nasty.

What was the Bernardo/Homolka case? And which ep was based upon it?

Read Kerrie's post of 2/27/01 above. The plot was as Kerrie described the incident, except at the end, whan the plea bargain was submitted to the judge, the wife revealed herself as a willing participant in the crimes, not the abused victim of her husband she had formerly claimed to be.
I got a kick out of the disclaimer "This story is fiction."

HBO's very informative (and very grisly) series Autopsy, in its most recent episode (number 8) gives a detailed account of the Bernardo/Homolka killings. Karla Homolka is scheduled for release in 2005, a slap on the wrist, IMHO.

How they avoided Michael Jackson's lawyers on "Smoke" is beyond me.

How they avoid legal consequences on any of their "Ripped From The Headlines" stories is beyond me (particularly on a recent one, "Embedded.") Does anyone know if the L&O producers have ever been sued?

The episode NBC ran last night was based on the true incident of a woman who hit a homeless man with her car, and went home with the injured and dying man still lodged on her windshield. L&O added a few twists, however.

In the 13th-season episode "Mother's Day" (I believe this is the episode), a New York state judge is romantically involved with a defense attorney and is somehow routing cases to him. This is reminiscent of a case in Michigan, where Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Susan Chrzanowsky was routing cases to local attorney Michael Fletcher, whom she was secretly having an affair with. This violated Michigan Court Rules, but the kicker was when Fletcher was arrested for killing his wife. The judge was interviewed by the local police who were investigating the murder, and she lied to them about having an affair. In the end, she was suspended for six months without pay by the MI Supreme Court for misconduct. This episode reminded me of that.

Doubles (S4) = Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding

Last night's \i(Locomotion}(S15). Flat out ripped off from the Burbank Metrolink train wreck on 26 Jan 2005, including the fact that it was a botched suicide attempt.

Darn. I need to look at the preview.

Karla Homolka is now a free woman. She was secretly released from prison yesterday, and says that she is sorry for her crimes. Yeah. I'll believe that when the Jewish people forgive Hitler and the Nazis for the Holocaust. More on Ms. Homolka here.

What the bloody h*ll?! She's FREE?!!

Yes, she is. Has been for close to a year now. And, there's more beneath the surface. Try this.