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don't already.
I've got a pretty closed list of TV shows that I watch, but sometimes when a show gets canned, I begin to watch something that is new to me, even if the show isn't exactly a new show itself. About four months ago, I began to watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I knew the other shows in the series, and heck, I even worked on the first season of the original L&O back in 1990 for awhile. I always found the producers of the show highly intelligent and good people, and so was proud that L&O had come so far and had "spawned" several very successful spin-offs. Everyone always talks about the "Wonder Boy" David Kelley, but too often the collective contribution that Dick Wolf and his people have made has been overlooked in favor of something purportedly more profound, more snazzy and more "unique" but personally, tried and true is often a better plan to follow.
I knew the cast for the most part--I know Richard Belzer and always love his snide and sometimes moribid sense of humor, knew Dann Florek (actually fairly well, from my time with L&O:TOS), and was at least acquainted with the others peripherally.
But I'm hooked now. The stories are intense, they're excellently executed, they're thought provoking and not only that, they're realistic. They give a sense of outrage to a category of crime that doesn't get well reported in our country because of its nature as a whole. Who wants to hear about rapes, child molestation, sexually provoked murder, pedophilia, and all those other horrible crimes which happen daily in our world, but are from a pool of crime that is salacious to some and merely horrifying to others?
Issues come up which are based on real life--a recent episode was about these fake abortion clinics that the RRR has set up, to delay those who want an abortion until it's too late and they must end up carrying the fetus to term. Planned Parenthood recently sent a newsletter around about that topic, but SVU had covered it first! A 7 year old witnesses a murder, and takes the gun to school. He sees the murderer near the schoolyard, and tries to shoot him, being in mortal fear, but ends up instead shooting a 7 year old girl. An Afghani diplomat's son is coerced by the Talibanish father to kill his sister as an "honor" killing because she has become Americanized and has an American boyfriend, when her father had promised her to a member of the Taliban. A rape victim finds she can't follow her rapist around (who got off scott-free) because he files a restraining order against her. A young boy kills his guardian who has been molesting him since he was 8 years old--the SVU finds out the guy was hired by the feds as a missile systems analyst despite the fact they knew he was a pedophile and was molesting his ward--sort of like a "bribe" to get him on the job.
If anyone wants to see the really seamy side of crime which is there, does exist, but it frequently ignored or off limits to the press, watch Special Victims Unit. It's equally frustrating, enlightened and infuriating, but more than all that, it's an excellent show.
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