NBC retires Law & Order

I often make references to the tv show "Law & Order" in my classes. Now, pretty soon I will have to do something else I do sometimes before making references to popular culture in class. I will have to ask my students whether they remember "Law & Order"... Last week, NBC announced that the show will end its 20-season run on May 24.

I have been a fan of the show for many years, but I have to admit it had lost its way a long time ago. I became a fan of the show because it used to be a show about legal issues, not about plot lines. The stories were written and designed to illustrate issues or ideas and usually did a a good job of presenting the different arguments or viewpoints on those ideas. Eventually, though, the show became just another "detective show" - a "who done it" - and the legal aspect of the show was just a setting for the plot to develop into figuring out who had done the crime and why. I continued to watch every now and then but pretty much stopped a couple of seasons ago.

If you started to watch the show only recently, you may want to rent the first few seasons. I think you'll be surprised at the different approach to the stories.

And while I am at this, let me report what is now old news: TNT is not bringing back the series "Raising the Bar" either. I was liking that one, which revolved around the relationships between public defenders, DAs and judges in New York courts. It was not bad - not great, but not bad- but it lasted only a couple of seasons.

Finally, this also reminds me of a not very popular show that did not last long either but I remember liking at the time: "100 Centre Street" (on A&E). I think I might try to find that one and check it out again this summer to see what I think after all these years...