‘Law and Order’ Hits the Haggard Trifecta
NBC Still Luuuvs Ted Haggard
It took just a little over a month for Dick Wolf’s Law & Order franchise to make my February 21 prediction come true. In my article ‘Law & Order’ Luuuvs Ted Haggard posted on that date, I discussed how both the original Law & Order and the third spinoff, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, featured prominent plots that were obviously based on the Ted Haggard gay sex and drugs scandal from late last year. The article ended with my suggestion that readers “look for the third rendition of the Closeted Gay Clergy Killer theme on a future installment of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, coming soon.”
Well, Wolf and company made me look like a genuine psychic on Tuesday night when NBC served up the boring, predictable, and thoroughly redundant “Sin” episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The plot, anchored by the splendid and wasted guest stars Timothy Daly (The Nine, Wings) and Kathy Baker (Boston Public, Picket Fences), concerned a prominent reverend suspected of murdering a gay actor, presumably to keep their affair on the down low. What actually happened was not quite as transparent as that, but the general theme involving a gay man of the cloth and his lurid behavior remained an obvious ploy to arouse the ire of viewers.
Now that L&O has worked this overplayed storyline not once, not twice, but three times, I hope the writers can put their obsession with homosexual religious people to rest. And while so many are speculating that either Law & Order or Law & Order: Criminal Intent might get canceled due to lackluster ratings, I have a novel idea: How about NBC canceling all three versions of the franchise until the writers find more, better headlines from which to rip. Sounds good to me.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit photo courtesy of NBC
