‘Law and Order’ Luuuvs Ted Haggard
Troubled Preacher Finds New Notoriety on NBC … Twice
What is going on? Are there really not enough current news events to help prevent crime procedurals and such from ripping the same tired stories from the headlines over and over and over again? Case in point: the Law & Order franchise, which in just two weeks has managed to rehash the sordid Ted Haggard homosexual scandal twice. Sure, most people can recognize the blatant hypocrisy of a traditionally married “man of the cloth” who preaches against the sins of the “gay lifestyle” while secretly partaking of it himself, not to mention some illegal drugs on the side, as well. But do TV viewers really need to see more than one riff on what is essentially a very sad and sorry tale? I personally don’t think so.
Nevertheless, and contrary to what should be an obvious judgment call, NBC’s Law & Order franchise has recently featured two central plotlines that revolve around the “closeted, depraved gay holy man” concept. On February 9, a mere week and a half ago, the original Law & Order presented the episode “Church,” guest starring Anson Mount (new cast member Milena Govich‘s former colleague on last year’s canceled third L&O spinoff Conviction) as a self-righteous jerk reverend who confesses to murdering a gay actor, presumably to hide their illicit affair. Then the February 20 Law & Order: Criminal Intent unnecessarily traveled the same terrain again in the episode “Brother’s Keeper” when Tom Arnold did a guest stint as another holier-than-thou jerk reverend who turned out to be having a drug-infused affair with a gay “rent boy,” despite his very public, adamant stance against gay marriage and his physician wife.
Viewers can also thank the latter show for introducing them to a term I’m sure many had never heard before and have absolutely no idea what it means. I won’t repeat it here, just in case curious underage readers happen to surf by, but the phrase has the initials bb. While you rack your brain trying to remember/guess it (another hint: Detective Eames (Kathryn Erbe) knew exactly what it was from her old days in Vice), look for the third rendition of the Closeted Gay Clergy Killer theme on a future installment of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, coming soon. Then we can call it a perfect triumvirate. I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect that Haggard’s detractors were somehow paying somebody for all of this seedy publicity.
Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit photos courtesy of NBC
