I don't like Law & Order

I understand the appeal: it's a show that's on all the time. If you like Law & Order, there's always something to watch. But I can't get past all the reasons I dislike it. I know what you're thinking: saying that Law & Order is a bad TV show is like saying Joey Fatone was an untalented member of 'N Sync: They're all bad. There are exceptions, though. With a little searching, one can find some quality programming hiding amongst the terrible reality shows and endless Sex in the City reruns. And for that matter, I still maintain that Lance Bass was the real badass of the group.

I digress. Reasons Law & Order is bad:

• The “characters.” The investigators and prosecutors on these shows, the characters that should be the stars of the show, are automatons. They toss out the occasional bad pun, or that one guy gets rough with uncooperative suspects, or the women will feel bad for the victims, but you know this is all going to happen because it happens every week. I understand that they give little peeks at the different characters’ personal lives in an occasional episode, but unless you watch every episode of the show, you don’t get any sense of it at all. Superior shows write rich, compelling characters whose personalities come through naturally.
• It brings me down. The closest thing to a happy ending on an episode of Law & Order is seeing the guilty party carted away to Death Row. Why is this the best you’re going to get? Because at the beginning of the episode, that party committed a heinous crime; most likely murder, but if you’re watching SVU there’s a good chance it was the molestation of a child. If I were judging the purity and goodness of the human race upon this show, I would come to the conclusion that we should all kill ourselves as soon as possible.
• It’s unoriginal. Sure, it was groundbreaking when it first came out oh so many years ago, but it’s still doing exactly the same thing. NOTHING’S CHANGED! How are people just sitting back and accepting that?

There are other reasons which aren’t coming to mind right now, mostly because I kind of worked myself up typing that last one. It bothers me. Side note: there are far too many spinoffs of this show. The big problem with this is that none of them are even coming close to breaking the mold. I also dislike every incarnation of CSI for pretty much all the same reasons I’ve listed.

I felt compelled to do a post about Law & Order, because no one seems to agree with me at all. But this show really rubs me the wrong way. Believe me, it’s certainly not because I haven’t given it a chance or anything like that. Everyone in my life loves it, so if someone else has the remote, guess what I’m watching? Just last night I watched a solid two hours of it. But I don’t like bringing negative vibes into my blog. I don’t want it to be just another bitchfest. Peace and love, and all that jazz. I don’t hate you, L&O fans. I just don’t understand why you’re into that show.