I recently completed binging all 20 years of the original Law & Order television series and it left me wanting more.

The iconic cop and court television show combined the police procedural with legal shenanigans. Talented writing, a fast pace and unexpected twists entertained views for 465 episodes. It spun off multiple series, including the still present Law & Order, SVU.

When the closing credits rolled after the 23rd episode of the 20th season, I was left wishing the show was still on the air.

Here are 10 things I learned from binging that show…

1. Law & Order is a master class in writing. To cram two shows into one, every second of screen time was in furtherance of the story. There’s a phrase in screenwriting called “Come in late, leave early.” L&O perfected this approach.
2. It’s an incredible time capsule. Presenting topical stories of important events for 20 years gives you insight into what were the hot button topics of the day, from race relations to the influence of video games on the youth to abortion to government intrusion. Having lived during the shows long span, I was surprised how many volatile subjects were covered that I had long since forgotten. Riots between Jews and Black in NY. AIDS bias. Early web stalking. Over-sexualization of youth. Disgraced political or religious leaders. Some are timeless, while others were cemented in their time and illuminated in the show. Plus, seeing the technological changes over that time was fascinating. Starting before the internet and cellphones, with big hair and a fading yuppie culture, you could see what it was really like to live in the late 80s-early 2000s.
3. It presented every side of sensitive storylines. Bias in today’s culture is expected. Whether it’s canceling someone and dumping them in the digital ghetto or having big tech censor experts for whom they disagree or politicians for whom they oppose has become common place. Television shows today are no different. The cultural slant from Hollywood is overt and unapologetic. L&O, however, took time to address every major viewpoint on sensitive societal challenges. In an episode about the murder of a late-term abortion provider, it offered viewpoints from those who support abortion and oppose it, those who are adamant of it’s virtue or evil, those whose lives were affected positively and negatively by its existence. In the end, the stories were always about people committing crimes against a societal backdrop, but the care they took to give every voice a moment on screen not only was truly inclusive, but it furthered its affect as a magical time capsule about what people thought about critical challenges facing them.
4. It was an important resume piece for a surprising number of name Hollywood actors. L&O appeared to be a critical stepping stone in the career of many familiar faces in TV and movies today. Samuel L. Jackson. Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Chadwick Boseman. Idris Elba. Adam Driver. Zoe Saldana. Jennifer Garner. Sam Rockwell. Sarah Paulson. Claire Danes. Laura Linney. Vera Farmiga. Emma Rossum. Gina Torres. David Krumholtz. That’s just a few of them. It appears the path to Hollywood ran through NY and L&O.
5. Its structure was impervious to cast changes. Four DAs, Three Executive Assistant DAs, Seven Assistant DAs and 11 different police investigators. Plug and play. The show worked. If an actor needed to move on, retire, got fired, or simply wasn’t working, they could replace them and keep on shooting.
6. It contained one of the first overt woke virtue signaling moments on national television. I remember this moment vividly. Since the beginning of the show, gay rights and gay challenges (AIDs, bias, crime) was a consistent staple. However, virtue signaling was a new phenomena in 2005. Hec, it probably didn’t even have that label yet. But, the first “woke virtue signal” occurred on the last episode of its 15th season when Assistant DA, Serena Southerlyn, portrayed by Elizabeth Röhm, got fired for losing her objectivity during a case and becoming an advocate for one of the defendants. As she sat across from the DA, absorbing her dismissal, she asked if she was fired because she was a lesbian. I remember that moment because I thought… “She was a lesbian? Did I miss something?” The short answer is no. There was never any hint that her character was gay. So, this odd line upon the character’s firing had no place in the story, her character arc, or the plot of that specific show. It was there for some other reason. Virtue signaling, I guess. I don’t know. Perhaps it was to somehow legitimize gays in culture or the business world. Don’t care, really. I just remember it because, on a show so consistently well written, this was one of the dumbest moments in television history.
   
7. It never got old. Combining the cop procedural with a court drama was a genius move. Crimes. Murder. Betrayal. Twists. Rulings. Appeals. Mistakes. Judgments. What’s not to like?
8. It reused actors in the same roles while reusing others in multiple roles. Many actors portrayed the leads over time, but there were some lesser known recurring roles that are staples on super teams of investigators for shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS. L&O had recurring roles of the coroner, psychologist, crime scene tech and computer geek. Most remained throughout the 20 year run. Some even hopped onto L&O spin-offs from time to time. What a great gig that would have been for those actors. To get paid to work a couple of times a year for two decades, then get paid for the rest of their life every time one of those episodes aired? Brilliant. L&O also reused actors who portrayed different characters. For example, the last episode of season 17 has actor Jeremy Sisto as the defense attorney for the defendant. The next show, episode one of season 18, had Sisto as Cyrus Lupo, the new detective who would continue on the show until it ended. On a personal note, it was great to see actors with whom I had worked, who lived full time in NY, appear on multiple shows as either recurring judges or one-offs here and there. Always a pleasant surprise to see their talented faces.
9. NYC’s evolution. L&O shows you the ebbs and flows, decline and growth of New York City. From the late 80s when Times Square was a shady part of town with hookers and porn, to Mayor Giuliani’s work to clean up the city, even appearing on the show in a cameo, to 9/11 and its aftermath. It’s all there, the city another main character in the series, the backdrop on which its stories unfold.
10. I miss it. L&O had something special going on. I wish it still aired, but, in a way, I’m glad it didn’t. I think today’s toxicity and divisions would even affect the evenly presented cop/court show. I doubt it’s attention to presenting all points of view would have survived cancel culture and wokeness. So, I’m glad it ended before that insanity became the norm. Its objectivity is the reason the 20 year run of the show is still timeless today. Today’s “take our slant or we’ll cancel you” would have tainted one of the best shows in television history.