Posted in: HBO, NBC, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: dick wolf, HBO, John Oliver, Law & Order, nbc

So We're Guessing John Oliver Won't Be on Law & Order Anytime Soon?

It's hard to believe that NBC & Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" franchise has pulled a combined near-half-century on the air (counting the three shows airing and not the other spinoffs, just to be clear). Counting in the upcoming seasons, that's 22 seasons for the original series, 24 seasons for "SVU," and 3 seasons for "Organized Crime." And now, with all three shows set for a huge crossover event later this month, HBO's Last Week Tonight host John Oliver really, really needs you to know something. It's not real. We'll give you a second to let that shocking revelation sink in. Now, to be clear? Is Oliver right that the show doesn't offer a realistic portrayal of the criminal justice system? Absolutely. Just like NBC's New Amsterdam never represented the health care system realistically, HBO's OZ was so unrealistic that you had prisoners going on record about it, and Apple TV+'s The Morning Show showed us that news programs don't run like CBS' Murphy Brown. And I've yet to enter a bar where everyone knows my name (so f**k you, Cheers).

But even Oliver understands that the franchise can't be a documentary. "Obviously, Law & Order cannot reflect that reality. It would be unwatchable. Nobody wants to watch a show where 97 percent of episodes end with two lawyers striking a deal in a windowless room, and then you get to watch the defendant serve six months and struggle to get a job at their local Jiffy Lube." But Oliver sees "Law & Order" showcasing defendants who are "disproportionately white, male, older and from the middle or upper classes," a safe target that the franchise's writers have been using that allows viewers to favor the "good guy cops" on the shows. Basically, Oliver sees Wolf's franchise as looking to avoid the reality of the criminal justice system by creating an alternate reality where "instead of depicting a flawed system riddled with structural racism, the show presents exceptionally competent cops working within a largely fair framework that mostly convicts white people." Though, to be fair? For many viewers, the television screen is the only place where they will ever get to see white people being convicted of any serious crime. Check out the full segment below, where Oliver makes some important points regarding past comments by Wolf and the franchise's maybe-a-little-too-friendly relationship with the police over the years:

And considering the franchise's continued (and growing) success, Oliver doesn't see Wolf changing a "winning formula" any time soon. "Law & Order is never going to grapple with the reality of policing in a meaningful way. … Because fundamentally, the person who is responsible for Law & Order and its brand is Dick Wolf, and he knows exactly what he wants his shows to do and, importantly, not to do," Oliver added.

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