I’m usually at least a day behind on my non-sports TV viewing due to family business and the convenience of the DVR, so I’m surely not among the first bloggers (or the first thousand bloggers) to point out that Law and Order: Special Victims Unit thinks Tom Brady — or someone quite like him — could be gay.
I just got around to watching the New York-based crime drama last night, and the parallels to the presumably-charmed life of the New England quarterback couldn’t be more obvious. After the apparent murder of a gay man, the sleuths at SVU begin to suspect Lincoln Haver, a man referred to as “the best quarterback in football.” The fictional QB was also said to be a tabloid regular due to his relationship with a famous supermodel. Lincoln Haver even wore #12.
If I were among Tom Brady’s ”people” I’d be livid. It’s bad enough that the paparazzi have been known to chant “Errand Boy” at him as he runs around New York City for Gisele. Now his fictional clone is a homosexual … not that there’s anything wrong with that (to steal a line from a much better NY-based show).
The SVU episode itself was all over the place, with subplots dealing with media source confidentiality, homophobia, slimy sports agents, and even post-concussion syndrome. Not to mention a worthless cameo by Bill Pullman and the re-appearance of Beverly D’Angelo as a criminal defense attorney (Wow, I know it’s been a long time, but that can’t really be Ellen Griswold).
This is a new low for the long-running Law and Order franchise, which has now become too often reliant on its “Ripped from the Headlines” plots. In the past couple of years I recall such tactics being used to pattern one show after a young celebrity mom whose parenting skills were called into question (Hi, Britney) and another chronicled the death of a bloated, gold digging ex-model (an Anna Nicole Smith clone portrayed disgustingly by Kristy Swanson).
The writers have now resorted to copying aspects of a famous person’s life, then adding a far-fetched chapter that might raise some eyebrows. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
*****
Meanwhile, the real NYPD has problems of its own to deal with, as this morning three officers were acquitted on charges of killing an unarmed man just hours before he was set to get married.
None of us can pretend to know which side of the story is the most accurate, but there sure is a lot of gray area in between. On one side, we have three guys (two survived) who were doing nothing wrong whatsoever. On the other side, there are three officers who felt threatened enough to fire off 50 rounds.
There is clearly no “right” side of the argument. But I can’t decide whether it would have been better for the NYPD to have these officers convicted or acquitted. Either way, they have some very dirty laundry. They are, however, quite fortunate that two of the three accused officers were African-American, as was the deceased victim. Otherwise New York may have been living through its own Rodney King riots.
One thing is for certain: Whether you’re watching CNN or primetime network programming, it doesn’t seem to be a great time to be a New York cop.
1 Comment
April 27, 2008 at 10:12 am
Rev. Al is planning on shutting down New York City and he probably will be able to after this debacle. In this instance, I think even if all three of the cops were of African American dissent the anger would still be enormous and justified. As for Law & Order, that franchise never caught on in our home but I must admit to having some fun with the SVU title, referring to it in conversation with the wife as SUV (sports utility vehicle) instead. I usually see the last two minutes of episodes waiting for TNT to put on the NBA.
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