Law & Order

Law_Order_Season_One_cast

The Boy’s Club. Walking.

The New York Times recently ran a review of two new cop shows, Killer Women and Chicago P.D., wherein the writer referenced Dick Wolf’s journey as a creator of procedurals. Mega-producer Wolf has gone, as the writer pointed out, from president of the Boy’s Club to the guy who escorted Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to fan favorite status. I just watched the pilot of Law & Order the other day, and indeed, the first thing I noticed was the gender imbalance. To use a phrase coined by The Black Nerd, there’s too much beef in the stew. Continue reading →

The Good Wife

The central character in The Good Wife, Alicia Florrick (Juliana Marguiles), doesn’t speak a word for the first three minutes she is on screen, but we learn a great deal about her. The first thing we see is her hand, clasped in that of a man. The two people walk to a podium in front of a sea of faces and cameras. It takes only seconds to paint the picture: Alicia, pale and drawn in a conservative grey suit, is the husband of a disgraced public figure. Her husband, Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), the State’s Attorney of Illinois, has been caught up in a sex scandal and resigned. Alicia stands dutifully beside him, the “good wife” the title has promised us. Continue reading →