Yesterday NBC canceled Law & Order, the beloved crime show that inspired entire bookshelves of legal thrillers–a long running series that reportedly employs 8,000 across its spin-offs.
Last week on the video show Media Beat, we interviewed Scott Turow, the bestselling author of Presumed Innocent and Innocent, about the show. The characters in his new novel complain about the show, but Turow had some affection for the program. His reply is embedded in the video above.
Here’s an excerpt: “I actually think quite a bit of Law & Order. The characters [in my novel] are using it as a measuring point for their real-life jobs in the law. I think Law & Order (and a lot of narrative about the law) has influenced juries in particular who come to court. They’ll be sitting as jurors on a routine robbery case and they’ll ask, ‘Where’s the DNA?!?’ The answer of course is that there is no genetic evidence. There’s an expectation that science will zoom in and provide an exact answer when very often, that’s not the case.”
Part 1: Scott Turow Explains How Legal Writing Changed Since “Presumed Innocent”
Part 2: Scott Turow Offers Novel Writing Advice: “Persistence Is Critical”
Part 3: Scott Turow Ponders the Future of Publishing, Royalties, and Piracy
Media Beat is mediabistro.com’s interview series with the movers and shakers of the media world. View all past episodes at MediaBeat.com.