NBC's Law & Order revival is too focused on sensational stories and upholding the status quo

Vulture

"In the five episodes of the 21st season that have aired so far, there is no space for questioning of police methods" in wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, says Roxana Hadadi, noting that "Law & Order hasn’t actually adapted in response to that criticism. There’s a strange tonality here that makes the series feel of this moment but not anchored in it."  A major problem, adds Kathryn VanArendonk, is that "the revival has only been green-lit for a short, ten-episode season, and of those ten episodes, every single one of them has been a hyperdramatic, politically charged ripped-from-the-headlines story. The premiere was a take on R. Kelly, the second episode was a faux-Theranos crime, the third episode was a barely disguised Gabrielle Petito story, then a Naomi Osaka–Britney Spears mash-up, and then came an unholy amalgam of Fox News–AOC–QAnon free-speech stories all stitched together. The result has been a Law & Order that is definitely, as you say, reinforcing a systemic status quo — but also has no sense of fictional status quo for itself. There is no daily life; there are no small stories or regular people. The original Law & Order, in spite of its many flaws, often depicted something like a workaday reality. Yes, it was a warped reality where people were constantly being murdered and protected by the police, but it was a sensationalism that always felt grounded in the show’s semi-cynical, unimpressed, 'This is just a job for these guys' tone. But there is no 'regular' case in the revival. There are no typical crimes or mundane details. Everything is megaheightened all the time. The series wants to appear relevant but instead comes across as painfully desperate."

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• Law & Order has become all about selling the headlines: "It’s not like the original Law & Order was going to win any Emmys for writing, but it was suitably staid," says Dustin Rowles. "The revival, on the other hand, is hollow. The old version went through the motions but with conviction. Now it just feels like they’re half-a**ing it. They’re not selling the characters, they’re not selling the investigations or the legal cases. They’re selling the headlines. This is not Law & Order. It’s a lifeless, lightly fictionalized weekly docuseries, and it is bad."