In the wake of NBC's recent Law & Order finale, I thought it might be a good time to mention some of our favorite moments from the longest running crime drama in TV history. (BTW, most of my favorite moments will be Jack McCoy moments. But there's tons of other stuff.) These are their stories... (dhun-dhung!) This exchange from Season 6's "Jeopardy" between a defendant & Jack McCoy was my sig-line until recently: Peter Nicodos Jr.: "But I'm innocent. I didn't kill anybody!" Jack McCoy: "You've already learned the Rikers Island theme song. Good for you." I love Jack's smug sarcasm here. Plus, I kinda think that would be a good theme song. (dhun-dhung!) Not really a moment, more of a performance: Ritchie Coster (who has played multiple murderers over the course of the series) as a soulless serial killer in the Season 14 premiere "Bodies." He freely admits to abducting, raping, & murdering over a dozen women but refuses to tell them where the bodies are buried so that the victims can be identified. His whole performance is very effective & skin crawling. (dhun-dhung!) In another Season 14 episode, "Bounty," the sleazy-defense-attorney-of-the-week (TM) is using the "Affirmative Action made me do it" defense for his client. Jack's indignant response to the opening arguments is classic: "Most defense attorneys at least have the courtesy to wait until closing arguments to try to confuse the jury with completely irrelevant and emotional facts!" (dhun-dhung!) Then there's the Season 14 episode where a former Nazi war criminal is accused of murdering a Holocaust survivor. His sleazy-defense-attorney-of-the-week (William Atherton, better known for playing other sleazeballs in Die Hard & Ghostbusters) argues that he had no reason to kill her because the Holocaust never actually happened. Just the look on Jack's face is priceless! (dhun-dhung!) I can't remember what episode this line is from, but I think it's somewhere in one of the early seasons. In fact, I'm not entirely sure if it was a Jack McCoy episode or a Ben Stone episode, that's how early it was. Still, I love the prosecutor's summation of the defendant's constantly changing story: "I get it. She wasn't there, and if she was there, she didn't kill him, and if she did kill him, she didn't mean to, and if she did mean to, she had a good reason." (dhun-dhung!) I think this simple exchange between Adam Schiff & Jack McCoy is from late Season 7: Schiff: "Take the rest of the week off." McCoy: "It's Friday, Adam." Schiff: "So it is. See you Monday." (dhun-dhung!) So what are some of your favorite moments?
Jesse L. Martin's final episode where his Ed Greene character tells Van Buren how hard Lennie Briscoe's retirement and eventual death affected him. To me that was a great scene.