"Law And Order" Rules

Law And Order is one of the better shows on television.

I am not talking about production quality, I am not talking about popularity, and I am not talking about the actors. I am talking about the contributions Law And Order makes to the national dialog and the public good. Law And Order is a television show that presents real controversies and issues in an entertaining way, and allows the viewer to consider their own positions on the subject matter during the course of an episode.

It typically takes my wife and I an extra half-hour to watch any episode of Law And Order because we pause the show any number of times to discuss and debate the issues and questions presented by the episode. In this manner, we have learned a lot about each other, evolved our positions on many issues, and even reached agreements on important ways we want to live our life.

This is a television program that actually creates positive and healthy debate over important issues of the day (torture, stem-cell research, suicide, our very system of justice itself). Nevermind the fact that the verdicts are often contrived or unrealistic, the show presents important issues in a relatively balanced way, and asks the viewer to consider their own opinions of important issues.

Whenever people say "there is nothing good on television," or decry the state of popular entertainment, I smile. The is more, better entertainment today than there ever has been. We live in a golden age of satire and current events programming. All we need to do is pay attention to what we are watching, and we will be able to make more informed decisions about our world than any generation that has ever gone before.