Law and Order was inspired by the American TV series Arrest and Trial in 1950s. Most of the content of each episode is based on real cases in society. The main characters are two policemen and two prosecutors. First, the police find the case, then investigate the case and arrest the suspect, and then the prosecutor prepares the charges, negotiates with the suspect's lawyer and argues in court. Finally, the judge made a judgment. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes. It is the best film to understand contemporary American legal culture.
The biggest difference between Law and Order and other gangster films is that:
It focuses on legal procedures, and explosions, flying cars and gun battles rarely appear. As protagonists, the two policemen never fired a shot in 22 episodes, and the detection of the case depends on two legs and one mouth, which is a reflection of the actual operation of the judiciary. Many stories of the play came directly from the social news in American newspapers at that time, so at the end of some episodes, there will be such subtitles.
The success of Law and Order lies in its "thirst for knowledge" and "desire for independent judgment" in watching TV programs. Its most powerful place is to make TV series "as close to reality as possible". Although the fast-paced TV series can't completely restore the complicated and tedious judicial procedure, it still strives for the truth of the details. Many people in the legal profession and the police are full of praise for the play. Those who like it say "this is a real legal TV series" and those who don't like it say "it's more like a legal education TV series", but few people question the authenticity of the play. Different legal cultural backgrounds and the lack of western legal knowledge are another shortcoming for the audience to appreciate the play.
According to the most authoritative Nielsen ratings survey in the United States, "Law and Order" ranked 77th among all the programs in the first week, but NBC realized the unique charm of the play and continued to broadcast it. The ratings of Law and Order soared to the top 10 from the second quarter, and did not fall out of the top 20 after 14 years. What's even more amazing is that this miracle was realized when the "judicial personnel" in the TV series 15 were constantly changed and more than 20 people played the leading role. It can be seen that the magic weapon to attract the audience is not the movie star, but the plot of the "legal drama"
On May 2, 2004, Freedom Star reported that a body was found in a garbage bin outside a hotel near Fort fredericks. When the police were investigating the scene, a man walked into the crowd and asked a woman what happened, then jumped into a car across the street and left quickly. The woman immediately took out her camera phone and photographed the license plate number of the car. According to the clues provided by the suspect, the police arrested him 39 hours after the incident. The lady told the media that she reacted quickly because she "read enough law and order to correctly distinguish various suspicious phenomena".