Something About Oringinality

Check out these news stories over the past few months:

• Anna Nicole Smith's son dies from a drug overdose
• Anna Nicole Smith dies from a drug overdose, starting a custody battle for her daughter
• John Mark Karr confesses to killing Jon Benet Ramsey
• Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian Spy, is poisoned to death
• After 4 years of captivity, Shawn Hornbeck is found soon after his kidnapper abducted a second boy

These are just a few stories that were "ripped from the headlines" and used as plots on NBC's Law and Order and it's 2 spinoffs. While I don't mind a few of "headline" episodes, I really think NBC went overboard this season. What makes Law and Order so great is the suspense and usual twist at the end. When the writers uses headlines there is no suspense: we already now what happens! NBC has renewed the flagship Law and Order as well as Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit for the 2007/08 season. Criminal Intent was also renewed but will be shown on NBC's sister channel "The USA Network." The ratings for all three shows were considerably lower than previous years. It's all about originality, people! These writers are being paid millions of dollars and they are stealing their plots from news stories. I really hope the writing is better next season. Long live Jack McCoy!