`Law & Order' finale: from Spitzer headlines?
LOS ANGELES (AP) - May 20, 2008 But Wednesday's season finale about a governor and a call girl
isn't about Eliot Spitzer, cautions series star Sam Waterston -
although it's fair to say anyone, even Waterston, could get a bit
confused.
Asked recently if the show was dramatizing Spitzer's story, the
actor replied, "That's what we're shooting right now." Then he
quickly offered a clarification.
"I shouldn't say we're doing the Eliot Spitzer story. I should
say we're doing a story about a politician who gets into trouble
because of sexual questions ... involving prostitution," Waterston
told The Associated Press.
The truth has always been somewhere between the edges of that
fine line.
Since it started in 1990, the TV drama created by executive
producer Dick Wolf has carefully echoed real-life events without
explicitly citing them. The very first episode of the show, which
films in New York, was about a parking violations case - after
something similar had rocked the city, Wolf recalled in a recent
interview.
Wednesday's episode (10 p.m. EDT) is racier, as a murder
investigation leads police to a prostitution ring whose clients
include New York Gov. Shalvoy (Tom Everett Scott). That creates a
quandary for District Attorney Jack McCoy (Waterston), whose
political fortunes may be tied to Shalvoy's.
Earlier this year, Spitzer's career collapsed days after he was
identified by federal authorities as Client 9 of a high-priced
prostitution ring. Spitzer, who resigned from office in March,
apologized without expressly acknowledging he had visited
prostitutes.
Waterston says the "Law & Order" episode diverges sharply from
what happened with Spitzer.
"It goes in all different directions," he said. "`Law &
Order' raises questions about what's fair, what's right, what's
justice, that aren't necessarily raised by the original story or
... can't be gone into in just a news story."
Anthony Anderson, new to the cast as police Detective Kevin
Bernard, said the series is "current, it's real, it's true." Now
that he's part of the show, he said, "I'm doing research and I'm
reading these scripts (and) I'm like, wow, this is real, wow,
people are crazy!"
"Law & Order" also stars Jeremy Sisto, S. Epatha Merkerson,
Linus Roache and Alana De La Garza.
Asked about whether there was "Spitzer-izing" on the show this
week, De La Garza shrugged, laughed and gave a quick eye-roll.