For fifteen years, Law & Order and its spinoffs have fictionalized virtually every major New York crime story. Even the Jayson Blair saga became a murder mystery. Creator Dick Wolf talked to Jacob Bernstein.
This season’s first episode appears to be
a take on Abu Ghraib. How do you turn that into a local story?
The guard got murdered four months after she got home—so there’s no immediate linkage.
Do episodes ever mirror a news event directly?
No. Most murderers are caught within 36 hours, which is not very interesting for a crime show. It’s sort of trompe l’oeil cinéma vérité.
What other crimes are you using?
Well, the second episode starts as the Staten Island Ferry disaster, turns
into a murder investigation, and then goes to 9/11 widows winding up
with firefighters.
Have you ever been sued by a subject?
Never, though people do occasionally stomp their feet. We certainly heard from Gary Condit’s people.
How about Martha Stewart? There was that episode about a domestic doyenne who kills her stockbroker.
No, but I know her, and I know she likes the show. And no one ever suggested there’s a homicide connected to Martha.
New York’s crime rate keeps dropping, but Law & Order gets more spinoffs.
There are still 10,000 felony arrests a year. Crime in New York is a constantly renewable resource.
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The Transformation of TV Into an Art Form
The Draw of Dream Worlds in Film
Gosselin, Prince of the Professional Nobodies
A Decade of Defining Moments in Pop-Culture
The Invention of New York's Local Cuisine 
Thirty-Five Short-Lived Looks of the Decade
Two Views of a Swath of the Upper West Side
An Older Generation Moves Into Williamsburg
Ten Years That Changed Everything
A Generation of Overparenting
The Sports Rivalry of the Decade
What Is the Point of the United States Senate? 
