Law & Order Takes on Spitzer and Hookergate

Tonight, in the 18th season finale of Law & Order (NBC, 10 p.m.), the detectives investigate the murder of a jeweler whose brother-in-law runs an illegal prostitution ring called The Excalibur Club. And in true ripped-from-the-headlines fashion, one of Excalibur's VIP clients is NY Governor Donald Shalvoy (guess "Schmelliot Schmitzer" didn't really sound that good).

According to the AP, the fact that a governor is involved "creates a quandary for District Attorney Jack McCoy, portrayed by [Sam] Waterson, whose political fortunes may be tied to Shalvoy's." Keep in mind, former governor Eliot Spitzer once worked in the Manhattan DA's office under Robert Morgenthau. At first, Waterston confirmed he was filming the Spitzer episode, but then said, "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."

2008_05_lohook.jpgThe Post's Linda Stasi says Tom Everett Scott, who plays the L&O gov, sounds a lot like Spitzer. And [SEMI-SPOILER]there's also the governor's wife who tells McMcoy, "I want to hurt him. He broke my heart, but I will not be the long-suffering wife who stands by her man in front of the cameras and is dissected while he grovels for forgiveness. I will not be that woman. I won't be humiliated." [END SEMI-SPOILER]

Law & Order's bread-and-butter is ripping stories from the headlines. Some NYC-area stories that have inspired the show: The Puerto Rican Day Parade incident, Jennifer Lopez & Puff Daddy's club shooting, Bernard Goetz, Tawana Brawley, Lisa Steinberg's death, the Crown Heights riots, Jayson Blair's plagiarism/making stuff up, the NYU suicides, former NJ Governor James McGreevey's homosexuality, author Olivia Goldsmith's death during plastic surgery, Bill O'Reilly's accusations of sexual harassment, Bernie Kerik's scandal, the Staten Island Ferry crash, the Bartha building explosion, The Real World, and much much more.

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Comments (7) [rss]

They look like a bunch of newcasters trying to have a serious moment.

So, a poor downtrodden hispanic hooker and the big bad evil white people?

Color me shocked.

Gawd, I love this show! I love how they take one story, then add parts of another to it for a twist. Ok sometimes the scripts aren't that good, but the idea of rfth is great!
One thing...what if McCoy's career is threatened because he's tied to the hookers too? LOL!!! After all, although they did do that affair with Claire (as well with a few other coworkers), and then told us he'd been married twice...they never tell us if Jack is gettin' any action!

Not a good episode for all those extras unless we get the dirt on 'Clients 1-8' and 10-? If they could pull that off then I can look forward to a flood of whores coming out of my tv set.

That screenshot is pretty hawt.

Dang. I missed it, but then I stopped watching L&O years ago. Did Shalvoy become a Republican? Same way creeps at Puerto Rican parade turned out to be Hondurans & Chinese delivery guy was clobbered to death by Irish & Italian teens.

Nice screenshot indeed.

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