Word: copped
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...Campbell Soup Co. The man who runs the Law & Order empire--on which, thanks to spin-offs and cable repeats, the sun never sets--had a first career in advertising, writing copy for the likes of Crest toothpaste. So it is without irony that he often compares his cop shows to the red-and-white can. "If you like soup, and you see the brand," he says, "you know that you can cook it, and it'll work...
...Country Vegetables). The original L&O is a cool-headed procedural and law drama; SVU handles emotion-charged sex-crimes cases; CI is a Columboesque whodunit. But the brand promises certain constants: competent mysteries, intelligent but not intellectual, neatly wrapped up at the end of each episode; a pro-cop attitude; and little mushy stuff about characters' personal lives. For busy viewers, the label is a godsend: decisions, decisions...ah, hell, I'll just open a can of Jerry Orbach! But now Wolf is launching an ambitious new brand: a remake for ABC of Dragnet (Sundays...
Today the L&O method is TV's dominant mode of dramamaking. CSI, CSI: Miami, Without a Trace--you can thank Wolf for TV's brand extensions, cop shows with sparingly defined characters and dramas with self-contained, noncontinuing stories. Ironically, Wolf started in TV as a writer for Hill Street Blues, which pioneered TV's previous trend: "story arcs," or plots that stretch out over several episodes or seasons. The approach made creators like Hill Street's Steven Bochco and The X-Files' Chris Carter into auteurs. But business-wise, story arcs are a problem. Much of the money...
...with a kind of amazement: Don't these people realize TV is a business? It would be too simple, though, to paint him as a bean counter who does nothing for the love of it. Dragnet is a venture of both business and nostalgia; Wolf reminisces about being a cop-smitten tot, getting his parents to let him stay up until 9 p.m. to watch the TV series' debut. But then he shifts gears. "From a business standpoint," he says, "it's hard to launch new names. Everybody knows what Dragnet is. It's a pre-emptive name." That...
...spends the interval complaining about his job. Three minutes with a man who smells like dirt and sulphur is an eternity. Of the seven men that I date, there are two I would like to get to know better. It would be three, but I scare off the cop with the sweet smile when I enthusiastically ask how many dead bodies he's seen. Well, now he knows what the hell's wrong with me. But at least I can keep a beat. If music be the food of love, then salsa be the messy leftovers: A roomful of strangers...