Why ‘Law & Order’ Showrunner Warren Leight Felt Cops Were Portrayed Too Positively on TV
Law & Order hasn’t been worried about tackling controversial issues regarding police officers, some of it reflecting real-world events. This was important as showrunner Warren Leight wondered if shows like his offered a one-sided look at law enforcement.
Warren Leight once shared his opinion on cop portrayals in television
Law & Order is one of many cop shows that have been on television for a long time. Similarly to programs like CSI and NCIS, Law & Order has often depicted the positive sides of law enforcement. Their characters are committed to the slogan of protect and serve, and dedicated to making their cities as safe as can be. But reality’s shown that there can also be a negative side to law enforcement. There have been many instances in the news and even caught on camera of police officers mishandling or abusing their authority.
Law & Order SVU showrunner Warren Leight agreed, for the most part, traditional cop shows shied away from the horrors of police brutality. And he wondered if he contributed to the bias.
“Collectively? Yes,” he once told The Hollywood Reporter. “Individually am I miscontributing to society? I don’t know. Collectively, are we? Yeah.”
But Leight admitted his portrayal of cops in the long-running series was a kind of wish fulfillment for him.
“I think that the audience is sophisticated enough to know that this is not the day-to-day reality,” Leight explained. “I think people wish it were more like [it is on SVU]. I think I wish it were more like this.”
Warren Leight planned to show the flawed side of cops in a special ‘Law & Order’ episode
At the same time, Leight managed to tie in some real-world controversial events into the Law & Order series. He wondered if doing so would make more traditional cop shows willing to tackle subjects like police brutality.
“I hope to God it’s an inflection point,” Leight said. “Change will start taking place on shows individually. There’ll be lip service paid, probably across the board, but I wonder how deep it will go.”
Leight further asserted that portraying morally bankrupt cops needed to be handled with care and caution.
“There are shows with flawed cops at their center,” Leight said. “I don’t mind a flawed cop at the center, but a flawed cop with a tendency to violence that’s glorified, to me, is a real recipe for legitimizing police brutality. That’s what I see the most that disturbs me.”
How Warren Leight ended up a ‘Law & Order’ showrunner even though he didn’t watch the show
Leight became one of the most important figures of the Law & Order franchise. The showrunner ended up taking over the duties for Law & Order SVU in 2011, further expanding his resume.
Leight came a long way from his humble beginnings. He asserted that, after college, he booked whatever gigs he could find as a writer. He would soon parlay his skills into a comedy, where he aimed to become a comedy writer. He would also become a pretty successful playwright in his own right, which was how he got his first Law & Order gig.
“TV came about through my playwriting. I ran into Theresa Rebeck, on 10th Avenue, about, must be 20 years ago, now. It was a time in my life where I had had a … my hit play, Side Man, had already won the Tony,” he once recalled in an interview with OnWriting. “I was solvent, but I was doing a lot of elder care for both of my parents. I ran into her, and was talking about that. She said, ‘You know, they’re looking for a writer on one of the new, one of the Law & Orders. Would that be interesting to you? I could introduce you to the showrunner.’ I didn’t know anything about Law … I was the only person who had never watched the Law and Order. I can say that, now.”
Although he had limited knowledge of the show, he pitched an interesting take for one of the show’s characters. This led to him landing his Law & Order gig, joining creator Dick Wolf’s team of writer. He’d be trusted with the keys to SVU years later.
