Law & Order and Law & Order and Law & Order and Law & Order

I saw the season premier of Law & Order the other night. Man was it good. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so if you missed it don't worry, I TIVO'd it with my Time-Warner doppelganger. I think I succumbed to the pre-show hype (not to mention its lead-in was The West Wing, which is my favorite show and makes me do all sorts of funny things), because it wasn't until the first commercial break that I realized season premiers of Law & Order were almost an oxymoron. The point of the best is, in fact, that they're all the same. Thus, our children for generations to come will be able to watch them in perpetual syndication. (I'd like to remind the world, not to take anything away from L&O, but Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Columbo, Rockford Files . . . they were all like this; no story arcs, just stories.) Anyway, if you missed the season premier, it'll be on again soon, somewhere on the TV dial. Ain't it beautiful.