Moksha World

My family moved to New York City when I was 4.5 years old. We moved into an apartment on West End Avenue a couple of weeks before my first day of Kindergarten.

One of my earliest memories of New York was a visit to Riverside Park with my mother and brother. I remember being dressed in summer clothes but the tall trees provided lots of cool shade for us as we walked to the playground. I had already started to realize that my new city wasn’t considered to be the safest place to live. But at that time it felt far removed from my day to day reality.

As we arrived at the playground, we saw a man lying on the ground next to his ice cream cart. His white uniform had red splotches all over the shirt. I asked my mother why his shirt was all red, and she told me that he had been stabbed. There was a small crowd gathered around the scene but I don’t recall if there were any police officers there. If there were, it was only one, maybe two. I did more or less understand that the ice cream man was dead because he had been stabbed. But I didn’t understand why someone would stab the ice cream man. The ice cream man brings joy and ice cream to children everywhere. Ice cream wasn’t expensive back then so he couldn’t have had much money on him. My mother and I never discussed the incident afterwards but I still wonder about it from time to time.

Fast forward to the 1990’s and Law & Order. This memory of mine could have been ripped from the headlines and dramatized for the small screen. Except that the TV version would have explained why the ice cream man was murdered, and who did it!

Law & Order was the first show that really captured the essence of life in New York City in my opinion. The interactions, the one-liners, the stories – all of it felt real to me. And, sometimes I knew the exact story they had ripped from the headlines. The character of Lennie Briscoe was always my favorite part of any episode. His one-liners were some of the best ever delivered on television – he was snarky before snark was even a thing. 

The episodes mainly focused on the cases they came across while on duty. But I always loved the episodes that incorporated their personal lives. We all knew Logan was a womanizer, but we didn’t know much about Green or Briscoe outside of work. Briscoe became even more life-like in my mind after the episode detailing his daughter’s addiction and death. One day I saw Jerry Orbach crossing 57th Street and almost yelled out, “Hi Lennie”. Luckily, I realized that wasn’t his real name and that I didn’t actually know him. So I contained my excitement and let him go about his business. 

I enjoyed most of the spinoffs although none ever beat the grit of the original. L&O: UK was interesting because the adaptations of the U.S. episodes had some significant changes due to the differences in the legal system. I saw a couple of episodes from the Russian version of L&O: Criminal Intent and L&O: SVU is a bit melodramatic for me. I haven’t come across the episodes of the French version anywhere but I would love to see them. I am no expert on French law, but after watching Spiral, I imagine there would be some interesting legal twists. 

Lots of film and television shows have been set in New York City. Kojak episodes are always fun to watch and have a heavy NYC vibe. Sex and the City was very popular but in my opinion it only reflects a specific group of people. Why did it take Carrie Bradshaw so long to get on the subway? I think I’ve only met one person that doesn’t take the subway! Before L&O, I often wondered what and where is this “America” I’m seeing on television? But here were people who could be my neighbor, my classmate’s mother, the delivery guy – real people.

I was very excited to read that the original Law & Order is planning to resume after 20 years off-screen. Although they will never be able to recreate a character like Lennie Briscoe, I am looking forward to seeing it. The city has changed in so many ways since then and I’m curious to see how they address that, if at all. Some of the original characters could even be making a guest appearance!

YouTube is blocking me from embedding a video but there are plenty to choose from. A few channels run old episodes of L&O and you can also see them on Peacock. Enjoy!

Please leave a comment if you have a favorite New York City show. Or a favorite show that took place in your home city. What did you think? Did it feel like home or just a TV show? There was a season of 24 that supposedly took place in New York City which was so obviously not. Did they really think we couldn’t tell?