Law & Order

Season 4

Sweeps

1. Based on the November 3, 1988, episode of Geraldo. The episode in question involved white supremacists, anti-racist skinheads, black activists, and Jewish activists. A confrontation between John Metzger (the son of Tom Metzger) and Roy Innis (in which Metzger goaded Innis by referring to him as "Uncle Tom") led to Innis walking over to Metzger and forcefully grabbing him by the neck, and subsequently a full-scale brawl with chairs hurled and punches thrown. Audience members, several stage hands and Rivera himself got involved, throwing a few punches at a white supremacist. In the process, Rivera was struck in the face by a chair and wound up with a broken nose. He did not press charges, saying he did not wish to be "tied up with the roaches", and also claiming "if there ever was a case of deserved violence, this was it". The ratings for this show went through the roof as news of the fight attracted attention to the episode even before it aired.This episode also seems like tragic foreshadowing for future events related to talk shows, including the deaths of Scott Amedure (Jenny Jones), Charlene Burkey (Forgive or Forget, hosted by Robin Givens) and Nancy Campbell-Panitz (Jerry Springer) shortly after they all appeared on the shows.
2. This is the first episode for S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (she had appeared as another character in the first season episode Law & Order: Mushrooms (1991) and for Jill Hennessy. The network had insisted that women characters be added to the show in order to attract more female viewers.

Volunteers

1. Based on the Larry Hogue (a.k.a. "The Wild Man of 96th Street") case. In the early 1990's Larry Hogue, a homeless crack addict known as the "Wild Man of 96th Street" terrorized the street for several years until being forced into treatment and extended state custody. In 2009, Hogue escaped from custody and returned briefly to West 96th Street before being found and returned to treatment.

Discord

1. Based on the Mike Tyson rape accusation case. In 1991, Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington, a contestant for Miss Black America, in an Indianapolis hotel room and served three years of a six year sentence. Tyson made headlines again when he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in a fight. In a 2003 interview with FOX's The Pulse, Tyson denounced both Washington and her mother, stating that now he 'really did want to rape her'.

Profile

Black Tie

1. This episode and Law & Order: The Torrents of Greed: Part 2 (1991) are the only episodes that do not have the following statement appearing at the beginning of each episode: "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."
2. Based on the Sunny von Bulow murder case. On December 21, 1980, Sunny von Bülow slipped into a coma. Her friends and family have never known for certain if Sunny attempted suicide, or if her husband, Claus von Bülow, had tried to kill her by injecting her with insulin. Claus was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to thirty years in prison, but the conviction was reversed in 1984. Von Bulow was granted a second trial in 1985 and was acquitted. The case was also famously portrayed in the book and the film Reversal of Fortune (1990). Both the real life case and this episode involve insulin injections and family interference with the investigation.

Pride and Joy

Apocrypha

1. Based on the Charles Manson case. Manson was a charismatic cult leader, who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. Manson was believed to have brainwashed many of his followers into committing horrible atrocities, including a series of nine murders at four locations over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969. In 1971 he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of seven people of which were carried out by members of the group at his instruction. The most memorable (to most) being the brutal slaying of pregnant actress Sharon Tate in her home. He is currently serving nine concurrent life sentences at Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, California.

American Dream

1. Based on the Ron Levin murder case. In 1984, Joseph Henry Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt", was believed to have murdered Ron Levin, a con artist who had allegedly swindled Hunt and other members of the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) out of over $4 million. In 1987, Hunt was found guilty of the 1984 murder of Levin and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Hunt remains in prison but maintained his innocence. The case was the subject of a 1980s telemovie, The Billionaire Boys Club. The plot of this episode even includes a scene of Swann making a note in his planner to commit the murder, just as Joe Hunt penned "Kill Ron Levin" in his daily agenda.

Born Bad

The Pursuit of Happiness

1. The "inside joke" from the writers of this episode is that, at one point, they reference tickets that the victim and his wife had to see the "Guys and Dolls" revival playing Broadway at the time, and starring Faith Prince. Ms. Prince played one of the leading roles in this episode as well.

Golden Years

1. Edna Hodge, Mrs. Bower's neighbor, is played by actress Jan Miner. She also played Madge the Manicurist in Palmolive dishwashing liquid commercials for over 20 years.

Snatched

1. To date, the last onscreen appearance of actor Gerry Becker, who has played multiple roles on the series.

Breeder

1. When Stone is walking with Kincaid, he stops at an outdoor newsstand to buy the December 2, 1993, issue of the semi-monthly "The New York Review of Books". If that periodical was first on sale about 2 weeks before its cover date, Stone could have bought it during the last half of November. With "Breeder" shown on January 19, 1994, at least that scene was shot about 2 months or less before it was first broadcast.

Censure

1. Based on the Sol Wachtler case. Wachtler was a New York Chief Judge when the news of his affair with associate Joy Silverman hit the news. Wachtler was arrested for threatening not only Silverman's life but also that of her daughter. Wachtler eventually pled guilty to harassment and was sentenced to jail time. During his career on the bench, Wachtler made numerous landmark decisions, including presiding on a case where he ruled that a married man could indeed be charged with rape if his wife wasn't willing.
2. "Placards" between scenes are used to identify the location of the next scene. One of the placards in this episode says "Home of Michelle Selig, Attorney for Jill Kincaid, etc. The character's name is Claire Kincaid, played by actress Jill Hennessy.

Kids

Big Bang

1. Directed by Dann Florek, who played Captain Cragen in seasons 1-3. As of 2015 this is his only directorial credit.
2. Based on the Ted Kaczynski (aka "The Unabomber") case. Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski, also known as the "Unabomber",was an American domestic terrorist, anarchist, and mathematical prodigy. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski engaged in a nationwide bombing campaign against people involved with modern technology, planting or mailing numerous homemade bombs, ultimately killing a total of three people and injuring 23 others. He is also known for his wide-ranging social critiques, which opposed industrialization and modern technology while advancing a nature-centered form of anarchism. He became well-known for sending bombs to people with false return addresses - that belonged to real people and was the target of one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's costliest investigations. Before Kaczynski's identity was known, the FBI used the title "UNABOM" (UNiversity & Airline BOMber) to refer to his case, which resulted in the media calling him the Unabomber. The FBI (as well as Attorney General Janet Reno) pushed for the publication of Kaczynski's "Manifesto", which led to his sister-in-law, and then his brother, recognizing Kaczynski's style of writing and beliefs from the manifesto, and tipping off the FBI. Kaczynski tried unsuccessfully to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers because they wanted to plead insanity in order to avoid the death penalty, as Kaczynski did not believe he was insane. When it became clear that his pending trial would entail national television exposure for Kaczynski, the court entered a plea agreement, under which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Mayhem

1. The normal pattern is broken by showing the detectives as they work a shift involving four separate homicides (including one they roll up on while working another) vs. the usual crime, arrest, and prosecution. No court scenes are shown- although ADA Kincaid, EADA Stone, and DA Schiff are shown in some scenes.
2. An unusual feature is a ticking clock prior to main scenes. The times shown begin at 6:39:58 AM and end at 6:34:20 PM.
3. One of the cases the police investigate was based on the Lorena Bobbitt case. Lorena Bobbitt's relationship with her husband John Wayne Bobbitt made world-wide headlines on June 23, 1993 when Lorena cut off her husband's penis with a knife while he was asleep in bed. Lorena claimed that her husband cheated on her and then at some point after her husband had come home and gone to sleep, Lorena got out of bed and went to the kitchen. Grabbed a knife and entered their bedroom, where John was sleeping, and removed the entire penis at its base. After this, Lorena left the apartment with the severed appendage and drove away in her car. After a while, she opened the car window and threw it into a field. After realizing the severity of her crime, however, she stopped and called 9-1-1. John's penis was found after an exhaustive search, and it was reattached in the hospital where he was being treated. The operation took nine and a half hours but managed to be reattached in the end. Meanwhile Lorena was arrested and later during her trial, the jury found Lorena not guilty due to insanity causing an irresistible impulse to sexually wound John. As a result, she could not be held liable for her actions. Under state law, the judge ordered her to undergo a 45-day evaluation period at Central State Hospital, located in Petersburg, Virginia, after which she would be released. In 1995, after six years of marriage, John and Lorena divorced.

Wager

1. Based on the James Raymond Jordan, Sr. murder case. On July 23, 1993, while returning from a funeral, eight days before his 57th birthday, Jordan pulled over on US Highway 74 just south of Lumberton, North Carolina, to take a nap. Daniel Andre Green and Larry Martin Demery spotted the car, a red Lexus SC400 with the North Carolina license plate that read "UNC0023", Michael had recently purchased for him. Green and Demery shot Jordan to death while he slept in his car, then stole the vehicle. His body was found on August 3 in a swamp in Bennettsville, South Carolina, and because it was extremely decomposed, it was not positively identified until August 13 with the help of dental records. The media initially tried to link James' death to Michael Jordan's alleged gambling problems, but James Jordan had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. His killers were both sentenced to life in prison.

Sanctuary

1. J.K. Simmons, who plays Luppin in this episode, later rejoined the cast in the recurring role of Dr. Emil Skoda.
2. In 1997, TV Guide named this one of television's best individual series episodes of all time.
3. Based on two separate incidents: The Brooklyn Crown Heights riot. A three-day racial riot that occurred from August 19 to August 21, 1991 in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. It turned black residents and Orthodox Jewish residents against each other, causing deteriorated racial relations. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of Guyanese immigrants were unintentionally struck by an automobile in the motorcade of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured. This event was said to cause tensions between Jewish and black residents to erupt. In its wake, several Jews were seriously injured; one Orthodox Jewish man was killed; and a non-Jewish man, apparently mistaken by rioters for a Jew, was killed by a group of black men. The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor David Dinkins, an African American, who was blamed for an ineffective police response. Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.The Rodney King case and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In the case of Rodney King, he was an African American taxi driver who became nationally known after being beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers following a high-speed car chase on March 3, 1991. A witness, George Holliday, videotaped much of the beating from his balcony, and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage shows four officers surrounding King, several of them striking him repeatedly, while other officers stood by. Parts of the footage were aired around the world, and raised public concern about police treatment of minorities in the United States. Four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and use of excessive force. Three were acquitted of all charges. The jury acquitted the fourth of assault with a deadly weapon but failed to reach a verdict on the use of excessive force. The jury deadlocked at 8-4 in favor of acquittal at the state level. The acquittals are generally considered to have triggered the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which 55 people were killed and over 2,000 were injured, ending only when the California national guard was called in. The acquittals also led to the federal government's obtaining grand jury indictments for violations of King's civil rights. The trial of the four in a federal district court ended on April 16, 1993, with two of the officers being found guilty and subsequently imprisoned. The other two were acquitted again.

Nurture

1. This episode was originally written to have the girl sexually abused by a male kidnapper. However, shortly before shooting was to have begun NBC felt uncomfortable with the storyline and asked for it to be changed. The writers quickly rewrote it so that the kidnapper was a female who believed she had the best interests of the child at heart. All the locations that had been set up for the original script were used in the episode.
2. The rewrite of the script seems to coincide with the battle Janet Reno was waging for censorship of TV violence, song lyrics, etc....This censorship was the reason that Michael Moriarty (ADA Ben Stone) gave as his reason for resigning from the series at the end of season 4, causing his character to resign on the show. This was disputed by show creator Dick Wolf, citing erratic behavior on the part of Michael Moriarty as the reason for the departure of the character ADA Stone, and had nothing to do with a censorship battle between the network and Janet Reno, which he stated would not effect his show Law and Order anyway. The timing of an entire script rewrite at this time though does seem to lend some credence to Michael Moriarty's claims of censorship as an issue.
3. Based on the Katie Beers kidnapping case. Katie Beers disappeared on December 28, 1992, two days before her tenth birthday. She was lured by the promise of birthday presents to the home of a family friend, John Esposito. She left a message on her godmother's answering machine saying, "I've been kidnapped by a man with a knife." Esposito, almost immediately a suspect due to his own personal history, falsely alleged that Beers was kidnapped by a third party while at the Spaceplex indoor amusement park, but security cameras disclosed that Esposito entered Spaceplex by himself.Beers was held in a 6-foot-by-7-foot concrete bunker under Esposito's garage in Bay Shore, New York, concealed by a 200-pound concrete trap door. The bunker contained a commode toilet, television set, mattress and chains used to restrain Beers. Beers, along with other children, had played in the dirt displaced by the bunker as Esposito dug it a few years earlier. He told police he had built the bunker for Beers. On January 13, 1993, she was found alive in the bunker after Esposito led police to it. Although he was not charged with it, Beers later said Esposito had raped her during her captivity.

Doubles

1. One of the rare times when the case does not involve a homicide.
2. When Detective Logan is telling Detective Briscoe about the prints the forensic lab found on the threatening letter he states there were five sets. Two sets of prints were from the victim and her father, and than three unknown sets. Since Logan and Briscoe handled the letter without gloves than A) their prints should be identified as two of the three unknowns, as police are fingerprinted for duty or B) there should be seven sets of prints, including the Detectives prints.
3. Acting debut of Allison Dunbar.
4. Initial appearance of three of Ron Orbach, who was Jerry Orbach's cousin. Ron played attorney Max Hellman in all three appearances. Jerry played attorney Frank Lehrman in his initial appearance on the program. The following season he played Lennie Briscoe.
5. Detectives should wear gloves when handling any evidence in the event there are prints from a suspect , so the lab doesn't have to waste time eliminating unnecessary prints.
6. This episode has some resemblance to the January 6, 1994 incident involving Nancy Kerrigan. She was an American figure skater who was smashed in the knee by an unknown assailant at a figure skating event. The character, Korey, in this episode was a pro tennis player and had her wrist broken by an unknown assailant. Tonya Harding was later convicted for the assault on Nancy Kerrigan. There was some speculation that Nancy had done this to herself, because she was buckling from all the pressure, but this was later disproven when Tonya was arrested and convicted. This episode took that speculation from this real life incident and actually applied it as part of the storyline. They used different sports, different areas of the body that were injured in the attacks, but the parallels were definitely there.

Old Friends

1. Michael Moriarty resigned while filming the fourth season after a long, loud battle of words with Attorney General Janet Reno, who was making efforts to censor television violence. He felt that NBC was trying to silence him when two talk show appearances (on NBC's Today (1952) and Now (1993)) were pulled at the last moment and his role was reduced considerably in the fourth season episode Law & Order: Mayhem (1994). Dick Wolf claims this was entirely coincidental. Moriarty claims he was forced into a situation where he had to resign. His character, EADA Ben Stone, also resigned on the show in this episode. After quitting the series, Moriarty moved to Canada where he considered forming a political party.
2. Allison Janney's character mentions she only knows of Brighton Beach from the Neil Simon Play. Her lawyer is played by Bob Dishy, who appeared in the movie version Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986).
3. The 88th and final episode featuring Michael Moriarty as Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone.