Law & Order

Season 20

Memo from the Dark Side

1. CPW stands for criminal possession of a weapon in this circumstance.
2. P.C. stands for probable cause in this instance.

Just a Girl in the World

1. TLC stands for Taxi and Limousine Commission in this instance.
2. The title comes from a lyric in the song "Just a Girl" by No Doubt.
3. Peter Scanavino later played a rape suspect on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), before joining the cast as Detective Sonny Carisi in its sixteenth season.

Great Satan

1. This episode's plot line is similar to the 2009 Bronx Terrorism plot which also involved fake C4, police informants and claims of entrapment.
2. Jihadists call America "The Great Satan."

Reality Bites

1. The title comes from the 1994 movie "Reality Bites" starring Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Ben Stiller, Steve Zahn, Janeane Garofalo, and Swoozie Kurtz.
2. Jim Gaffigan's character, Larry Johnson, shares the same name as his character in Super Troopers (2001).

Dignity

1. Ripped from the headlines about the shooting of notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller "The Killer".
2. Amanda Barnett was born and died on May 5, 2009.
3. Daniel David Morton was born on September 22, 2009.

Human Flesh Search Engine

1. Todd Bissell is based on former American Apparel CEO Dov Charney.

Boy Gone Astray

Doped

1. Loosely based on the July 26, 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash.

For the Defense

Shotgun

Fed

1. Based on the case of Bill Sparkman, a part-time census worker found hanged in Kentucky, naked with the word FED scrawled on his chest. Sparkman was found to have faked his suicide to look like murder for purposes of insurance fraud.
2. The building described in the opening scene as the "Federal Reserve Bank" is the Old Customhouse on Bowling Green, now a Federal building that houses a branch of the Museum of the American Indian and US Bankruptcy Court.
3. Former Detective Rey Curtis's wife dies from multiple sclerosis (he left the precinct to take care of her the year she contracted the disease). She is buried on Long Island, with her parents. Curtis and family will continue to live in California.
4. In the opening, the victim was found on the corner of Stone Street and Broad Street in Lower Manhattan.
5. The repeated mentioned iron oxide is nothing but rust, found everywhere in NYC.

Blackmail

1. Guest star Raul Esparza is now the ADA on "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit".
2. The subplot of a talk show host being blackmailed is based on a similar attempt to blackmail David Letterman.

Steel-Eyed Death

1. The lyrics about "Screw all 53 states" is a toned-down version of lyrics from the Insane Clown Posse's "Fuck the World."
2. In this episode, Kevin Geer plays the father of a girl who claims to have amnesia. In season 7 of M*A*S*H, (The Billfold Syndrome) Kevin Geer plays an Army medic that also claims to have amnesia.

Boy on Fire

1. This episode is based on the September 2009 murder of of Chicago high school student Derrion Albert, whose fatal beating was captured on video. The teen was attacked during a riot between schoolmates who live in different neighborhoods.

Brilliant Disguise

1. This episode is based on the Craigslist Killer who targeted escorts in hotel rooms in 2009. Like his fictional counterpart, he also was engaged.

Innocence

1. The Matthew Shepard Act that ADA Mike Cutter mentions to the defendant, where he states he will see that the defendant is prosecuted in federal court as well, is referring to a bill passed by Congress on October 22, 2009 and signed into law by President Obama on October 28, 2009. The entire name of the bill is The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and came about in response to the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. and expands the 1969 U.S. federal hare-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This means that under this law that anyone involved in "gay bashing" can now face federal charges because it is a hate-crime, just like going after someone of the opposite race, religion, or disability.
2. L.A.G.L.A. stands for the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association.

Four Cops Shot

1. The story for this episode is based on four Lakewood, WA cops who were shot in November, 2009 in a Coffee shop while going over morning briefings. The suspect was shot before he could be arrested/brought to trial.
2. Jack McCoy mentions having seen one execution. This is a callback to the Season 6 episode "Aftershock" where the Law & Order cast witnesses an execution.

Brazil

Crashers

1. The subplot of crashing an official party is based on the 2009 U.S. State dinner security breaches.

The Taxman Cometh

1. Henry Douglas died on February 10, 2010.

Immortal

1. The immortal NaRo cells that this storyline revolves around are based off HeLa cells.

Love Eternal

Rubber Room

1. Last show of the series.