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Law & Order's Biggest Lie

????????Much was made about Cops getting canceled in 2020, but it never died. Cops is currently airing its 36th season and the latest iteration of the genre—"On Patrol: Live"—is a ratings juggernaut. Do these shows provide a check on the police? Or are they just glorified PR reps? And are some cops performing for the camera?

The Bear was the rare TV scripted series that focused on and respected an underrepresented and underappreciated group of people — ordinary kitchen workers. This was a decidedly working class story that I think resonated with a lot of people because it embodied the anxiety and burnout that hit a breaking point during the pandemic. Now, that neighborhood sandwich shop is a fine dining restaurant chasing a Michelin star. It's a change portrayed as rags to riches, but it's something uglier. Carmy hasn't saved The Beef, he gentrified it.

To Catch a Predator gave us our public conception of what a "sex offender" is. How wrong was it? And how much damage has that misrepresentation caused?

NCIS is one of the most popular TV shows of all time. It's about a small federal agency that's supposed to investigate the non-combat deaths of Navy personnel. So why is Mossad—the Israeli CIA—such a major part of the show?

Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show to cover the 2024 election, finally covering a Trump Election, and in many ways his coverage mirrored the failure of the Democratic Party. What can we learn about this moment of failure for the Dems, liberals, and American politics from studying Stewart?