NBC's Law & Order franchise is putting together an episode inspired by January's Tucson shootings, in which six people were killed and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was critically injured. The popular shows always use story lines that are "ripped from the headlines," and NBC stresses that, as always, this episode of Law & Order: L.A. will be a work of fiction, not a depiction of the Arizona shootings. But is it too soon to turn the tragedy into entertainment for TV viewers?
Of course it is. This is ghoulish: Law & Order: L.A.'s ratings are lousy, says the Arizona Daily Wildcat in an editorial, but exploiting the murders of six people, "including a 9-year-old girl, to get people watching is despicable." Given the bright reports about Giffords' recovery, the producers probably thought they could get away with this. But "it's easily, obviously, too early to turn the Jan. 8 tragedy into a TV drama."
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