IT'S THE MONEY.

   
When I first came out to LA in the second golden age of Televison, there was MARY TYLER MOORE, and four camera Sit-Coms.  Warner Bros and Universal Studio's had all of the Drama shows on television.  David Kelly was still a lawyer and Dick Wolf was just a pup. I would wonder how these old fellows who I was meeting with could be so settled in their ways. "No, son TV is done this way".  They were old movie guys who had gotten rich with the small screen formula.  America knew who the "bad guys" where.  They always wore black hats.  They had hair on their faces.  They were never, never blond. They were only interested in booze, broads, and money.
      Behind these guys were a young hot shot crew of young excecutives and writters, producers who were Rock and Rollers, and had change on their lips and minds.  There hair was a little longer and their suits a little tighter and they wore their "hipness" with pride.  Some of them even knew a few colored people personally. However, when they did take over, TV stayed the same. "Dig it, TV is done this way."  These were the pre WWII kids and they surfed, drove sports cars, and were urban cool, like the detective shows and game shows and soap's about the rich
      Waiting in the wings were the rich hippies,  the Disco babies, the political aware Limo gang to now, the "hip, urban cool,"we don't care if you're Gay, because we're all a little Gay", bunch. But with little exception, TV STAYS THE SAME.  However we do have scores of ways to deliever this sameness to the world, with high teck gadget thingies.
       As with Actors and Writers and other Artist I have known, you hear in their early years how they want to change the world and then, a little later, as the world becomes more comfortable for them, another tone.  Like the old time network exec's found out, this job pays a lot better than pretty good.  The system allowed you to spread the blame around so nothing can really stick to you, and when you leave, you leave with a big bag full of money.   So, who in their right mind would want to change that? And now with major corporations taking over the entertainment industry it's even easier. They can make the same show over and over again and just change the name and faces.  All the Corp. cares about is the spread sheet.  How much did you make this quarter?
      I say all of this to say, if Olivia Benson, on LAW AND ORDER, gets raped one more time on that show, and don't quit that dumb job, I will screem!