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Friday, May 10, 2002
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Dick Wolf
He's the king of crime and the mastermind behind
three of TV's most arresting shows. The jewel in the Dick
Wolf crown is his "ripped from the headlines" hit, “Law &
Order.”
The gritty series follows crime from the streets to the courtroom and has hit such a nerve with audiences that it's launched 2 spin-offs, “Special Victims Unit” and “Criminal Intent.”
The veteran New Yorker counts plenty of stars as his friends and his powerful connections lead right to the oval office. He went to high school with the future commander in chief, George Bush. He says, “George was truly the only person that nobody in the class disliked.”
The TV titan started as an ad pitchman. Today, “Law & Order”
is one of TV's strongest brands. For 27 hours each week it's
on the air somewhere. But Wolf reveals that “Law & Order”
almost never was.
Fox bought it first, and then cancelled. CBS complained it had no breakout stars. In 1990, it found a home at NBC, but three years in executives threatened to pull the plug if a female lead wasn't added. Enter Jill Hennessey. Wolf says, “When we made that switch, I would say we easily saw 150 women.”
Today, Jill, Angie Harmon, Benjamin Bratt, and Chris Noth are
just a few of the names that went from “Law & Order” to
fame and fortune. Guest stars from John Ritter to Julia Roberts
have graced the set and Eric Stoltz will appear in the season
finale of “SVU.”
To keep his storylines current, Wolf says he reads the New York Post religiously. But how closely does he examine his show scripts? We asked executive producer Neal Baer, who wrote the “SVU” season finale. He says, “He has an influence but he doesn't muck things up.”
Next on the docket for Wolf is a remake of the fifties and sixties hit "Dragnet" which he's casting now. He says, “I'll tell you a whole list of people I would kill to have in the show: Ed Harris, Bill Macy, Dennis Quaid.”
What does Wolf consider must-see TV? He says, “I like ‘The Sopranos.’ I like ‘Six Feet Under.’ I like HBO a lot. I love ‘The Osbournes.” It’s just amazing. You couldn't write it. It's so out there.”
Nobody knows better than Wolf that the best stuff on TV is the kind of stuff you couldn't make up.
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