YEAH, yeah. We know. ” ‘Law & Order,’ ” as the show’s reps like to say, “is fiction.”
That may be (wink, wink), but “L&O” has also built its sturdy reputation on a “ripped-from-the-headlines” approach that however fictionalized those headlines may be never fails to titillate.
So it’s no surprise that this Wednesday’s episode, “Anchors Away,” is TV’s first scripted drama to include a Bernie Madoff character or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
He’s known here as Frederic Matson and he’s played by veteran actor Edward Hermann, who bears only a passing resemblance to Madoff (Matson has an ample head of hair and a goatee) but who shares the infamous “Ponz Scum’s” lack of remorse or contrition except when it comes to his loving, devoted wife, Irene (Jill Eikenberry). Their grown daughter is merely an appendage who helps run the family business.
Like Madoff, Matson runs a Ponzi scheme masquerading as a hedge fund (Matson Securities) and admits to swindling $40 billion from over 500 clients. “All things come to an end, don’t they? I confess to being a very big fraud. This is all a sham,” he says, gesturing grandly toward his ornately decorated midtown Manhattan office.
“It doesn’t exist.”
While Matson is the focal point of the episode and the Madoff comparisons are undeniable it’s the murders of comely young TV reporter Dawn Prescott (Audra Blaser), and her source, that send Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) on their way to unraveling a multi-layered case with tentacles leading back to the Ponzi swindler. You’ll have to watch the episode to find out what happens next.
There’s also a telling, snide take on news anchors that’s all-too-familiar to anyone who’s covered local TV: the blowhard, well-coiffed dinosaur who’ll do anything to keep his job played to oily perfection here by David Rasche and his young, ambitious co-anchor. Their on-air pleasantries mask a hatred for each other that manifests itself throughout the episode.
As a bonus, Wednesday’s “L&O” contains a second, minor, ripped- from-the-headlines scenario when it’s discovered that TV reporter Dawn had once e-mailed photos of herself (in a skimpy bikini) to a guy “friend” at another station. He showed them to his wife who, in turn, threatened Dawn in a scathing e-mail reply.
It’s strongly reminiscent of ex- Philly anchor Alycia Lane, who once e- mailed pics of herself, wearing a bikini, to NFL Net work anchor Rich Eisen’s e-mail ad dress and his wife, in turn, wrote Lane a nasty response.
But, hey, it’s just fiction, right?
The “Anchors Away” ep isode of “Law & Order” airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Ch. 4.