YES, the diapers make an appearance.
That’s the answer to the question you are going to have right about now, when you learn that tonight’s episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” is an adaptation of the story of astronaut Lisa Nowak (Ch. 4, 9 p.m.).
She’s the love-sick spacewoman who last February drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, Fla., reportedly wearing an adult diaper that allowed her to drive straight through to Florida without the bathroom breaks that can be so disruptive when one is in a hurry to confront a romantic rival.
Hey, we’ve all been there, right?
“Law & Order,” of course, is well known for taking real-life crime stories and adapting them for its own purposes.
And, as fans of all three “L&O’s” know well, the stories usually come out somewhat differently – which was why my heart skipped a beat, while watching a preview DVD of tonight’s “L&O: CI,” when Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) triumphantly plucked one of the protective undergarments from a car trunk.
Clearly, the writers of this episode (teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor; story by O’Connor, Warren Leight and Julie Martin) were operating under at least this one mandate: Even if various aspects of this story are changed, the diapers stay in the picture.
Also necessary (though a tad predictable) for a story such as this one is the line “Houston, we have a problem.” Goren’s partner, Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe), gets the honor of reciting that one, moments after Goren flourishes the infamous underpants before her face.
In the episode, titled “Rocket Man,” someone has murdered a foxy, blonde astronaut in her New York City hotel room. She’s in town on a publicity tour with a fellow Space Shuttle flier, her commander (played by Tate Donovan).
He becomes a suspect in her murder (something that didn’t happen in the real-life Nowak story) along with several other flyboys and girls (one of whom made a long-distance drive from Houston to New York via Annapolis, Md. – about 1,665 miles – without a rest stop).
This Space Age episode layers some nice twists and turns on the original Nowak story and also gave “L&O” producers an opportunity to give Queens a starring role with scenes filmed inside the New York Hall of Science and outside among the Titan II and Atlas rockets displayed in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”
Tonight at 9 on NBC