Contrasting Goals and Inspirations
Law & Order and Breaking Bad may both be iconic TV series, but they were created with very different intentions. Breaking Bad‘s creator, Vince Gilligan, envisioned a tightly woven, finite story. In a 2010 interview with Slant, he emphasized that Breaking Bad was never meant to mimic Law & Order’s format.
“We don’t intend to make the show feel like a ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’ show a la Law & Order,” Gilligan said. “This really is a story of a small set of particular characters, Walter White first and foremost among them. And Breaking Bad is truly an investigation of one character’s change, his transformation from a ‘good guy,’ from a law-abiding citizen to a criminal.”
On the other hand, Dick Wolf has always stated that Law & Order drew inspiration directly from real-world events. When pitching the series, he told NBC’s then-president that the show would be lifted from the headlines.
“When he picked up the show, he said, ‘what’s the bible of the show,’ and I said, ‘the front page of the New York Post.’ That’s still true. You can’t make this stuff up. The best stories come out of real life and real people,” Wolf told Observer.
This approach ensured that Law & Order never ran out of ideas. Real-life crimes provided an endless supply of material, allowing the show to maintain its longevity far beyond the lifespan of Breaking Bad.
“We’re the company that builds Mercedes, not Ferraris,” Wolf said. “I loved Breaking Bad but it ended after 65 or so episodes played out over several years. We’re doing 87 hours of television this year alone.”
Critical Praise and Recognition
While Law & Order and its spin-offs like SVU have enjoyed consistent viewership, they haven’t always garnered the same level of critical acclaim as Breaking Bad. Despite low initial ratings, Breaking Bad quickly became an Emmy darling. Bryan Cranston won his first Emmy for the show in 2008, and the series went on to win numerous awards for its cast and crew, including Outstanding Drama Series twice.
Law & Order has also seen Emmy recognition, though not as abundantly. It won the Outstanding Drama Series award in 1997, and Mariska Hargitay earned an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy for her role on SVU in 2006. Despite these accolades, Wolf noted that the show hasn’t always been a critical favorite.
“Critics don’t like them,” Wolf told The New York Times in 2016. “I can’t help that, but they were not critical raves.”
This lack of critical enthusiasm was somewhat disheartening for Wolf, though he found solace in the shows’ financial success.
“And yet it was just magic,” he reflected. “One of the five best shows every year just happened.”
The Enduring Appeal
Ultimately, Wolf attributes the success of Law & Order and his other productions, like Chicago PD, to their reliability and comfort.
“Is it old-fashioned? Or is it comfort food? I much prefer to see it as comfort television. It doesn’t disappoint you. And you can keep coming back and coming back,” Wolf said.
In the end, both Law & Order and Breaking Bad have cemented their places in television history. While they took different paths and aimed for different goals, each has left a lasting impact on audiences and the industry.
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