Say it ain't so: Law & Order Ends after 20 seasons

The first time that familiar "BOM bom" was heard at the beginning of a Law and Order episode, I was just starting my first year of homeschooling my firstborn, didn't know I was about to conceive a second child, and was adjusting to being a first time homeowner.  George Bush was president.

George Bush the first.  It was September of 1990.

I didn't actually watch the show until some years later when we discovered it in syndication. But I have seen every episode at least once, and others I have seen many times.  The "...police who investigate crime" were Mike Logan and Max Greevey, under the able supervision of Capt. Don Cragen.   Adam Schiff, Ben Stone, and Paul Robinette (who is now a defense lawyer) were "...the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders."

BOM bom.

Law and Order has been on TV for my son's entire life.  And it has been a constant in our life as a family, a favorite that we often watched during dinner.  The only thing that has been with us longer is our 1990 Honda Civic Wagon. Law and Order was there before Desert Storm,  before Monica Lewinsky, before Oklahoma City or Columbine, before 9/11, before the European Union had a single currency, before Homeland Security, before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control, before Y2K, Iraq, or the Patriot Act.

It was there before any of our parents died, before Aunt Nita moved to New Jersey with us, before we bought our current home, before braces, before proms, before Calvary Chapel, before Homeland Security, before Pokemon, before internet marketing.

BOM bom.

While we watched,  Stone quit, Cragen went to SVU, Claire died and became Jordan Cavanaugh, Logan was exiled to Staten Island and became Mr. Big,  Jamie left 007 to become an ADA, Lenny died, Van Buren got cancer, Robinette became a defense lawyer, D.A. Arthur Branch left and ran for President, and Jack became a spokesperson for TD Waterhouse.

In an odd sort of way it serves the same purpose as the tinny Top 40 AM radio stations did when I was growing up: it's like the background music for my life. Now more than ever. There is an episode airing somewhere on some channel every hour of every day.

And so I will be there tonight, watching live.  We all will. Even though we have several DVRs.  Even though I have a lot of other things to do. We have to. It's the end of an era.

BOM bom.