Factual error: Ryan, the laboratory technician, eats his lunch of burger and fries while discussing a murder case with Assistant D.A. Claire Kincaid. Trouble is, they are in his laboratory. No lab technician ever, ever eats or drinks in a laboratory - it is the most basic lab protocol imaginable. He could contaminate his samples in any one of a hundred ways, he inevitably contaminates his gloves or fingers with residue from his meal and he risks poisoning himself with accidental transfer. This is not a character error - lab security is hammered into science students starting with the first day of first year and number one on the list is never, ever eat or drink in your lab.
Factual error: Detective Nina Cassady (who was introduced towards the end of Season 17) frequently wears casual tops that show far too much cleavage for a police officer on duty. If she showed up for duty dressed like that she would be sent home to change.
Factual error: While discussing the death of a car accident victim with detectives, the pathologist Dr Elizabeth Rodgers takes out a french fry, seasons it with mayonnaise and eats it. She is in the morgue, wearing bloodstained scrubs. Nobody ever eats or drinks in a morgue. This is not a character error; eating and drinking in a sterile laboratory environment is absolutely forbidden and this is taught to medical and science students from day one of their degree courses. In fact she would not even have food in there in the first place.
Trivia: Before his transfer to the NYPD, Joe Fontana (played by Dennis Farina) worked as a detective in Chicago. Before becoming an actor, Farina served in the Chicago police department, both as a police officer and a detective. Farina also played a Chicago police officer on the short-lived 1980s TV series Crime Story.
Trivia: Both Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Van Buren) played guest roles before joining the cast. Orbach played a lawyer in the episode "The Wages of Love" in season two, and Merkerson played the mother of a victim in "Mushrooms" in the first season.
Det. Lennie Briscoe: I'm trying to decide what to arrest you for - obstruction of justice, harboring a fugitive or just being a general pain in the ass.
Det. Lennie Briscoe: Boy, I'd hate for somebody to trace me by what I read.
Det. Rey Curtis: You read, Lennie?
Det. Lennie Briscoe: Even though you are a taxpayer, you know, we don't actually work for you personally.
Question: Why did Arthur fire Serena?
Question: I don't remember if it was this show or another L&O, but there was an episode where a reporter was overseas at a military encampment, reporting on a war. While there, he explains the military's plans by drawing them in the sand. Shortly later, the encampment is attacked. How could the enemy figure out where the encampment was? The reporter never said where the location was at, only what the soldiers were planning.
Question: In one of the court scenes it states the date as the 26th of December. Upon a bit of searching it doesn't seem to fall as a holiday in the New York Supreme Court holidays calendar. While the day is generally observed as a holiday in many countries I am not sure about whether it is observed in any states of the United States?
Chosen answer: December 25 is observed and some places close on the 24 (or just close early). The 26th is a normal work day.
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Answer: He believed that she had become too empathetic towards the defendant they had been prosecuting, and that her actions were driven by her emotions instead of facts. While empathy is a good quality in general, a certain degree of detachment is required in order for a prosecutor to do one's job effectively.
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