Law And More

"Tis the season for serial killer, including on Wisteria Lane

One murder just isn't a compelling formula on crime shows.  It isn't either on general program such as "Desperate Housewives."  Not in these ratings-challenged times.

Well, even Wisteria Lane now has a serial killer.  Julie, who was strangled, managed to survive.  The waitress in the coffee shop wasn't so lucky.  Expect everyone to suspect everyone else.

Meanwhile viewers's eyes are on Bolen, who was dumped by Julie, and was overheard by the waitress as he spoke to a federal agent about turning himself in.  But that seems too obvious.  Could it be a creature of rectitude such as Carlos aka Prince Hal has become?  Or is Orson as nutty as Bree thinks he is with his stealing binges?  Let's not rule out females.  Katherine has gone off the deep end since Julie's stepfather Mike dumped her. 

Ironically, it requires serial killers in the dying medium of television whereas cute dominates the video medium on YouTube.  In the December edition of VANITY FAIR, Jim Windolf does some heavy-duty analysis of the cute phenomenon sweeping the globe.

"The Good Wife" - Not so good, after all

Will the powers-that-be behind "The Good Wife," in the timid world of television have the guts to show that Alicia is not so good, after all. 

For example, will there be flashbacks giving clues as to why a brilliant attorney bought into the stay-at-home role in a suburb that is godawful?  And what about her smug judgments of everyone in her current universe?  She holds her perfection between herself and cunning wheeler dealer husband Peter, shut-down mother-in-law Jackie, morally compromised boss Will, and most recently the faux lawyer.  What about if she stepped down into the muck of human existence and had to swallow her own imperfections and willingness to compromise in order to feed the two kids?

Any decent therapist will tell us that we got into a pickle not because our oppressor/opponent was such a bully/clever/liar but because we are what we are.  The goal of therapy is to reconfigure that inner loser.  Surely, Alicia harbors that inner loser just like the rest of us who fell a long long way from grace.

"Criminal Minds" - One murder wouldn't do it, would it

Ironically the theme of tonight's episode of "Criminal Minds" was obsession.  Yet, the elite FBI team is clueless that they're as obsessed as the oddballs they ran into tonight.  Their obsession, of course, is the dark side of human nature.  That's why the winning formula of the show has been serial killers, combined with the fixation of the team on profiling and catching them.  The only somewhat normal member of the team is JJ but she will eventually turn into a female version of no-smile Aaron Hotchner.

Serial killers present such compelling subject matter.  One reason is that we all wonder what we might be capable of doing if we lost our bearings or were backed into a corner.  Another reason is our fear that a serial killer - or as they said of Ted Bundy "a stranger" - is in our midst.  We never know, do we.  A third reason is that we also wonder if we're on the radar screen of a serial killer.  It's kind of flattering that anyone would focus on us that much.

Tonight Hotchner looked less agitated than he did last week.  Maybe after they apprehend the Boston Reaper, he can be healed and resume leadership of the team.  That, of course, then brings the complication that Morgan, who has taken to the job with grace, skill, and dignity, will have to surrender it.

Gore Bores - That ultimate crime against the people

Guess we shouldn't have expected any different.  Al Gore has always been a bore.  So, it's no surprise that his TV venture Current Media also turned out to be a bore.  The organization is laying off 80 folks. 

Since in the 21st century, boring others is the ultimate crime against the people, I wonder if Gore will finally be taken into custody and his inner earnest self be re-educated for wit, irony, and satire?  My new book is "In Humor We Trust."

"The Good Wife" - Layoffs

Any attorney or those who care about attorneys watching tonight's episode of "The Good Wife" could appreciate how honestly the program depicted the pain of layoffs.  Even master player partner Will has no stomach for it.

There were the associates sitting frozen, observing every move the partners were making.  There was speculation among the junior folks about how the carnage might be carried out.  The camera panned on the face of a middle-aged lawyer carrying his box, being escorted out. 

Will blurts the truth.  He says that he tells those canned that they will land on their feet.  That's code, of course, for finding another legal job.  But he admits that won't happen.  It won't happen because there are no other jobs out there.  Get cut and the odds are strong that you will never practice law again.

Will toys with the idea of a coup.  If he banishes founder Stern from the firm they can save 15 jobs.  Diane sees that not as altruism but as a power play.  Stern sides with her.  Suppose she rats this out to Stern?  Will Will be on his way out too with his box?

Incidentally, another familiar subject surfaced tonight: Lead paint litigation.  But the firm was involved representing a toy company, not a Sherwin-Williams or Arco.  The Good Wife Alicia didn't seem to approve of how Will played the game on this by litigating at the margins.  She can be so disapproving of others's survival strategies but be oblivious of her own.  Is this her tragic flaw?  Will the scripting pursue this weakness?

"Criminal Minds" - Hotchner "not well"

As the camera pans on Aaron Hotchner at the end of tonight's episode of "Criminal Minds," it exposes the face of a crazed man.  That man is staring at the photo of the Boston Reaper.  Since Hotchner is no longer head of the team he doesn't have to be there in the office so late at night to do paper work.  But he's there.  He's not healing, as the higher-ups hoped he would.  In addition, he again recklessly went after a suspect without backup.  The team brought that up.

Now we are a bit more sympathetic with those powers-that-be who forced Hotchner to step down.  This man is "not well."  He soon may not be well enough to even be on the team as a rank-and-file member.

Meanwhile in tonight's case of the Eye-Snatcher, Morgan blossoms into a natural leader.  He assumes the role with such grace that Rossi says aloud what we are all thinking, "What happens then when he has to step down?"  The assignment is temporary.

To our surprise Morgan loves the perk of leadership: A nice office.  He turned down taking over Hotchner's office.  The team then arranged to vacate Hall's office for him.  Garcia fills it with funny stuff.  After Garcia leaves that office, Morgan puts his name plate in front.

There's more. Morgan has a girlfriend, or the beginnings of a relationship.  She's the sister of a murdered man.  Morgan helped find the killer.  They bonded.  Garcia doesn't approve since the relationship took root inside a case.  No fool, Morgan is keeping the whole thing under wraps.  When he returned from solving the case of the Eye-Snatcher he calls the new woman in his life.

One for "Criminal Minds" - Bodies keep showing up at NYU

Manhattan is a tough town, inflicting great pressure on the young, especially students.  But it's only at NYU that bodies keep showing up.  The latest, reports Gawker's Hamilton Nolan, has been found in the Bobst Library. 

After the team on "Criminal Minds" captures the Boston Reaper and frees Aaron Hotchner from his inner agony of the garden, then it can investigate why death might be contagious at NYU.

Facebook campaign to Save Hotchner: Lobbying the exact same way

Lobbying no longer requires million-dollar war chests and direct access to BigFoots.  It could just leverage social media.  That includes a Facebook campaign.  Here is an example of such a grassroots no-cost, passionate pull strategy to Save Hotchner. 

As "Criminal Minds" fans know, tonight on the program, the head of the elite FBI unit Aaron Hotchner gave up his position and demoted himself to just a member of the team.  He handed over the reins to Morgan.  As we also know, Hotchner's behavior has been erratic - in fact, downright self-destructive - since he was attacked by the Boston Reaper and his family placed in protective custody.   

We have no idea what's in the plans of the "Criminal Minds" producers, directors and writers.  Gossip in the tabloids is often unreliable.  What we do know is that we don't want Hotchner written out of the script.  Our wish list includes having him, as was Jack Malone on "Without a Trace," restored to his leadership position.  Some fans are lobbying for that via Facebook.  I am using my posts on this blog and my other site.  

The process is no different for matters of regulation.  Pharmaceutical companies, energy producers, in-house lawyers, and even law firms can leverage social media to get a message out there and have it resonate.  The expense isn't in dollars.  It's in imagination, passion, and sweat equity.  In addition to social networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace, and special-interest online communities, there are tweets, Podcasts, mobile texting, YouTube videos, digital press releases, email blasts [but please please please make the headline catchy and the content provocative and short], e-books, e-zines, website content, and more.

The rules of the digital road include:

• Have one clear message and package that in a way that it's clear that the message should matter to others.  The message is for the audience, not the messenger's ego.

• Experiment with diverse forms of the message and how to deliver it.  Measure.  Do more of what's working.  Measure.  Do immediate course correction.

• Use a human voice.  That might require your organization and/or its leader to find a voice.  That voice is unique.  That's why it can become a pull force.

• Don't dare be self-serving.  Digital media by its nature is "open-source," that is, open-heart.  A useful read on that is the new book "The Digital Handshake" by Paul Chaney aka The Digital Handyman.  Chaney was my social media shaman when I was stuck in the print THE NEW YORK TIMES - Corporatese voice.

• Less is more.  It always was.  Twitter trumps blogging.

Call in your best tech people.  You can simulate the kind of sites which Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes created for the Barack Obama presidential campaign.  Down-loadable were all the tools for organizing, scheduling special events such as rallies, and fund-raising.

Lobbying need not be expensive. 

SHOCK! Hotchner steps down as team leader on "Criminal Minds"

The FBI forced the decision on Aaron Hotchner.  It had been keeping too-close tabs on him since he had been stabbed by the Boston Reaper and his family locked away in protective custody.  So have we.  On a previous episode on "Criminal Mind," Hotchner recklessly entered the suspect's home, risking his life and setting the team buzzing about his emotional stability.  He has been appearing more tense than usual and that's really uptight.

Just before the new case was profiled, a BigFoot from the FBI came to Hotchner's office.  There was a heated closed-door discussion.  After the suspect was apprehended, Hotcher informed Morgan that he was stepping down as team leader, but would still remain a member of the group.  Morgan would be the next head.  Not that Morgan welcomed the promotion.  He's more the worker bee than manager.  He accepted only on the assumption that the change would be temporary.

We have a hunch it will be.  On "Without a Trace," Jack Malone went through a similar demotion.  Like Hotchner, Malone was a wounded work addict, rarely if ever smiling.  By laying low and stealth, Malone finally got his leadership job back.  We hope Hotchner will too.  "Ciminal Minds" fans won't sit still if this demotion goes on too long.  That means that sooner than later the Boston Reaper has to resume killing and the FBI can track him.  Once he's apprehended, then Hotchner's family can go on with their lives.  Hotchner will bounce back to his normal pensive, preoccupied self.

It's been a traumatic evening for all of us, both the viewers and those on Hotchner's team.

"The Good Wife" - Representing Your Client

The ugly underbelly of both the strategies/tactics of lawyering and of a career in a law firm is pounded in "The Good Wife."  But one value that rose from the muck was doing whatever it takes to represent the client.  Alicia's daughter helps her with that.

To get for the three widows of train personnel - killed when being forced to work extreme overtime  -what they want, Alicia has to betray someone.  That someone is a married woman, with a husband and family including a three-month-old baby.  To her, the defendant confided about the equipment problems with the trains.  That was during pillow talk in an affair.  The woman begs Alicia not to do to her what was done to Alicia: Ripping apart a family with sex matters. 

Alicia's daughter asks her why she seems so sad.  Alicia sketches out the details of what she might have to do.  The daughter, the offspring of two legal eagles, tells her that she has to do whatever is necessary to represent the client.  Alicia does just that.

On the melodrama side, Alicia bypasses the sexual tension generated from her boss Will.  That tension is palpable.  She pushes back on her mother-in-law Jackie, who sports the Waspy signature headband like Charlene Marshall.  Jackie had overstepped her authority and brought the children to see their father in prison before Alicia had properly prepared them.  Alicia had the guts, although she probably couldn't afford to pay for other domestic help, to tell Jackie to stop or to go.  We sense that Jackie, for her son's sake, will behave herself to stay in the loop.

Alicia won the settlement the widows wanted.  The pride and the new confidence are written all over her.  Peter picks up on that, of course.  He pleads: Don't give up on me.

Like Elizabeth Edwards, Alicia seems smarter - and wiser - than her philandering husband.