LAW & ORDER {LAW AND ORDER}: BLOOD (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas that deals with the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of criminals. The first half of each episode concerns the police procedure that leads to the arrest of a suspect, while the second half covers the efforts of the district attorney to prosecute the case. This episode centers around the death of Karen Burdett, who either jumped or was pushed from the terrace of her high-floor apartment. Throughout most of the program, her husband Josh is the prime suspect. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis learn that a few weeks earlier Karen gave birth to a baby girl which she reluctantly gave up for adoption under pressure from her husband. Further investigation leads the detectives to the baby and her new parents, the O'Briens, and a surprise when they discover that although her birth parents were white, little Maggie is in fact black. Josh explains this idiosyncrasy by saying that Karen had an affair with an unknown black man. However, when the detectives find that both Josh and Maggie have the same inherited medical condition, they discover that Josh is in fact a black man who had been passing as white for many years. At first, they believe that when Karen decided she wanted her baby back, Josh killed her in order to suppress the information about his true racial background. Josh admits that he was afraid of revealing the truth, but that he had finally agreed with Karen to revoke the adoption so that they could raise their baby after all. After the adoptive mother and child disappear, Assistant District Attorneys Ross and McCoy learn from Mr. O'Brien that Josh's ex-wife, Frances Houston, offered them money to take the baby away from New York. Frances testifies in court that she did in fact visit Karen on the day of her death in order to persuade her to let Maggie's adoptive family keep her. When Ross and McCoy examine Houston's divorce papers, they discover telling facts about her bigotry, leading to an even more complicated case. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundations, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 19, 1997 Wednesday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:07
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:52213
- GENRE: Drama, legal; Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Adoption - Drama; Drama, legal; Drama, police/detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1990-2010
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ed Sherin … Executive Producer
- Dick Wolf … Executive Producer, Created by
- Rene Balcer … Executive Producer, Writer
- Kathy McCormick … Co-Executive Producer
- Arthur W. Forney … Supervising Producer
- David Shore … Producer
- Billy Fox … Producer
- Lewis H. Gould … Producer
- Jeffrey Hayes … Producer
- David Black … Consulting Producer
- Jace Alexander … Director
- Craig Tepper … Writer
- Mike Post … Music by
- Jerry Orbach … Cast, Detective Lennie Briscoe
- Benjamin Bratt … Cast, Detective Reynaldo Curtis
- S. Epatha Merkerson … Cast, Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Sam Waterston … Cast, Assistant D.A. Jack McCoy
- Carey Lowell … Cast, Assistant D.A. Jamie Ross
- Steven Hill … Cast, District Attorney Adam Schiff
- Stephen Mendillo … Cast, Josh Burdett
- Deborah Rush … Cast, Frances Houston
- Harry O'Reilly … Cast, Jerry O'Brien
- Lou Liberatore … Cast, Dale Brody
- Joan Copeland … Cast, Judge Stein
- Kent Broadhurst … Cast, Harry Stokley
- Franchelle Stewart Dorn … Cast, Ms. Joyner
- Mike Hodge … Cast, Leonard Hill
- Keith Randolph Smith … Cast, Morris Keach
- Catherine Cox … Cast, Dr. Nancy Frieder
- Jack Davidson … Cast, Spense Carlyle
- Bellamy Young … Cast, Ellen O'Brien
- Angela Pietropinto … Cast, Nurse Ciaducci
- William Christian … Cast, Shawn Taitt
- Josh Pais … Cast, Medical Examiner Borak
- Marianne Hagan … Cast, Jane Levin
- Donald Christopher … Cast, the Doorman
- Robert Montano … Cast, Clemente
- Mark Jacoby … Cast, Ryan
- Ruth Nerken … Cast, Rita