Ring in the New Year with "Law and Order"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that no New Year's Weekend is complete without a "Law and Order" marathon on television.

TNT will be showing a string of episodes of the classic criminal procedural on Sunday morning, so sit back, relax and watch Jerry Orbach solve crimes one wisecrack at a time. The "Best Week Ever" blog has a great post about the "3 Universal Truths of Law and Order" that should not be missed by any fan, including how to predict who will be responsible for the crime (hint: any pseudo recognizable guest star is the obvious guilty party and if they've arrested someone with 40 minutes still to go in the episode, it's always the wrong person).

Here are a few more universal truths about the long-running show, which is addictive in its predictability and yet always intriguing. This includes episodes I've previously seen.

1. If someone confesses to the crime, they're usually doing it to protect the real killer -- often the child or spouse of the person confessing.

2. Rich, powerful people are always crooks. This is especially true if they're the head of any corporation.

3. The person who is most helpful to the cops -- often the bartender/bystander/landlord/waitress -- always knows more than they're telling you. You'll probably talk to them again.

4. If there's a crook the cops have trouble arresting, it usually means that person is an undercover cop/federal marshall/FBI agent.

5. Jack McCoy will never turn down a chance to make a case about the Constitution. Never.

See you in 2010, everyone!

--Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com