Before anything else, let's all honor Dick Wolf the creator of the "Law and Order" franchise. For twenty years, the original show and its spinoffs have been wildly successful creating a media empire for Mr. Wolf that would have made Aaron Spelling envious.
The original, titled "Law and Order" will take it's final bow this year. But taking its place is the first of the franchise spinoffs to be set outside of NYC (besides the British and European versions.)
And the differences are both vast and nothing at all.
Cold opening with someone murdered, detectives quickly on the case. investigation, surprises, prosecution of criminal(s), surprises, sometimes more surprises, sometimes moribund ending. Check all that. Next case.
So, a lot is the same. The original formula called for an investigation half and a prosecution half. The other Law and Orders didn't follow this but L.A. does so it is a direct replacement for the New York version. Like the original, the writing is good, the characters and acting even better (I still miss Jerry Orbach) and the stories continue to be interesting with unexpected moments and turns down the path to justice served.
What's mainly different - and it's a big thing - is the setting - the city of angels. 3,000 miles away geographically from New York and an entire cultural universe distant.
You won't find these men and women hoofing it around town and eating from food carts - more likely it'll be a car down the freeway and a food truck serving Asian fusion.
Like many good features, the location itself plays an important part in the storyline and story themes.
Although NYC has its share of celebs and movers and shakers, there is a decidedly Hollywood flare to this show. The pilot features a group of kids robbing celebrity homes, masterminded by an ambitious stage 
mother with a Lindsey-like daughter - not as silly as it might sound.
You feel the soul - or lack of it - in these stories immediately. There's a strong sense of the roller coaster that bigtime celebrities are caught up in - the moral ambiguity, the never-ending parties, the inability to question their lives too closely less. Relationships are based in what they can do for each other, not love or caring. It's perhaps not as gritty as the New York version but it's so much more desperate. And I hate to admit it but it feels right and it feels very L.A. Perhaps it's the liberal use of actual clubs and gossip rags like TMZ and Perez Hilton.
Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll (terrific) Rachel Ticoti, Alfred Molina, Terrence Howard (who didn't show up in this ep) Regina Hall, Megan Boone and Peter Coyote (who also didn't show up in this ep) form the core cast.
Two detectives, two D.A.s, twisty crime "ripped from the headlines," lots of sometimes snide commentary - yep, it's "Law and Order" all right even with the obvious differences.
And even after 20 years, the formula works and it's still pretty damned good.
Mr. Wolf - you are a true media genius.
