Last Night's "Law & Order" Left No Cliche Unturned

Good Lord. First there was the Kathy Griffin Law & Order: SVU debacle, and now this.

Actually, last night's episode of Law & Order, titled "Innocence", wasn't as bad as Kathy's SVU dud. It turns out that the gay storyline was a red herring, and the main plot involved over-zealous college students, an assistant D.A. with secrets, and Amy Madigan.

"Look, tell us what we wanna know, or we're gonna make you watch every Anthony Anderson movie"

The episode starts with Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) collaring a suspected killer. Jon Sorrentino (Cheyenne Jackson) is brought in, and picks the perp out of a lineup as the scum who killed his husband.

The guy is put on trial and quickly convicted. Justice prevails! Case closed! Oh wait ... we're only ten minutes in. Uh-oh. There must be more to the story. Would you be surprised to learn that:

1. Jon's husband was high on Meth (of course) when he was murdered.

2. Jon and his husband had their own personal drug dealer.

3. Jon was having an affair with his realtor and was unhappy in the marriage. He wanted out, but didn't want to get divorced.

4. The drug dealer testifies that Jon asked him if he knew someone who could put a hit on his husband.

Of course none of these things are surprising, especially the drug "revelations". On procedural cop shows like this the words "gay" and "meth" are usually synonymous.

"Hey, at least I don't have to put up with Tracy Morgan"

The verdict is overturned, and a new trial is set. And then Cheyenne and the case are completely dropped.

The last two-thirds of the show involve assistant D.A. Cutter (Linus Roache) and his battle with Emily Ryan (Amy Madigan), who is his former mentor and the head of "The Innocent Collective", an organization that attempts to free unjustly convicted prisoners.

At the end of the show the original verdict is upheld, but what we're left with is a dead gay meth-head victim and his lying, cheating husband.

You're probably thinking "well on shows like this, the guest stars are always either victims or killers, so these gay characters are no different." That's true, but since gay characters are featured so rarely, I wish these shows would look beyond the usual cliches and stereotypes.

But I guess that's asking too much. After all, this is the show that has been on for decades and has had one recurring gay character ... who shall live in infamy.