SPECIAL OLYMPICS

With "The Glory That Was", an episode of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', we learned that Caroline Walters (the murder victim) had won the Olympic equestrian bronze medal in 1992, and the gold in 1996. Mrs. Walters rode for Belgium in both of those years.

It was easy enough to look up the Olympic medal winners for both 1992 and 1996 to see who did win the medals in those years. And just to reassure you, I'm not so deluded about the reality of Toobworld - yet - to think that I would actually find a Caroline listed there. (Walters was her married name.) But I was curious to see how closely the facts of this case had been ripped from the headlines; I thought it might be possible that Belgium might have placed among the winners in both years. A situation like this, in which real world history deviates from what is established in the fictional world of TV Land, is easier to accept once enough time has passed. It's a lot easier to now squeeze in Jeremy Thorpe as the British Prime Minister back in 1974 than it had been when the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Green Death" first aired.

(Maybe I'm showing my provincialism in that, being an American - I can accept alterations to the tele-British leadership, but I'm dead set against any tampering with the line of succession when it comes to the American presidency in Toobworld.)

It's easy enough to ignore the existence of Robert "Pruneface" Morgenthau as the District Attorney in New York City on 'Law & Order'; it's not like he's exactly the kind of person to be seen or even referenced in other TV shows. It gets harder with the Empire State's governorship on the same show when you go from the Spitzer scandal to David Paterson, a legally blind black man who was thrust into the job. Both of them have been mentioned in the dialogue of other shows. Perhaps the passage of Time will allow us to find a way to squeeze the fictional Donald Shalvoy into the office.....
At any rate, the records for the Olympics now stand as an example of the difference between the TV Universe and the "Trueniverse"....

BCnU!