Law & Order
Under the Influence
TV Flash files “Under the Influence” as hour 168 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 8, episode 11, aired 1998-01-07, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S08E11: listed hour 168 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 11 of 24 in season 8. It aired 1998-01-07 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Ritual” (S08E10). Next is “Expert” (S08E12). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
After Briscoe and Curtis finally determine who was driving the car that killed three people, the legal prosecution stands in danger of becoming a kangaroo court when McCoy's feelings over Kincaid mesh with the political agenda of Gary Feldman, an ambitious judge anxious to make an example of the defendant to boost his election chances against Adam Schiff.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Under the Influence sit in the Law & Order guide?
S08E11 is listed hour 168 of 545 — hour 11 of 24 in season 8, season 8 episode 11.
When did Law & Order S08E11 air?
Under the Influence aired 1998-01-07 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I watch in order, or is it modular?
Modular is the point. Cases close. Casts change. Start anywhere in the original 1990–2010 run and you will understand the clang within twenty minutes. Order matters only if you care which partner is standing next to whom.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the walnut that became a city: street then courtroom, a clang as civic punctuation, and two decades of interchangeable parts that taught TV how to clone a night. Comfort is the feature. The original 1990–2010 cathedral still teaches the form; the revival is the machine refusing to clock out.
Picture a Tuesday when the nation still had a cop show that split like a walnut: first the street, then the courtroom, a clang on the soundtrack that became civic punctuation. Law & Order premiered September 13, 1990, on NBC, created by Dick Wolf, and it did not invent the procedural so much as industrialize it. Prescription for Death is the template in miniature — a hospital night, a dead patient, cops then lawyers, no hug required. On the palate: newsprint, a New York that looks like a location budget with a…
Filed against
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- Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy
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- Benjamin Bratt as Rey Curtis
Benjamin Bratt’s Det. Rey Curtis brought intensity to Law & Order’s dun-dun empire — partner chemistry, ripped-from-headlines cool, and franchise modular star power. He made the squad room feel urgent. TV Flash keeps him in the procedural…
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