Posted On: December 14, 2005, 3:53 pm CST

Posted By: Chris

Warren,

Honestly, unless you resort to A) Insurer bashing, B) Adjuster bashing, C) Attorney bashing, D) Claimant bashing, or, E) All of the above, there is no way to keep this series interesting week after week.

What makes criminal law programs so interesting is that criminal bashing is okay. Criminals as presented in shows such as Law and Order are based upon real life, where no one wants to identify with the criminal. If you piss off a criminal, who cares if they change the channel? It's not like they have a support base.

On the other hand, there are a lot of insurance industry workers, attorneys, and claimants that the networks do care about. Piss them off week after week and you lose viewers and sponsors.

When the detectives discover the crucial DNA evidence on a sock thrown in a dumpster two blocks away, the viewers all feel safe in the knowledge that if this ever happens to them, the police will always find the evidence. When a paralegal turns up that missing ambulance bill that makes the special damages in excess of the no-fault threshold, anyone still watching will say "So what?"

To be certain, within the personal injury "industry" there are lots of things that happen that make insiders laugh, cry, and get worked up. But, for the general public who isn't "in on" what takes place, a weekly diet of larger than life caricatures of any of the related professions won't, in my opinion, sell a 30 second spot in prime time.

It will make people more suspicious of agents, adjusters, and attorneys on both sides of the bar. And that's not a good thing for the vast majority of us who, day in and day out, do a hard job with little public appreciation to the best of our abilities. Figure out a way to make the show interesting without making it disparaging, and you'll have a fan.