Law & Order: SVU sure loves its ripped from the headlines episodes. If something certifiably crazy happens in the news, you can usually set your watch by the 8-12 weeks that will pass before SVU gets its hands on the material and premieres an episode with a very similar storyline, just more dramatic. Sometimes, it seems nearly impossible to be even more dramatic than the 24-hour news cycle that consumes our daily lives, but even in those cases the show rises to the challenge and throws in as many twists and turns that they can fit in a 43-minute episode.
Now, SVU is setting its sights on Donald Trump in an episode that is charted to air on October 26th, with Gary Cole playing the character meant to represent the Republican candidate. The show has done politically-inspired episodes before with takes on the Anthony Weiner scandal among others, but this might just be the first time it has planned to air a send up of a presidential candidate while that candidate is still running for president. It’s not as if Trump has given the show anything less than an overstuffed arsenal of sexist, racially-charged, and over-the-top moments to choose from in their task.
According to THR the episode is called “Unstoppable” and will revolve around “a brash demagogue with political ambitions.” Even though the now-infamous “groping” conversation between Trump and NBC’s Billy Bush just leaked last week, it looks like there is a chance that similar material will find its way into the episode. Of course, it’s so hard to separate each specific instance of Trump sexism at this point, so the writers’ room is probably just merging his greatest hits into an awesome story.
Trump did ask to be the “law and order” candidate. On the one hand, he couldn’t have seen this as the answer to that wish. On the other, he could be sitting high in Trump tower gleefully clapping about being the subject of a primetime episode of television.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
