Law & Order: Special VALENTINE'S Unit

Before we were married, my wife Gina never had cable TV. Of course she'd SEEN it before, but she'd never actually lived in a house that had cable. The experience of having 100 some-odd channels of programming at her fingertips was a profound one for her.

Initially, she got sucked into the typical cable rookie stuff - - Sports Center, the entire Food Network line-up, and E's True Hollywood Story (I caught her engrossed in episodes centered around both Christina Aquilera and "Three's Company").

Soon though, she discovered a hidden truth about cable. One that, to be honest, I was less than forthcoming in clueing her in on. And that is the fact that Law & Order (or one of its related spinoffs) can be found SOMEWHERE on cable television pretty much 24 hours a day. It's got slots on USA, Bravo, and WGN . . . and then there's TBS, which plays it constantly. Of course, that's all in addition to its normal air times on broadcast NBC.

It's her favorite show, so we watch alot of Law & Order. Alot. At first I was dismayed by this fact. Why watch Law & Order when there's another fascinating documentary about Bigfoot on the Discovery Channel? Or when they're showing re-runs of The A-Team on TV Land?

But then I started watching with her. And I too fell under its trance. She was right about Law & Order, as she is about most things.

Truly, it is the perfect TV show: interesting characters, gritty action, all kinds of crime, mystery, unpredictable twists, and courtroom drama - - all wrapped up neatly in one-hour packages.

I ran across an artist - - Brandon Bird - - whose found all manner of ways to creatively express his allegiance to the show, including the Valentines he created above (unfortunately, they sold out almost immediately).

Then there's also the surreal series of paintings he did of the show's characters, inspired, as he says, by his "intense love" for Law & Order. Among them is this - - a Law & Order coloring book. Definitely worth checking out.

Happy Valentine's Baby!