law and order
law and order is one of my favorite tv shows. they pretty much all start the same way: extras find the body. but then the plot lines go all over the place. often there is interesting police work. often there is an interesting legal twist. you just never know. one of my favorite lines has district attorney jack mccoy arguing before the supreme court. he says something like, if the threat of prosecution makes a us president think twice before ordering civilians in villages bombed with napalm... that can't be a bad thing.