Tabloid (Season 8, Episode 23)
Premise: A law professor married into a famous family dies running from a gossip columnist into traffic, and when the columnist is later shot, her husband admits the killing and blames the tabloid press.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 8, Episode 23
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Timothy Carhart as Warren Abbott, Joe Mantello as Philip Marco, John Slattery as Arlen Levitt, Leslie Watts as Laura Abbott, Maeve McGuire as Betty Sanger
- Director
- Brian Mertes
- Writers
- Story: Alec Baldwin; Story & teleplay: David Black
Summary
The Investigation
“Tabloid” begins as law professor Maggie Abbott, newly named to the appellate court, runs into the path of a cab and is killed, with a bruise on her wrist and a button torn from her sweater. Her husband, Warren Abbott, a lawyer from a prominent family, claims he was at lunch, but a Ledger gossip item had linked him to an intern, Julianne Lowry. At Maggie’s gym, the detectives learn that columnist Philip Marco was hunting for her that afternoon. Marco’s blood on her diamond bracelet forces him to admit he caught her outside, she slapped him, and she broke free and fled into the street.
Marco also mentions he was chasing a story about an unwanted pregnancy. The DA’s office accepts a misdemeanor harassment plea, and Marco gets a suspended jail term, community service, a fine and probation. Later, Marco is shot three times outside a restaurant. Abbott, who once had a permit for a 9mm, says he cannot find the gun and that he spent the evening with Lowry. Marco’s files and phone records show he called the home of Abbott’s sister, where Abbott’s teenage daughter Laura was visiting, and she left right after. The M.E. reports Maggie had a hysterectomy around Laura’s birth, suggesting Abbott is not Laura’s father. When Ross questions Laura and the prosecutors threaten to arrest her, Abbott sends her out, confirms the secret and confesses to shooting Marco.
The Trial
With the DA’s office under attack from election rival Gary Feldman, a plea is offered to second-degree murder, which Abbott turns down. Defense lawyer Arlen Levitt loses a bid to suppress the confession but wins permission to put Marco’s career before the jury. He leads Marco’s editor through the paper’s heavy coverage of the Abbott family and calls a journalism professor who condemns tabloid tactics. Meanwhile, Ross’s ex-husband, Neal Gorton, sues for custody of their daughter, Katie, arguing that her plan to marry David would leave the girl with a stepfather while Ross works long hours.
Abbott testifies that Marco refused his pleas and a bribe, ignored the risk to Laura’s fragile state, and invited a punch for the front page. Prompted by a recent article about the rumor’s origin, McCoy uses press clippings to show that Abbott invited reporters into his home when it helped him, and suggests that his publicist reached the writer. In summation, McCoy argues that society can survive gossip but not a world where the powerful can silence it.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury acquits Abbott of murder and first-degree manslaughter but convicts him of second-degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum of seven years. Afterward, the prosecutors note that Abbott no longer seems to mind the cameras.
Why it stands out
- The defense turns the murder trial into a referendum on tabloid journalism, while McCoy argues that Abbott courted the press until it turned on him.
- Ross faces a custody challenge from her ex-husband over her plans to remarry, setting up her exit in the season finale, “Monster.”
- Schiff’s re-election fight with Gary Feldman hangs over his decision to offer Abbott a plea.