Late last year, NBC drew unwanted attention to itself by first delaying, and then delaying again, an episode of Law & Order: SVU based on the numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault levied against current President Donald Trump. Now, Dick Wolf and his team are taking aim on another big-name conservative with repeated harassment charges to his name. It just remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to get their episode about ousted Fox News head Roger Ailes onto the air, either.
Ailes has become a popular target for film and TV projects in recent months. Just yesterday, Going Clear documentarian Alex Gibney confirmed that he’s working on a project about the former CEO, The Big Short writer Charles Randolph is penning a movie about him, and a TV miniseries is also in the works. SVU will take the standard Law & Order headline-ripping approach to Ailes’ ordeal, with the episode centering on “Howard Coyle,” a news network head “with a past,” and the fallout from abuse allegations against him from one of his network’s prominent anchors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC has declined to comment on the episode. There’s no word yet on when the episode will air or film, or who the show will tap to play its ersatz Ailes.