Urinals in legal narratives: A contextual overview

So, during Fox’s Press Tour session for “Canterbury’s Law,” a midseason legal drama starring Julianna Marguilies, this curious question was posed:

QUESTION: Why are TV writers so fascinated with men's bathrooms? Virtually every drama, especially courtroom dramas, has a scene with men in the bathroom.

Your Mayor, not being as utterly obsessed with human elimination as the querying journalist, had not noticed this before, but upon reflection, entertainments focusing on the legal process – from “Ally McBeal” to “The Runaway Jury” – have, in fact, featured key expository scenes in restrooms. Not sure I’d really want to know the answer enough to posit it before a large group, but I respect the interrogator’s moxie.

Herewith, the response:

WALON GREEN (executive producer): Well, the urinal is actually an ideal place to shoot something, because it's not a stall. It's not enclosed. It's open.

(Laughter.)

It offers opportunities for different angles and good coverage, and there's also sound potential so --

(Laughter.)

JULIANNA MARGULIES (Clapping): Walon, you rock.

Indeed, Walon, you do rock. You have keenly explicated a once-unheralded genre cliché that no one probably really wanted to know about but now understands fully.

Plus, a lot of actors probably have prostate problems, so if their bladders ache in the middle of a scene, they’re good to go.