Kiefer Sutherland: a teaching tool?

I admit it. I’m a bit of a TV junkie. But, as much as I enjoy the temporary escape into a fantasy world, I don’t necessarily think of these people or their problems as real.

So when I heard that Georgetown Professor Gary Sharp was creating a new counterterrorism law class based on Fox’s show, “24,” my television-flooded mind was intrigued: wait, we can learn something from TV?

Indeed, says Sharp, and so do other law professors. The University of Maryland School of Law even offers a “Law in Film” seminar that teaches students how to analyze films and the legal issues presented in them.

Scrolling back over my Tivo list of shows, I wonder what a law professor could do with FX network’s new show “Damages,” which premiered this summer.

The show’s first season was filled with murder, suspense and intrigue — all surrounding a civil law suit against a C.E.O. who cheated his employees out of millions. Like “24,” it’s not very realistic, but it does present some interesting ethical and legal dilemmas.

Do you have any favorite movies or television shows you’d like to put to a legal review?

-LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer