When Rhonda Brodsky watches assistant district attorney Jack McCoy make a rousing opening statement that interjects his own feelings into the case on TV's "Law & Order," she thinks, "I wish I could do that in real life and get away with it."

The deputy district attorney for administration, personnel and training in Fulton County knows that she'd be held in contempt of court, and there would be a mistrial.

VIRGINIA SHERWOOD/NBC (ENLARGE)

Sam Waterston of 'Law & Order.'

LEITA COWART/Special (ENLARGE)

Rhonda Brodsky, a deputy district attorney for Fulton County, spends more time in her office — and at arraignment and motions hearings — than does assistant district attorney Jack McCoy (above left, played by Sam Waterston) of 'Law & Order.'

LEITA COWART/Special (ENLARGE)

Cecil M. Hutchins, crime scene investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, uses a special light to look for fingerprints in a car that was involved in a murder. He said real-life investigations take somewhat longer than the ones conducted by Warrick Brown, Gil Grissom (Gary Dourdan, left, and William Petersen, pictured above) and their 'CSI' colleagues.

ROBERT VOETS/CBS (ENLARGE)

Warrick Brown, Gil Grissom (Gary Dourdan, left, and William Petersen) from 'CSI'.

Craid Sjodin/ABC (ENLARGE)

Patrick Dempsey plays Dr. Dereck Sheperd and Kate Walsh plays Dr Addison Sheperd on 'Grey's Anatomy' on ABC.

MONICA ALMEIDA/The New York Times (ENLARGE)

Goran Visnjic, left, and Maura Tierney are the best reasons, among a highly skillful cast, to watch the NBC television series 'ER,' which has been around since 1994.

Brodsky — who prosecuted murder, rape, assault, fraud and other crimes for 14 years — knows that you can't argue your case in an opening statement. You're allowed only to tell the story based on the facts you'll present.

"And when McCoy goes on and on in cross-examination before asking a question — a judge wouldn't let you do that, either," Brodsky said.

If you are shocked to learn that TV careers don't always accurately reflect their real-life counterparts, be warned: There are further spoilers ahead.

Brodsky began watching "Law & Order" 15 years ago at the suggestion of a law professor, and she still watches.

"It's exciting, interesting and there's never a dull moment," she said. "It's exciting here, too, but we also have to do the mundane things."

She notes that McCoy is out and about the city a lot. "You don't see him in arraignment and motions hearings, and you notice that he only works on one case at a time — and he has an assistant. I'd love to have the luxury of one case," she said.

Most assistant district attorneys are assigned to judges who have 100 to 300 cases or more pending. The DA's office offers a plea in every case — not always one the defense likes — and tries the complicated cases. Brodsky remembers being in back-to-back trials for three weeks with no break and spending long nights and weekends in preparation.

"I really enjoyed being in court. My greatest satisfaction is in helping victims. When you get a 'thank-you,' that means a lot," she said.

Now she spends more time doing administrative work, temporarily overseeing the Crimes Against Women and Children division and training new attorneys, police officers and investigators.

"Being able to teach others to do well in court and seeing them succeed makes me feel good," she said.

Her office has a 92 percent conviction rate.

Real courtrooms aren't as dramatic as they seem on TV. Witnesses rarely confess, and people usually don't shout out from the audience. The show does get some things right, however.

"The DA's office is always well-prepared, and we sometimes have to do additional investigation. Police errors can happen. Witnesses get scared and recant. On one show a witness was killed, and that's happened here," she said.

The bonding and camaraderie among co-workers are true to life. So are the assistant DA's disagreements and banter with the district attorney. "[Fulton County DA] Paul Howard has the final word, but we talk in his office all the time, and we don't always agree," she said.

Brodsky's plan had been to prosecute briefly and then become a criminal defense lawyer, but "I discovered this is where my heart and conscience is," she said.

Not exactly 'CSI'

Cecil M. Hutchins, crime scene specialist for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, often speaks to wide-eyed, young criminal-justice students, who are fascinated by the job. After all, they've seen "CSI." That's the sanitized, more theatrical version of his job, he tells them.

"It's not a glory job or a glamorous job, but it's a job of deep satisfaction," Hutchins said.

As a young officer, Hutchins watched a real crime scene investigator at work and was amazed at how he could visualize what happened by examining the evidence. It was a job most people didn't want back then, because of "the filth and unpleasantness and being around dead bodies all the time," Hutchins said.

He's on call 24 hours a day for seven-day stretches, never knowing when or what crimes will occur.

He doesn't wear nice clothes, because, if he's doing his job properly, he's going to get dirty. He wears coveralls or a biohazard suit because he's dealing with decomposed bodies, bugs, garbage, blood and bodily fluids.

"Sometimes you stop and change clothes because you smell so bad, and sometimes you're so tired you have to get a motel room and sleep," he said. "When you're tired is when you start making mistakes."

On "CSI," investigations move quickly in the field and test results come back fast, he's noticed. The average GBI case takes 44 days to close.

It's true that crime scene investigators are highly trained and always learning on the job.

"You're constantly thinking on your feet — looking to see what you have and where to start. If it's going to rain, you leave the bodies inside and get the tracks and blood outside first," he said. "It requires a lot of skills, like knowing the math to interpret blood-spatter patterns and angles, to stay on top of your game."

Hutchins trained at the National Forensics Academy ("the body farm" to insiders) in Tennessee and attends International Association for Identification conferences to stay abreast of new research.

"The main thing you need is patience; gathering evidence takes a long time. You can't rush, or you'll miss something," he said.

He uses sophisticated equipment, but not all the tricks used on "CSI." "You would never pour a liquid casting material into a wound to match a knife blade. It would run through the body," he said.

In real life there's more paperwork, and you don't always get scientific evidence.

"The jury thinks we've done something wrong [if we don't get good fingerprints]. Gil Grissom usually gets nice fingerprints, but criminals watch TV, too, and they wear gloves. Or we get good prints, but there are no suspects," he said.

Having his job popularized can make it harder to testify, because people have high expectations of what scientific forensics can do. Still, Hutchins likes going to court.

"You have to be able to explain what you did, and there are always other experts. The defense is getting sharp on crime scene procedures and sometimes has unrealistic expectations. Testifying keeps me sharp," he said.

It's gratifying to be able to shed new light on crime scenes and bring closure and justice to victims' families. "I want to help them by doing the best I can do," he said. "That's my reward. When I get off the stand and the jury convicted [the defendant], and the family appreciates what you've done, then all the hard work is worth it."

More-mundane medicine

Dr. Mustafa Davis is a fourth-generation doctor and a first-year general surgery resident at Morehouse School of Medicine who is practicing at Grady Health System. He said he and his fellow residents and interns are "real people, with real lives and real issues." But it's not "Grey's Anatomy."

"Our issues aren't so co-worker-related, and they aren't so dramatic," he said.

The bonding is real, but the personalities and situations aren't so extreme. There's not a lot of emotional angst or romantic entanglements. "We eat breakfast together before rounds. We talk about our lives, go to the movies or bowl together [after hours]," he said.

The sleep challenges and job stress portrayed in medical shows are real. Davis works from 5 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m. and is on 24-hour call every third or fourth night, but he also gets days off and vacations.

"Attending physicians are constantly challenging us and asking us questions, because it's a learning environment," he said. "On good days, you get all the questions right. On bad days, it seems like you don't know anything, but I have good relationships with them. It's their job to teach us."

Stress also comes from the high stakes. "People's lives are involved. You don't want to make mistakes; you want to take precautions and make sure it's safe to operate," Davis said.

Unlike in TV shows, not every trauma case is a life-threatening emergency. And Davis has yet to see some of the medical situations depicted on "House."

"There's a lot more monotony in real life. Certain disease processes happen more frequently, and you master them. They seem to get a lot more complicated cases on TV," he said.

He believes that there is a lot of clinical medicine to be learned by watching "ER," which has good researchers.

In general, he thinks the medical shows capture well the fact that most outcomes are good.

"After a successful diagnosis, treatment or procedure with a good outcome, there is a rewarding feeling. It makes you feel good inside. I really enjoy what I do. I feel like I'm on the right path, and I know that the more I learn, the easier it will get," Davis said.

Davis started a mentoring program at Grady to give Douglass High School students who are interested in medicine a taste of what it's like to be a doctor.

"TV has influenced a lot of young people to go into medicine. I'm happy for that," he said.