Specifically, the study found that 29.2 percent of all criminal characters are business owners or executives. This is a far higher percentage than for any other occupation, even for such career criminals as mobsters and gang members, who made up 9.7 percent of the criminal characters. Doctors committed 4.1 percent of all TV crimes, followed by government officials at 3.9 percent and police officers at 3.5 percent. Lawyers made up one of the most positively portrayed professions, committing only one percent of TV crimes. Looking further at the data, another tendency becomes apparent.
Some businessmen are better than others in the eyes of Hollywood.
Small business owners, while not portrayed heroically, are depicted in a distinctly less negative light than big business owners or corporate executives. Businessmen, it seems, are acceptable until they become too successful. Or, put another way, corruption, rather than providing a quality product or service at a reasonable price, is the only path TV business characters take to success. There were 65 business characters who murdered during the study period. Many of the big businessmen murdered to enhance the profitability of their companies.