Actually no. But there is another Law & Order in the works. So now we have:
Law & Order
Law & Oder: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Trial by Jury (January 2005)
If we can judge by the other shows, this one should be good also. I just hope I’m not burned out of Law & Order by then. As I have said, there are four nights that I don’t get my fix, so starting in January, it will be narrowed down to three.
Technically, there’s also that show about REAL cases, doesn’t it also have a Law and order name? Granted, it’s not written by anyone, but it DOES still carry the Law and Order name, no?
Now, call me weird…but the only Law and Order I watch a lot of is SVU. Regular Law and Order is ok, as long as it’s the right season. The earlier seasons I don’t like, back when Briscoe’s partner was that dweeb. Give me…umm…well, I don’t watch it enoguh to know the names, but either the black detective or the Hispanic one.
But either way, SVU is still better. I mean, it has Richard Belzer partnered with Ice-T! What a great concept! Plus, Mariska Hargitay is the hottest detective since…well…she’s just the hottest detective ever. And the two ADA’s the show has had (Cabot and Novak) are pretty damn hot, too. Also, the stories have a chance to be a little different. It’s not just “Oh, another dead guy…<insert wisecrack>” I remember one that centered around Det. Munch that dealt with two psycos who kept people as prisoners (mostly women) one managed to escape and a huge manhunt began. They went upstate to some cabin and found dozens of bodies buried there. The perps fled to Canada, and thought they were safe because Canada won’t extridite for capital offense crimes since thery don’t have the death penalty. Well, the ADA was a genius, she extridited them only on a grand theft auto charge. Take THAT, psycos!
Criminal Intent…I’ve only seen a couple episodes, one I hated, and they only managed to arrest the guy in the end because the dude planted evidence on him! (Something to do with pills…I forget now, but I thought it was highly unethical and illegal.) The other I saw I actually really liked. It was a weird story about a murder of a lady who once prayed to a dead priest and was healed. Some institute was petitioning the dead priest for sainthood, and it turned out that there was a letter where the woman admitted to faking the disease, and thus it would have nullified the miracle, and the guy couldn’t have become a saint. It guest starred Stephen Colbert as some genius dude.
Actually, it was “Law and Order: Elevator Inspection Unit”.
“This elevator doesn’t have a nine button!”
“I think I’m going to be sick!”
Anyway…SVU is my favorite as well. I really like the characters. Too bad Briscoe and that Sam Waterson character from the original “Law and Order” aren’t on it. There’s nothing neater than Richard Beltzer and Ice-T busting in to someone’s apartment.
SVU is easily the best, in my opinion.
I can’t stand Criminal Intent. It’s a shockingly terrible show, in my opinion. The script is cheesy and melodramatic and I can’t stand the main characters at all. Vincent D’Onofrio (who’s normally great) is just intolerable on the show, and his partner might as well not be there for all the screen time she gets and all the presence she carries. The script feels to me like it was farmed out to the lowest bidder; it’s one of the absolute worst things on TV.
You’re right–instead, it’s always "Who’ll get raped/molested this week? :rolleyes: I find the premise of weekly sexual predators too exploitative to find any real entertainment value (at least with murders, it’s set up more like a mystery), plus I don’t think Chris Meloni or Mariska Hargitay are even in the same universe, acting-wise, as the principals of L&O (horrible blonde DA chick excepted). I will admit M.H. is hot, but she’s always wearing turtlenecks (and never smiles)–maybe if she dressed and acted more like Crossing Jordan. 
Belzer and Ice T are fine (as is BD Wong), but they’re just a reminder of how the show would be better if they had more to do (and Munch is just a shadow of what he was in Homicide).
Then again, it’s been ages since I’ve seen any of the L&Os–maybe things have dramatically improved (though occasional drive-bys haven’t convinced me).
Well, yes and no as to “who’ll get raped/molested” this week. My point is, that with L&O you know that every episode, before the opening credits, we’re going to be introduced to a dead body. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. In SVU, we might get rape/homicide and the aforementioned dead body, or maybe we’ll get a living victim on the verge of death, or a victim walking into the headquarters to report a crime. Basically, when you have the chance to keep you’re victim alive, you haev more story arcs you can use. Some of the best episodes don’t murder the victim. One of my favs is one where the victim didn’t even know she was raped, because she was mentalyl handicapped. The mother only found out when the daughter became pregnant.
And as to MH always wearing turtle-necks, you’ve obviously never seen the episode where she goes undercover at a rave, dressed for the part, of course .
And I’ve never seen Homicide, thoguh from conversations I’ve had with people who have, the tend to agree with you about Munch. It is kinda cool, though, that he has played the same character on FIVE different TV shows, two of those times being a star, not just a guest appearance.
Exploitive though the show may be, I like the fact that the victims are often alive; it adds an element of drama to the show that I find classic L&O lacks.
And y’all are nuts if you don’t think Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni are fine actors.