# Who's your favorite Law & Order character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429 "2012-04-30T17:10:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/41 "2012-05-02T14:52:02Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Dennis Farina actually was a cop before going into acting. Farina’s character strained credibility in the number of times he would quietly threaten to beat up a suspect. Nobody ever complained? Nobody ever indignantly demanded a lawyer? How often could a modern real-life detective get away with something like this? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/42 "2012-05-02T15:41:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Farina’s character strained credibility in the number of times he would quietly threaten to beat up a suspect. Nobody ever complained? Nobody ever indignantly demanded a lawyer? How often could a modern real-life detective get away with something like this? Well, the promos for the show say something like, “If you’re not too attached to the Constitution…” It is TV, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/43 "2012-05-02T16:39:43Z")
Cop: Lenny Briscoe, hands down. Attorneys: D. A. Arthur Branch pretty much ties with D.A. Adam Schiff Hottest lawyer babe: tie between ADA Serena Southerlyn and ADA Abbie Carmichael ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/44 "2012-05-02T23:21:32Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Since my real favorites (Jerry Orbach and and Angie Harmon) have been mentioned multiple times, I’ll nominate JK Simmons as Emil Skoda, the shrink. He was never given many lines, but he always stole every episode he was in with his droll, spot-on deliveries. He’s OK, but he’s no Liz Olivet! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/45 "2012-05-02T23:26:27Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > He’s OK, but he’s no Liz Olivet! Minuet :::drool::: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/46 "2012-05-02T23:34:27Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Cop: Lenny Briscoe, hands down. > Attorneys: D. A. Arthur Branch pretty much ties with D.A. Adam Schiff > Hottest lawyer babe: tie between ADA Serena Southerlyn and ADA Abbie Carmichael I hated Adam Schiff as a politician first and reflexive second guesser of his subordinates at every opportunity. But Branch’s smugness and arrogance far surpassed Schiff. Branch was such a shitheel that he reminded me of former Sen. Fred Thompson: spending all his life trading on his experience as Senate counsel in Watergate in which he leaked everything to the Nixon administration. Eww. I’ve seen Thompson in stuff I liked him in, but this wasn’t it. (Heck, I loved Liddy in Miami Vice.) ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/47 "2012-05-02T23:58:43Z")
I’d watch a special hourlong show featuring Abbie Carmichael picking her nose. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/48 "2012-05-03T03:32:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No, but she’s the best looking. Claire is a close second. But it’s more than her looks. She was just a really good character. Wow. Could not _disagree_ more. Episodes with her I find nearly unwatchable. Attractive as a Port-a-Potty door. I think the actress is simply _awful_. I’ve heard better delivery in elementary school pagents. Maybe its just me… I’ll go with Schiff, Logan and the Harmon ADA. Whatever her name was. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429/49 "2012-05-12T23:57:01Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > To me, Claire looked very butch. She had this dumb “tough-guy” swagger and those huge shoulder pads (Ok, I wore them, too. :rolleyes: ) and her shirts buttoned all the way up. I thought she was the LEAST attractive of all the female ADAs. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Pistols at dawn! Okay. I’m watching a _Law & Order_ rerun called [“Sweeps”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629444/) from 1993-- before Sam Waterston, and Claire was very cute back then. Shorter, stylish hair swept behind her ears, nice earrings, great makeup-- beautiful eyebrows–better clothes with some color. Maybe she got frumpy after she started sleeping with Jack McCoy. She’s really beautiful in these pictures: [Jill Hennessy](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005007/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-law-order-character/620429.md?page=2)