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Law and Order:SVU Fans Are Outraged With Olivia Benson After Season 23, Episode 21
"Law & Order" is an undeniable titan of television. The original show, which ran on NBC for 20 seasons and 456 episodes, is inescapable in its influence on TV and popular culture. Every episode delivers a dramatic one-two punch of hard-boiled New York City legal action. The show's premise is simple: the first half of the program follows detectives; the second half follows the courts. But at the time of its initial release in 1990, this was a novel concept.
The show is so ubiquitous today, with multiple spinoffs airing on network television, in syndication and on streaming platforms, it might surprise you that "Law & Order” had humble beginnings just like any other television show.
In the television network system, two separate yet equally important groups typically represent shows: the creatives who make the shows and the executives who program them. These are the untold truths of "Law & Order" (dun-dun).
The title "Law & Order" is brilliant in its simplicity, but the show's name was almost something quite different. In 1988, Dick Wolf, a former ad man-turned-screenwriter, had the idea for a show called "Night and Day.
By the late '80s, crime procedurals were already nothing new to TV. Shows like "Dragnet," "Naked City," and "" followed the daily travails of police apprehending criminals and the defense attorneys tasked with representing the suspects. Characters like the no-nonsense Sgt. Joe "Just the Facts, Ma'am" Friday and clever defense attorneys like white-suited Ben Matlock became pop culture icons. However, Wolf's original idea was to bring a new twist to an old formula. He wanted to include a focus on the prosecution, something that had never been done in a legal show.
"Law & Order" and its subsequent spinoffs have been a linchpin of NBC's programming for over 30 years, generating millions of dollars in advertising revenue and thousands of hours of content — but in the beginning, Wolf originally sold the series to the upstart television network FOX.
After being rejected at FOX, the show went to CBS, where a pilot episode was ordered but ultimately not picked up. Then it finally landed at NBC, with legendary television executives Brandon Tartikoff and Warren Littlefiled championing the show.
When "Law & Order" premiered on September 13, 1990, the show was a critic's darling, but fans were slow to warm up to it. "Law & Order" didn't shy away from tackling tough, controversial storylines of the time; assisted suicide, abortion, and AIDS were all covered in the early seasons of the show.
While the show's authenticity was appreciated by some, it was not immediately a ratings hit. In 1993, Littlefield told Wolf the show was in danger of being canceled if they didn't make adjustments to attract a mass audience. Specifically, Littlefield wanted the show to be less of a "men's club" and asked for more female characters (via ). "Law & Order" met Littlefield's challenge and added characters Lt.
With the right cast in place, "Law & Order" was now a hit and primed for the ultimate TV money-making goals: reruns and syndication. Reruns of "Law & Order” began airing on the cable network A&E in 1994 to considerable success. When A&E's syndication deal with the show ended in 2002, the network was airing four hours of the show daily (via
The show's procedural structure is a natural fit for syndication and with reruns airing throughout most of its run, the audience soon spanned multiple demographics and generations. S. Epatha Merekrson noted that young people tell her "Law & Order" got them through college (via ). For many students, nothing says taking a break between classes like a "Law & Order" rerun.
In order to make the show as gritty and realistic as possible, "Law & Order" worked with many experts in the criminal justice system. The show hired former NYPD detectives to consult on the show and included actual attorneys in the writer's room to make sure the action and drama were accurate and true-to-life. William Fordes, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, worked as a producer, writer, and consultant on the show, and told that "Law & Order" worked very hard for balanced depictions of the criminal justice system, with ambiguity a regular script goal.
The show's commitment to authenticity lends itself to ripped-from-the headlines episodes that were based on real-life events, from everyday crime to sensational celebrity stories.
Celebrity tabloid culture was a driving force in public conversation in the '90s and '00s and "Law & Order" episodes didn't shy away from giving their takes on some of the most salacious stories of the day. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's "" relationship, the death of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial all inspired dramatic and shocking episodes of the series.
Some ripped-from-the-headlines stories are too controversial for even "Law & Order" to cover — for example, the episode of the "Law & Order" spinoff "” featured a storyline based on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Going through the list of actors who had guest roles on "Law & Order" early in their careers is like looking through an old high school yearbook. . "Law & Order" was, for a time, the longest running live-action show on TV and with new stories every week, guest actors were a hot commodity. The series was filmed entirely in New York City, a metropolis filled to the brim with young, fresh acting talent waiting to get their big break on the small screen; powerhouse, award-winning actors like Sarah Paulson and Phillip Seymour Hoffman got their first credited roles on early episodes of "Law & Order.
Other actors used "Law & Order" to fill in their early acting resumes, with the show serving as a perfect platform for broad, national television exposure. Actors such as Idris Elba, , Kerry Washington, and Laverne Cox had their turn as guests on the show. If anything, all these credits prove that no one is an overnight success and a guest role serves as a rite of passage to acting success.
"Law & Order" intrigued critics from the start, with the first reviews in 1990 applauding the show for its original format, what called "The Chase and The Trial." The show was praised by the Times for being "tightly paced and well-acted," although it was criticized by others, including , for being "leaden and contrived." gave the show a B+, noting that it was "a little gimmicky, but it works."
It certainly worked during awards season. "Law & Order" received during its run, including Outstanding Drama Series in 1997.
"Law & Order” aired for 20 seasons, ending its run in 2010.
With the success of "Exiled," a franchise was born. What could be considered one of TV's most successful spinoffs, "Law & Order: SVU” launched in 1999 and is still producing original episodes — as of 2021, it's now the longest-running primetime live-action series of all time (via
The soundscape of "Law & Order" is nothing if not memorable. It would be hard to find a person who couldn't identify the "dun-dun" () that's heard in every episode of the "Law & Order" franchise. It's a sonic combination of a jail cell door slamming, a courtroom gavel dropping, and the sound of a bunch of men stomping their feet (via ). The creator of the sound effect, composer Mike Post, understood the assignment for scoring the series: to make a mood. Post told in 1993 that the intent of the sound, which he called "The Clang," was to be a "stylized sound of a jail cell locking."
The "Law & Order" theme song, also composed by Post, is just as successful at creating a narrative mood.
If you've missed the original "Law & Order" you're in for a treat: It's coming back to television with original episodes. Proving that no show is ever really canceled, NBC has ordered a revival of the series — not a reboot or a reimagining, but a straight-up continuation of the series, with Dick Wolf telling