Ever since it premiered in 1994, Dick Wolf's "Law and Order" has been a massive hit. The shows are constantly on one channel or another, and all of them are great. In 1999, the franchise launched it's first spin-off, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," which dealt with sex crimes. Spin-offs don't usually last long, but "SVU" did and is still going strong. In fact, it's entirely reasonable to argue that it's first spin-off is better than its parent.
The show revolves around the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD. The squad deals primarily with sex crimes. While the cast has changed a bit over the years, in general, there are four detectives and a lawyer they gather evidence for. The main detectives are Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), John Munch (Richard Belzer), and Fin Tutola (Ice-T). The most prominent lawyers are Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) and Casey Novak (Diane Neal). Their captain, Donald Cragen (Dan Florek) is secondary, but appears in just about every episode. In the last few seasons, two regular guest stars have been added to the main cast: Melinda Warner (Tamera Tunie), the medical examiner, and George Huang (B.D. Wong), the FBI trained criminal psychologist.
Like its parent show, "SVU" features strong stories and great acting. All the guest characters are well-acted. The dialogue and stories are intelligent, and they are unafraid of tackling new and difficult subject matter. The latter is easily the show's biggest strength. While the shows have the same feel, every episode feels fresh because they tackle new issues in different ways.
"SVU" has something that none of the other shows in the "Law and Order" franchise do: three-dimensional main characters. The two main detectives, Benson and Stabler, are frequently fleshed out, and three-dimensional. Their personal conflicts often influence how they react to a case, and this keeps the show interesting. For example, Stabler is Catholic, and a father of five, so crimes involving young girls frequently hit close to home for him. Benson is the product of a rape, and this influences how she tackles certain cases. Benson is especially good at talking to the victims, and this gives her a softer side that's easy to like. Munch (carried over from another Dick Wolf show, "Homicide: Life on the Street"), is a conspiracy nut and frequently makes sarcastic jokes. Fin is a tough guy from narcotics, but he has a softer side as well.
The show wouldn't be half as good if the main characters weren't well-acted. When I learned that Meloni's background is in comedy, I was shocked. There's no sense of that in his portrayal of Stabler. Stabler is a closed-off individual who tries to avoid letting the stress out to prevent pain for his family. He's a family man, and his time and effort into his work takes him away from them, and that is constantly on his mind. Mariska Hargitay is the show's best performer (and the only one from the franchise who has gotten any acting nominations (and wins)), and that's understandable. She's brilliant. Alternately sensitive and tough, Benson is easily the most dynamic character in the franchise. She frequently goes undercover, and Hargitay doesn't just act like the person her character is posing as, she plays it as Benson acting. Richard Belzer provides comic relief, but he is more than capable of handling drama. Ice-T is another rapper-turned-actor, but Ice-T is terrific as Fin.
Despite the dark and disturbing subject matter, the show doesn't shy away from a sense of humor. Most episodes have a few good one-liners, some of which are laugh-out-loud hilarious. But the show is careful enough not to turn this into a comedy.
Every episode is great. There are a few episodes that are flat (what show doesn't have these, especially one that has run this long?), but the great ones vastly outnumber those that are less-than-par. A good number of them are simply genius ("Design," "Charisma," "Raw," "Scourge," "Scavenger," "Game," "Tragedy," "Debt," "Doubt," "Pure," and a few others).
Make no mistake, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" is simply incredible.
The show revolves around the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD. The squad deals primarily with sex crimes. While the cast has changed a bit over the years, in general, there are four detectives and a lawyer they gather evidence for. The main detectives are Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), John Munch (Richard Belzer), and Fin Tutola (Ice-T). The most prominent lawyers are Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) and Casey Novak (Diane Neal). Their captain, Donald Cragen (Dan Florek) is secondary, but appears in just about every episode. In the last few seasons, two regular guest stars have been added to the main cast: Melinda Warner (Tamera Tunie), the medical examiner, and George Huang (B.D. Wong), the FBI trained criminal psychologist.
Like its parent show, "SVU" features strong stories and great acting. All the guest characters are well-acted. The dialogue and stories are intelligent, and they are unafraid of tackling new and difficult subject matter. The latter is easily the show's biggest strength. While the shows have the same feel, every episode feels fresh because they tackle new issues in different ways.
"SVU" has something that none of the other shows in the "Law and Order" franchise do: three-dimensional main characters. The two main detectives, Benson and Stabler, are frequently fleshed out, and three-dimensional. Their personal conflicts often influence how they react to a case, and this keeps the show interesting. For example, Stabler is Catholic, and a father of five, so crimes involving young girls frequently hit close to home for him. Benson is the product of a rape, and this influences how she tackles certain cases. Benson is especially good at talking to the victims, and this gives her a softer side that's easy to like. Munch (carried over from another Dick Wolf show, "Homicide: Life on the Street"), is a conspiracy nut and frequently makes sarcastic jokes. Fin is a tough guy from narcotics, but he has a softer side as well.
The show wouldn't be half as good if the main characters weren't well-acted. When I learned that Meloni's background is in comedy, I was shocked. There's no sense of that in his portrayal of Stabler. Stabler is a closed-off individual who tries to avoid letting the stress out to prevent pain for his family. He's a family man, and his time and effort into his work takes him away from them, and that is constantly on his mind. Mariska Hargitay is the show's best performer (and the only one from the franchise who has gotten any acting nominations (and wins)), and that's understandable. She's brilliant. Alternately sensitive and tough, Benson is easily the most dynamic character in the franchise. She frequently goes undercover, and Hargitay doesn't just act like the person her character is posing as, she plays it as Benson acting. Richard Belzer provides comic relief, but he is more than capable of handling drama. Ice-T is another rapper-turned-actor, but Ice-T is terrific as Fin.
Despite the dark and disturbing subject matter, the show doesn't shy away from a sense of humor. Most episodes have a few good one-liners, some of which are laugh-out-loud hilarious. But the show is careful enough not to turn this into a comedy.
Every episode is great. There are a few episodes that are flat (what show doesn't have these, especially one that has run this long?), but the great ones vastly outnumber those that are less-than-par. A good number of them are simply genius ("Design," "Charisma," "Raw," "Scourge," "Scavenger," "Game," "Tragedy," "Debt," "Doubt," "Pure," and a few others).
Make no mistake, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" is simply incredible.