Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is one of the best and most underrated shows on TV. It stars Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, a tough-as-nails detective who makes his hatred of pedophiles and child molesters well known many times throughout the show. He has another side, a vicious side, that Criminal Intent's Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) lacks. I'm very pleased that he's been nominated for an Emmy. Mariska Hargitay won an Emmy for her performance as Olivia Benson, another fantastic detective. Benson has more edge than CI's Alex Eames (Kathrine Erbe), but is revered for her ability to communicate to troubled witnesses and gouge confessions out of suspects. Her life is put in danger at least twice a season, yet she continues to be strong. Next is the sarcastic detective Jon Munch, played by the excellent comedian Richard Belzer. Munch may seem annoying at times, but his ability to relate to witnesses is excellent, and he plays the "good cop, bad cop" role very well. The final detective is Finn Tutuola, played by former rapper Ice-T. Ice-T plays the character reasonably well, but I think we'd all like to see a meaner side of him. He was very good in the episodes entitled "Rage," and "Rooftop". They are led by Don Cragen, played by Dann Florek, and Cragen is as good a captain as any, as Florek reprises his role he held on "Law & Order" for a few years. Adam Beach recently joined the show, bringing something new to the table in youth and his almost 'surfer dude' approach to detective work. The ADA now is Casey Novak, played by Diane Neal, who could be better, but she gets the job done. She's been better of late, and the contrast between her and her predecessor is really helpful to the show. Her predecessor, Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) was great also. The team is also aided by an FBI psychiatrist, George Huang (BD Wong), who aids them in finding out the true horrors of a person, witness or suspect. His best performance was in the episode called "Coerced." The members of this unit investigate sexually based crimes (rape, rape-homicide) and child based crimes (school shootings, child abuse, child molestation). The show has had extraordinary guest stars, from evil (Johnny Messner, Reg Flowers, Asio Highsmith, Jeff Kober) to touching (Leland Orser, Jerry Lewis) to lost (Brittany Snow) to famous and legendary actors (Jerry Lewis, Dean Cain, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Henry Winkler, Robin Williams, Matthew Modine, Alfred Molina, Cynthia Nixon, John Ritter). This is a truly great show that not only shows the line of work in this graphic department, but shows the emotional stress a detective goes through. 10/10

I hear on tv that apparently America's favorite Law and Order is the original. I personally think this is the best one out of all of them. It tackles some pretty intersting sides of society and humanity within an hour. I've been watching it for awhile and fell in love with the cast. They all have that hard edge that comes from doing a job like their's. Marishka is great and Ice-T is amusing. The storylines are very interesting and groundbreaking. In my classes, I've heard about the Down-Low phenomenon amongst black males in the U.S. This is the first show, aside from Oprah, that dealt with this issue. I was amazed and pleased that they'll take on any topic within their framework. Their guest cast should be praised as well. They have a great casting director. I don't know about their history with Emmy nominations, but they should definitely be in the running. The show has a very easy going nature despite the hardness of the cast that works well and acted beautifully. It gives a real look at society's imperfections and discriminatory ideologies. Nobody on the show is perfect and even the lawyers manipulate the law beyond the usual scope people think they do. Instead, they are manipulating it to see justice done and not avoided. I would urge anyone to watch this show. Give it a look.

I love the SVU series. I'm watching every episode from the beginning. It helps me so much to think about something other than my cancer pain. So thank you for saving me from that!

SVU used to be one of my favourite shows. There's been some incredible, edge-of-your-seat episodes like "911", but now it's mostly he-said she-said's and statutory rapes between two willing participants (i.e. 15 year old girl and 16 year old guy). Yes, it's more realistic and true to life, but that's not why I watch TV like this. If I wanted realistic crime shows I'd watch Highway Cops or something - not Law & Order.

The political agenda pushing that's become central to the show is beyond aggravating. As the most liberal, feminist, pro-immigration, anti-racist, anti-fascist person around, having the views I already believe in forced down my throat every time I'm trying to chill out and watch TV is frustrating. It's also even more frustrating knowing how pointless it is - SVU is a crime show, it's not going to make anyone reconsider their politics, and it's dumb to isolate people from a show they've enjoyed for decades just because their politics differ to yours. The way it's all approached feels really patronising and tacky too - and the "my way is the right way" attitude is unhelpful in creating any positive political discussion.

Season 19 has been better than the past few seasons - there's been a few more engaging plot lines. It's still not even close to how it used to be though, where virtually every episode was an 8/10 with 9's being a common occurrence. Now it's more like every episode is a 5/10, and we're lucky if we get a 7.

I don't watch the show regularly anymore; I just resort to it when there's literally nothing else I can think of to watch. It sucks because it was so good, and I don't even think the new cast is too bad (yeah, they're not the OG's, but I can deal with it if the plots are good). It seemed to get a lot worse when Mariska Hargitay took over as Executive Producer.

Bring back engaging plots please and stop the political tripe. :(

One of the better detective shows ever on television. The show is about a group of detectives who work in the Special Victims Unit and investigate sex related crimes. The SVU detectives are all dedicated and have their own stories and inner battles. Running for over 20 years is testament to the shows strength. It was far better during the first 10 - 12 years, as would be expected. The show has lost some steam, its edginess and changed direction somewhat over last several seasons. For the first 10 - 12 years of this show it was generally well balanced in its views. It focused closely on the detectives work and catching the criminal. For years now the detective work usually plays second fiddle to the show being self-righteous and making a political statement. But it is still worth watching now if you like detectives shows, just try to watch some episodes from the first 10 - 12 years.

The stories are usually well constructed and interesting. The theme most times is - a crime is committed, the detectives investigate and the case goes to court. The viewer gets taken through most steps of the crime, investigation and court case. The actual detective work portrayed is far from flawless, and often not the way real life detectives could or would work a case. There are often twists and turns in the story, some you see coming some you don't. The production, sets and acting is very good.

The best years of this show are the ones with the well balanced team of Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson. Stabler who is a force to be reckoned with but a bit of a loose cannon at times. With Benson as the deep thinker and more compassionate one. They were the stars of the show and a good team. They upheld the law and investigated the cases in a gritty and tough environment. There has always been a strong support cast and often a good guest star. The show has a cast members leaving and being replaced, which keeps the team dynamics fresh and interesting. With the absence of Detective Elliot Stabler during the latter years, the character of Detective Olivia Benson on-screen presence has grown noticeably. Its a shame as some of the other characters are well played and quite interesting, they should get more camera time without Olivia Bensons constant presence. Once a leading detective now Olivia Benson is the Captain of the unit, she is unlike the old captain who gave a few orders and some age old wisdom. Olivia Benson is very hands on and usually takes centre stage in virtually all of the stories with her brand of police work and leftist views on life. Mariska Hargitay became an executive producer of the show, which might explain the growth of the Olivia Benson character. The show has become more and more woke/left which affects the balance of the story telling. During the last several years of the show, its not too hard to guess who committed the crime, as more times than not, it is a nasty white guy, middle to upper class, 25 - 55 years old who is the perpetrator.