Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
File:Lawandorder02.jpg
Created by	Dick Wolf
Starring	Christopher Meloni Mariska Hargitay Richard Belzer Diane Neal Ice-T B.D. Wong Tamara Tunie Adam Beach Dann Florek
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	186 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 201999 – present

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (also known as Law & Order: SVU, or SVU) is an American drama television series about the Special Victims Unit in the fictitious 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. The show debuted in 1999 as a spin-off of the crime drama Law & Order and follows the same opening style of its parent. SVU is currently the highest rated series of the Law & Order franchise, and is one of NBC's top rated shows. The Law & Order franchise also includes two other series dramas: the original Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

SVU can currently be seen on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. E/P on NBC. In addition, the show is syndicated on the USA Network. Season 9 premeired on September 252007.

Production

Technical information

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been shot on film in 16:9 format since at least 2003 (the year first-run episodes also began airing in HDTV). This presents the unique oddity of reruns in this format providing more (previously cropped) material than when the episodes were first run broadcast in 4:3. Since 2006, all new episodes of the multiple Law & Order series have aired in widescreen for 4:3 screens, following other NBC shows such as The West Wing, ER, and Crossing Jordan. SVU employs a multitude of techniques, which range from hand held camera to build confusion in the "heat of a crime", to audio which allows the audience to feel nostalgic. Recently USA Network began airing reruns as early as season 2 in wide-screen (16:9) letterboxed format.

Title sequence

SVU uses a re-mixed version of the theme music from its parent show Law & Order. The title theme for the UK terrestrial channel Five version is the instrumental version of the song, "I'm Not Driving Anymore" from Rob Dougan's Furious Angels.

Since the second season on, the franchise convention of the characters walking towards the camera at the end of the opening sequence was ditched and replaced by the cast gathered in front of a desk. This characteristic was symbolic of the large credited cast (nine members as of 2007).

The photo in the opening credits for Dann Florek (from the beginning of the show) and Ice-T (starting with the second episode of season two) has only changed once since they first appeared on the show. The photo for Mariska Hargitay has changed five times (Season one has one photo, seasons two-four and the first four episodes of season five have another, the rest of season 5 has a third, and seasons 6-8 have a fourth and season 9 has a new picture). Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer and B.D. Wong had new photos starting with the fifth episode of season five (coinciding with the debut of Diane Neal as Casey Novak). Neal had one photo for season five, a second for seasons six and seven, and a new photo for season eight and a new one for season nine. Tamara Tunie, who first appeared in the opening credits in season seven, has a new photo for season eight and yet another for season nine. The photos for each cast member were updated for season 9 to coincide with the addition of Adam Beach to the cast.

Also, prior to September 2001, SVU's opening sequence featured two separate shots of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. After September 11, the show's opening sequence changed, with generic city shots replacing the World Trade Center. The original shots can be seen in syndicated episodes and the DVD collections of the first two seasons.

Broadcast history

The show originally aired on Monday nights at 9 pm ET for the first nine episodes, from September 20 through November 29, 1999. It was then shifted to Friday nights at 10 pm ET on January 7, 2000, and remained in that time slot through the end of season four on May 16, 2003. SVU was placed in its current time slot for the season 5 opener on September 23, 2003 on Tuesday nights at 10 pm ET and occasionally runs previous shows on Saturday nights at 10 pm ET.

Episodes

Main article: List of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes

Eight seasons of the show have been produced and broadcast. Its ninth season is currently being broadcast.

Storylines

The following statement is spoken at the beginning of every episode by Steven Zirnkilton:

"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."

Plot inspirations

Like its predecessor, many Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes are clear references to high-profile real-life cases (or famous fictional works), and are based on thinly veiled dramatizations of these actual events, though the particulars and outcome may end up to be quite different.

Character drama

The show is more character-driven than the typical police procedural, with a less-than-complete focus on the main case. For example, detectives Stabler and Benson each signed up to work for the Special Victims Unit for different reasons: Stabler felt a moral responsibility to protect all people from the criminals that they had to deal with, especially because he had four children of his own, and later dealing with issues involving an abusive father and anger issues that drove away his wife and children. Benson was the child of a pregnancy resulting from the alleged rape of her mother. Stabler and Benson can be said to embody the two most common responses to the crimes their unit deals with: outrage at the perpetrators (Stabler) and empathy for the victims (Benson).

In the 2005 and 2006 seasons, the spotlight seemed to drift from the cases to the relationship between the two main characters. This breaks form with the rest of the other Dick Wolf franchises. Benson and Stabler were seen struggling with their partnership. The emotional attachment between them became almost volatile at the end of the 2005 season, when Benson asked for a new partner. When Hargitay returned from maternity leave at the end of 2006, the partnership seemed to be on shaky ground. Concerning the Benson and Stabler relationship, Hargitay stated in an interview:

"It's very complicated. Sometimes it's very much like brother and sister, and I think the reason that they're so close is that they share a passion for their jobs and for the people. They have a mutual respect for one another. I think that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is four years because of the difficulty and stress involved. They've been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they're in their own world almost. There's also sexual chemistry between them, it's so loaded and layered. People ask me if they'll ever get together - and people want that, and sometimes I think even Olivia wants that - but I don't think that will ever happen."

Sex crimes investigations

Unlike the original Law & Order, SVU follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the Special Victims Unit (called the Sex Crimes division in early episodes). As its name implies, the detectives in this division investigate crimes involving sexual assault, the very young, or the very elderly, as well as any crime loosely connected with any of the three. Their unit is based out of the fictitious 16th Precinct (sometimes called Manhattan SVU).

The NYPD does have a real unit that investigates sex crimes which, same as depicted in the show, is housed in separate Borough Patrols, (i.e. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens). In addition to the different name, the real Special Victims Squad only investigates the following types of cases:

• Any child under 13 years of age who is the victim of any sex crime or attempted sex crime.
• Any child under 11 years of age who is the victim of abuse by a parent or person legally responsible for the care of the child.
• Any victim of rape (all degrees) or attempted rape (all degrees)
• Any victim of Criminal Sexual Act (all degrees) or Attempted Criminal Sexual Act (all degrees)
• Victims of Aggravated Sexual Abuse (all degrees)
• Victims of Sexual Abuse 1st Degree

The Special Victims Squad does not investigate any murder, robbery or child pornography cases. Murders and robberies are investigated by precinct detective squads. If a sex crime is involved, the Special Victims Squad may assist in the investigation. Child pornography is investigated by the NYPD Vice Enforcement Sexual Exploitation of Children Unit.

Controversial subject matter

SVU contains by far the most controversial subject matter of any of the L&O series, focusing mostly on rape and child abuse, as well as episodes based on real incidents and current hot topic issues, such as physician-assisted suicide, abortion, and gun control.

Cast and characters

Principal cast

File:L&osvucast9.jpg

The cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2007-2008); from left, Diane Neal, B.D. Wong, Tamara Tunie, Christopher Meloni; from right, Dann Florek, Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Richard Belzer, and Adam Beach.

• Christopher Meloni - Det. Elliot Stabler
• Mariska Hargitay - Det. Olivia Benson
• Richard Belzer - Det. Sgt. John Munch
• Ice T - Det. Fin Tutuola (2000-present)
• Dann Florek - Capt. Don Cragen
• Stephanie March - Alexandra Cabot (2000-2003)
• Diane Neal - Casey Novak (2003-present)
• B.D. Wong - Dr. George Huang (2002-present)
• Tamara Tunie - Dr. Melinda Warner (2005-present)
• Adam Beach - Det. Chester Lake (2007-present)

The characters of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler were named for creator Dick Wolf's children.

Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have signed contracts to pick up a ninth and tenth season, making the show a definite until 2009. Recently, it was revealed that all the current cast members will return as well. Adam Beach joined the cast starting with the ninth season.

Two of the regular characters have appeared in two other NBC series: Capt. Don Cragen (played by Dann Florek), who was on the first three seasons of Law & Order and Det. John Munch (played by Richard Belzer), formerly a Baltimore detective on Homicide: Life on the Street. This character also made appearances on Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Arrested Development, The Beat and The X-Files.

Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe), Jesse L. Martin (Det. Ed Green), Fred Thompson (Arthur Branch) and Leslie Hendrix (Elizabeth Rodgers) are the only actors to play the same character on all four Law & Order series (Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Trial by Jury). Fred Thompson (Arthur Branch) is the only one of them to also appear in Conviction, another show in the Law & Order universe.

Casting changes

The show, like its parent show, has had several cast changes, although the original four credited cast members (Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, and Dann Florek) have remained with the show through the first nine seasons.

Munch's partner, Det. Brian Cassidy was played by Dean Winters during the show's first season. Cassidy was an immigrant detective, just assigned to the unit, who transferred to narcotics because he was having trouble dealing with some of the disturbing cases the division dealt with regularly.

Michelle Hurd played Det. Monique Jeffries. Jeffries was originally a minor character, but when Dean Winters left the show midseason, she played a more prominent role as Munch's partner. Hurd played the role for a few episodes during the second season, after which she left the show.

After Hurd left the series, the Monique Jeffries character was replaced with Fin Tutuola (played by rapper-turned-actor, Ice-T); he has been on the show since season two. While technically Munch's partner, Fin has become much more prominent on the show than Munch; while Munch usually remains at the station, with sometimes only a few lines in some episodes, Fin is much more active in aiding the main characters' investigations, and is often sent on undercover assignments as well.

Also in season two the show added Stephanie March, as Alexandra Cabot, as a permanent supporting ADA to the show. In season five, Alexandra was shot and presumed dead, but actually was placed in the Witness Protection Program for her safety. Casey Novak, portrayed by Diane Neal, replaced Cabot; however, Cabot came out of Witness Protection and returned to testify against the man who gunned her down. In early 2006, Stephanie March reprised the character of Alexandra Cabot in the now-defunct series Conviction. Diane Neal's first episode was season five, episode five ("Serendipity"). Two years prior to being hired for the show as Casey Novak, Neal played a woman on the show who is investigated by the detectives for raping a male stripper in the episode "Ridicule".

B.D. Wong began appearing as George Huang, a forensic psychiatrist on loan from the FBI, in the penultimate episode of season two. He was a frequently recurring character during season three before being elevated to contract status starting with season four.

Tamara Tunie, as Melinda Warner, is the division's current Medical Examiner on the show. Having played the role in virtually every episode of seasons four, five, and six; Tunie was added to the opening credits for the show's seventh season. Tunie also appeared as a defense attorney on the original series before being cast as Warner.

In 2006, Connie Nielsen was cast as Det. Dani Beck, a multi-lingual warrants detective who comes from a specialized unit, to fill in for Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay, while she was on maternity leave) who was undercover for the FBI at the time. Beck's husband, a police officer, was murdered in 2002, and she and partner Elliot Stabler flirted with the possibility of a romantic involvement. In the November 21, 2006 episode, she admitted to him she felt she was unable to deal with the nature of the crimes handled by SVU, but implied she'd be willing to stay if Stabler asked her. When he told her she needed to remain for herself, not him, she told him goodbye and exited the series.

It was announced that Adam Beach would be joining SVU full-time starting in season nine with the role of Chester Lake, a character who first appeared in a guest-starring role as a Brooklyn SVU detective. In the January 16, 2007 episode, he helped Fin and his son stop a serial rapist, then returned in the eighth season finale as a transfer to Manhattan SVU.

Prominent guest stars

See also: List of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit cast members

In season one, Reiko Aylesworth (best known as Michelle Dessler from the FOX television series 24) played ADA Erica Alden in episodes "Slaves," "Remorse", and "Contact". Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), also appeared in episodes of the first season. This pattern of recurring ADAs ended with the introduction of Alexandra Cabot in season two.

In seasons one to three, Lance Reddick (best known for his roles on two HBO television series, Desmond Mobay/Detective Johnny Basil on Oz and Cedric Daniels on The Wire) had a recurring role as the Medical Examiner. He is now on FX's Rescue Me. Most of the guest stars the played victims and criminals in seasons one to three were prisoners of OZ.

From season three on, Judith Light has had multiple appearances as Bureau Chief, turned judge, Elizabeth Donnelly. One other character that was important was Det. Ken Briscoe (nephew of Lennie Briscoe), played by Chris Orbach (son of Jerry Orbach). He appeared in early episodes of the show, along with his father.

Marlo Thomas has made several guest appearances playing attorney and former judge, Mary Conway Clark, who had a mentoring relationship with assistant District Attorney, Casey Novak.

Mary Stuart Masterson appeared in three episodes of season six ("Weak", "Contagious", and "Identity"), one episode of season seven ("Ripped") and one episode in season eight ("Philadelphia") as Dr. Rebecca Hendrix, who attended the police academy with Olivia Benson and was on the NYPD force for two years. Elliot Stabler turned to Hendrix for comfort in season seven after a confrontation in a courthouse restroom with his former partner, Pete Breslin.

Joel de la Fuente has had numerous recurring roles as TARU Tech Rueben Morales, a computer expert who helps the detectives with online evidence. In the season seven episode "Web," he played a major part in the investigation of a young man who was running a web site featuring himself and other underage boys. During the investigation, Morales told Stabler that he had given his nephew a computer as a gift. The nephew had met and been molested by an online predator via the computer and Morales joined SVU to ease his guilt and try to save other children from that fate. As was the case with Tunie's and Wong's characters, his role has expanded early in season eight, though he is not a main star.

Caren Browning has had numerous appearances since the middle of season four as Capt. Judith Siper, and Mike Doyle has appeared on numerous occasions as Ryan O'Halloran over the same period. Siper and O'Halloran often lead the canvass for evidence at crime scenes, and often are able to provide key clues when analyzing that evidence in the crime lab. Welly Yang has appeared numerous times as an unnamed (although sometimes identified as "Georgie" in the credits) CSU technician. Paula Garcés also played a recurring CSU technician, named Millie Vizcarrondo. In the season seven episode "Name", involving the disappearances of several Puerto Rican boys, she teamed up with Detective Stabler and played a significant part in the investigation.

Julie White has a recurring role as Dr. Anne Morella, and has made three appearances: in the season five episodes "Shaken" and "Head", and the season seven episode "Starved".

In addition, the show has had many guest stars, including cast from Law & Order, including Jesse L. Martin as Det. Ed Green, Angie Harmon as Abbie Carmichael, Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy, Steven Hill as Adam Schiff, Dianne Wiest as Nora Lewin, and Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch. In addition, a number of doctors appeared on the show from time to time, including Leslie Hendrix as Elizabeth Rodgers, Carolyn McCormick as Elizabeth Olivet, and J.K. Simmons as Emil Skoda.

Prominent actors appearing as defense lawyers include Peter Hermann (Mariska Hargitay's husband) as Trevor Langan, Annie Potts as Sophie Devere, John Cullum as Barry Moredock (Alexandra Cabot's former law school professor), David Thornton as Lionel Granger, Ned Eisenberg as Roger Kressler (Eisenberg previously appeared as two other attorneys before assuming the role of Kressler), CCH Pounder as Carolyn Maddox, and Illeana Douglas as Gina Bernardo.

Marcia Gay Harden has appeared twice (Season seven, "Raw" and Season eight, "Informed") as Agent Dana Lewis, who uses her undercover alias, Star Morrison, to infiltrate a group of white supremacists and an ecoterrorism ring.

Rob Estes, whose detective show Silk Stalkings also pushed the envelope of adult subject matter, played a villain in one SVU episode. Estes' Chris Lorenzo and Mitzi Kapture's Rita Lee Lance can be considered the forerunners of Benson and Stabler, as Lance and Lorenzo often investigated sexual-based murders on Silk Stalkings.

The seventh-season opener featured Robert Patrick and Robert Walden. The season seven finale featured Brittany Snow.

Eighth-season guest stars included Jerry Lewis (as Munch's homeless uncle), Robert Vaughn, Charles Shaughnessy, Leslie Caron, Ken Howard, Elle Fanning, Chris Sarandon, Bob Saget, Catherine Bell, Bernadette Peters, Brian Dennehy, Blair Underwood, Michael Michele, Kal Penn, Bill Goldberg, Ray Wise, Pablo Santos, Cary Elwes, Kim Delaney and Tim Daly. The finale had the return of Vincent Spano, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Ludacris, Steven Weber. Star Jones Reynolds and Nancy Grace were also in the finale where they portrayed themselves.

Cynthia Nixon guest starred in the ninth-season opener played the part of a woman with multiple personalities. Melissa Joan Hart and Kyle Gallner starred in an episode with a student accusing his teacher of rape. Aidan Quinn and Judy Kuhn played husband and wife with Katie Nicholson as their mentally challenged daughter, who is the only witness to her mother's murder.

Response

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Law & Order: SVU on NBC.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Ranking
1st	Monday 9:00 pm / Friday 10:00 pm	September 201999	May 192000	1999-2000	#8
2nd	Friday 10:00 pm	October 202000	May 112001	2000-2002	#4
3rd	Friday 10:00 pm	September 282001	May 172002	2001-2002	#8
4th	Friday 10:00 pm	September 272002	May 162003	2002-2003	#2
5th	Tuesday 10:00 pm	September 232003	May 182004	2003-2004	#2
6th	Tuesday 10:00 pm	September 212004	May 242005	2004-2005	#2
7th	Tuesday 10:00 pm	September 202005	May 162006	2005-2006	#5
8th	Tuesday 10:00 pm	September 192006	May 222007	2006-2007	#3
9th	Tuesday 10:00 pm	September 252007	May2008	2007-2008	TBA

SVU premiered on a Monday in 1999. After the November 29 episode, the show was sent to Friday nights where it found its audience and became a top 20 show. Beginning with the fifth season, the show was aired on Tuesdays to compete with CBS's Judging Amy and ABC's NYPD Blue. SVU has surpassed, in both ratings and popularity, the original Law & Order television program. This is a rare occurrence in the television industry.

Awards

Year	Group	Award	Result	Recipient(s)
2001	Edgar Award	Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay	Won	Michael R. Perry for "Limitations"
2002	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Won	Ice-T
2003	Edgar Award	Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay	Won	Dawn DeNoon and Lisa Marie Petersen for "Waste"
2004	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay
	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Ice-T
	Screen Actors Guild	Best Female Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay
2005	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay
	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress in a Television Drama Series	Won	Mariska Hargitay
2006	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Won	Mariska Hargitay
		Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Christopher Meloni
	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Ice-T
	Screen Actors Guild	Best Female Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay
2007	Screen Actors Guild	Best Female Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay
2007	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Nominated	Mariska Hargitay

Hargitay is the first cast member from any member of the Law & Order franchise to win an Emmy (as well as a Golden Globe) for her role on the show.

DVD releases

Title	Release dates
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete 1st Season	October 212003	February 282005	January 202005
The Complete 2nd Season	September 272005	November 212005	March 62006
The Complete 3rd Season	January 302007	July 232007	August 12007
The Complete 4th Season	December 42007	September 102007	November 212007
The Complete 5th Season	September 142004	N/A	N/A

Seasons 1, 7, and 8 are available for purchase on Apple's United States iTunes Music Store as individual episodes or full seasons.

Seasons 1-7 are also available on Netflix's Instant Viewing feature.

In popular culture

A parody of SVU called "Law and Order: Special Letters Unit" aired on the first episode of the 37th Season of Sesame Street. It consisted of four muppets made to look like Benson, Munch, Stabler, and Cragen. The plot involved each of the detectives searching for a missing letter "M". The Cragen muppet refers to the Stabler and Benson muppets as Meloni and Mariska (the names of the actors). Munch, Meloni, and Mariska are all names which begin with the letter M. Throughout the segment, Law & Order's distinctive "Chung-Chung" sound is parodied. In a NBC.com blog, Dick Wolf stated that he approved the parody, and hopes that Sesame Street continues the segment using the rest of the letters in the alphabet.

Russian remake

Twelve episodes (in a random order, taken from the first three seasons of the show) were remade for Russian television, where it was shown back to back with the Russian remake of Law & Order: Criminal Intent to much success, which resulted in a full season order for upcoming fall of 2007.

External links

• NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit official website
• USA Network's official site for reruns
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at IMDb
• Template:Nndb name
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at TVGuide.com
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at The TV IV
• CTV's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit official Canadian website