Law & Order franchise

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The term "Law & Order franchise" is commonly used to describe a number of related American television programs created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the New York City criminal justice system.

Shared people and resources in a common fictional setting are the connecting links between the shows, e.g., Hudson University and the New York Ledger tabloid newspaper. Many supporting characters, such as district attorneys, psychologists and medical examiners are also shared among the shows. Occasionally, crossovers of main characters and/or shared storylines between two of the shows will occur. A few major characters have also left the cast of one show within the franchise only to eventually join another. The franchise also crossed over on several occasions with the independently conceived Homicide: Life on the Street.

The music, style and credits of the shows tend to be similar. The original Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent arguably contain the most visual similarities within the franchise. Past episodes are highly successful in syndication with TNT, USA Network, and Bravo! showing episodes sometimes up to six times a day.

Contents 1 Location 2 Series 2.1 Current series 2.2 Past series 2.3 Adaptations outside the U.S. 3 Related shows 4 TV movie 5 Current characters in the franchise 5.1 Police 5.2 DA's Office 5.3 Psychiatrists 5.4 Medical Examiner 6 Crossovers between series 7 Guest-Starred before Cast Regulars 8 Parodies 8.1 Other pop culture references 9 Games 10 Special Notes 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Location

The shows are filmed almost entirely in the New York City area, which is unusual as most television dramas (with the exception of some daytime soap operas) and many other network shows are taped in the Los Angeles area, even those shows which are set in New York City. (The original Law & Order series has filmed a few episodes in the Los Angeles area, however.) With some frequency, actors have appeared on the various series that make up the franchise, usually as different (sometimes very different) characters. This is to be expected since filming occurs in the New York City area and thus draw from the same pool of actors. Some prominent examples of the same actor playing different roles in different episodes are Diane Neal playing a female rapist in an earlier season of SVU before becoming the ADA (assistant district attorney) for that series, Annabella Sciorra playing a criminal defense attorney in Trial by Jury and later Det. Mike Logan's (Chris Noth) partner in Criminal Intent, as well as Jerry Orbach playing a defense attorney on the original series before joining it as Det. Lennie Briscoe (who despises criminal lawyers), and Ice-T playing a pimp known as Seymour Stockton in the franchise's only movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie, before taking on the role of Det. Fin Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).

[edit] Series

[edit] Current series

• Law & Order (1990)
  • The current cast includes Anthony Anderson as Det. Kevin Bernard, Jeremy Sisto as Det. Cyrus Lupo, S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Anita Van Buren, Linus Roache as Michael Cutter, Alana de la Garza as Connie Rubirosa and Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy.
    • The first half hour of the show focuses on the police investigation; the second half takes place at the Manhattan District Attorney's office and focuses on the prosecution involving the criminal(s).
      

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
  • The current cast includes Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler, Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson, Richard Belzer as Sgt. John Munch, Diane Neal as Casey Novak, Ice-T as Det. Fin Tutuola, Adam Beach as Det. Chester Lake, B. D. Wong as Dr. George Huang, Tamara Tunie as Melinda Warner and Dann Florek as Capt. Don Cragen.
    • The show's focus is on detectives who investigate sexually-based crimes and/or crimes against children.
      

• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001)
  • Starring Vincent D'Onofrio as Det. Robert Goren, Kathryn Erbe as Det. Alexandra Eames, Chris Noth as Det. Mike Logan, Julianne Nicholson as Det. Megan Wheeler, Alicia Witt as Det. Nola Falacci, and Eric Bogosian as Capt. Danny Ross.
    • This show focuses on high-profile cases investigated by the Major Case Squad, with special focus on the actions of the criminals pursued. Unusual in that it involves scenes directly from the victim's or perpetrator's lives that don't involve the police, thereby giving a hint as to the criminal intent.
      

[edit] Past series

• Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005)
  • Starring Bebe Neuwirth as Tracey Kibre, Amy Carlson as Kelly Gaffney, Kirk Acevedo as Hector Salazar, Scott Cohen as Det. Chris Ravell, Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch, and Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe.
    • This series mostly followed the jury's side of a case.
    • This was the first Law & Order spin-off to be canceled due to low ratings.

[edit] Adaptations outside the U.S.

Near the end of 2006, Global American Television and the Russian television studio Studio 2V announced a deal with NBC, Wolf Films, and NTV to adapt original Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Criminal Intent scripts to the Russian justice system. Dmitry Brusnikin will both direct and star in the Russian spin-off.^[1]

In France, there has been a deal with NBC, Wolf Films, and TF1 to adapt Law & Order: Criminal Intent to the French market as Paris enquêtes criminelles.^[2]

On January 3, 2008, the Hollywood Reporter reported that NBC and Wolf Films were in negotiations to license a UK version of the original series with the working title Law & Order: London.^[3] The series is to be produced by Kudos for the ITV network. Chris Chibnall, previously a producer on the science-fiction drama Torchwood, was appointed showrunner. ITV has ordered 13 episodes, which will be based on the scripts for the U.S. series.^[4]

Versions of Law & Order and SVU shown in the UK on Channel Five have completely different opening credit sequences with different music. Also, UK satellite channel Sky One has a different combination of credits and music from the versions in the U.S. and on Channel Five.^[5]

[edit] Related shows

• Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) was often considered the sister show to the original L&O,^{[citation needed]} although it was created by Paul Attanasio and not Dick Wolf.
  • H:LotS and L&O occasionally crossed over.
  • Richard Belzer's Det. John Munch transferred from the Baltimore PD to the NYPD on SVU.
• New York Undercover (1994) was implicitly a part of the same universe as the franchise, as psychologist characters from L&O appeared in the series.
• Deadline (2000) featured the franchise's fictitious newspaper, the New York Ledger.
• Conviction (2006) centered on the personal stories of young ADAs and the legal sides of the cases. Though not branded as part of the Law & Order franchise, it used the same sets of Law & Order: Trial by Jury and, coincidentally, was canceled after the same number of episodes. It clearly existed within the same fictional universe with two crossover characters, Alexandra Cabot and Arthur Branch.^{[citation needed]}
• Crime and Punishment (2002)
  • This reality series examined actual trials from the San Diego District Attorney's office.

[edit] TV movie

The Law & Order franchise has one TV movie, Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) starring Chris Noth as Mike Logan.

[edit] Current characters in the franchise

Main article: List of Law & Order characters

[edit] Police

Name	Actor	Unit	Series	Years
Det. Olivia Benson	Mariska Hargitay	SVU	L&O:SVU	1999-
Capt. Don Cragen	Dann Florek	SVU	L&O L&O:SVU	1990-1993 1999-
Det. Alexandra Eames	Kathryn Erbe	MCS	L&O:CI	2001-
Det. Nola Falacci	Alicia Witt	MCS	L&O:CI	2007-
Det. Robert Goren	Vincent D'Onofrio	MCS	L&O:CI	2001-
Det. Kevin Bernard	Anthony Anderson	27th Pct	L&O	2007-
Det. Chester Lake	Adam Beach	SVU	L&O:SVU	2007-2008
Det. Mike Logan	Chris Noth	MCS	L&O L&O:CI	1990-1995 2005-
Det. Cyrus Lupo	Jeremy Sisto	27th Pct	L&O	2008-
Sgt. John Munch	Richard Belzer	SVU	L&O:SVU	1999-
Capt. Danny Ross	Eric Bogosian	MCS	L&O:CI	2006-
Det. Elliot Stabler	Christopher Meloni	SVU	L&O:SVU	1999-
Det. Odafin Tutuola	Ice-T	SVU	L&O:SVU	2000-
Lt. Anita Van Buren	S. Epatha Merkerson	27th Pct	L&O	1993-
Det. Megan Wheeler	Julianne Nicholson	MCS	L&O:CI	2006-

[edit] DA's Office

Name	Actor	Series	Years
Michael Cutter	Linus Roache	L&O	2008-present
Jack McCoy	Sam Waterston	L&O	1994-present
Casey Novak	Diane Neal	L&O:SVU	2003-2008
Connie Rubirosa	Alana de la Garza	L&O	2006-present

[edit] Psychiatrists

Name	Actor	Series	Years
Dr. George Huang	B.D. Wong	L&O:SVU	2001-present
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet	Carolyn McCormick	L&O	1991-1997 2002-present
Dr. Emil Skoda	J.K. Simmons	L&O L&O:SVU	1997-2004 2000-2001

[edit] Medical Examiner

Name	Actor	Series	Years
Elizabeth Rodgers	Leslie Hendrix	L&O L&O:SVU L&O:CI	1992-present 1999-2000 2001-present
Melinda Warner	Tamara Tunie	L&O:SVU	2000-present

[edit] Crossovers between series

As of 2006, there have been only seven crossovers in which characters from one L&O series meet characters from another L&O series. This is excluding characters who have switched shows (such as Don Cragen and Mike Logan) and characters which the franchise shares among the shows, such as medical examiners and district attorneys. The crossover episodes are the following:

• Episode "...Or Just Look Like One" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Episode "Hysteria" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Episode "Entitled Part 1" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / "Entitled, Part 2" Law & Order
• Episode "Fools for Love" Law & Order
• Episode "Poison" Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Episode "Badge" Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Episode "Tombstone" Law & Order / "Skeleton" Law & Order: Trial by Jury
• Episode "Night" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / "Day" Law & Order: Trial by Jury
• Episode "Design" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / "Flaw" Law & Order

Earlier, Law & Order had made three crossovers with another NBC show, Homicide: Life on the Street (1993):

• Episode "Charm City" Law & Order / "For God and Country" Homicide: Life on the Street
• Episode "Baby, it's You" Law & Order / "Baby, it's You, Part 2" Homicide: Life on the Street
• Episode "Sideshow" Law & Order / "Sideshow" Homicide: Life on the Street

Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe), Jesse L. Martin (Det. Ed Green), Fred Thompson (Arthur Branch), Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet) and Leslie Hendrix (Elizabeth Rodgers) are the only actors to play the same character on all four Law & Order series. As of the 2007-08 season, Criminal Intent is the only Law & Order series in which Richard Belzer has not played Det. John Munch.

[edit] Guest-Starred before Cast Regulars

While many cast members of the various Law & Order shows previously appeared in other roles, there are a few who have done so more than once:

• Eric Bogosian (CI:Capt. Danny Ross)
  • (L&O: Conspiracy; Night & Fog) as Gary Lowenthal
• Courtney B. Vance (CI: A.D.A. Ron Carver)
  • (L&O: By Hooker, By Crook) as a mayoral aide
  • (L&O: Rage) as a stockbrocker
• Julianne Nicholson (CI: Det. Megan Wheeler)
  • (L&O: All My Children) as Jessie Lucas
• Milena Govich (L&O: Det. Nina Cassidy)
  • (L&O: Flaw) as Geneva
• S. Epatha Merkerson (L&O: Lt. Anita Van Buren)
  • (L&O: Mushrooms) as Denise Winters, the mother of the shooting victims
• Jerry Orbach (L&O & TBJ: Det. Lennie Briscoe)
  • (L&O: The Wages of Love) as defense attorney Frank Lehrman
• Michael Imperioli (L&O: Det. Nick Falco)
  • (L&O: Atonement) guest-starred
• Diane Neal (SVU: A.D.A. Casey Novak)
  • (SVU: Ridicule) as a female rapist, Amelia Chase, who plead guilty after being prosecuted by Alexandra Cabot.
• Amy Carlson (TBJ: A.D.A. Kelly Gaffney)
  • (SVU: Asunder) as Patricia Andrews, a woman who claimed that her police officer husband had raped her, later to rescind her statement
  • (L&O: Dead Wives Club )as Collette Connolly, who kills the woman who stole her husband after the murder victim's first husband was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Ice-T (SVU: Det. Odafin Tutuola)
  • (Exiled: A Law & Order Movie) as Seymour 'Kingston' Stockton, a pimp
• Scott Cohen (TBJ: Det. Chris Ravell)
  • (L&O: Judgement in L.A.: D-Girl; Judgement in L.A.: Turnaround; Judgement in L.A.: Showtime) as murder suspect
• Tamara Tunie (SVU: Dr. Melinda Warner)
  • (L&O: Deadbeat) as a defense attorney Caroline Bennett
• Annie Parisse (L&O: A.D.A. Annie Parisse)
  • (L&O: Attorney Client) as Jasmine Blake, a stripper and former prostitute
• Jeremy Sisto (L&O: Det. Cyrus Lupo)
  • (L&O: Family Hour) as defense attorney Clint Glover
• Bebe Neuwirth (TBJ: E.A.D.A. Tracey Kibre)
  • (SVU: ) as Nina Laszlo, a drug-dealing modeling agent
• Anthony Anderson (L&O: Det. Kevin Bernard)
  • (SVU: Fat ) as Lucius Blaine, a Queens SVU detective who temporarily serves as Elliot Stabler's partner

[edit] Parodies

• Law & Order: Parking Violations Unit was the subject of a comedy sketch on NBC's own Saturday Night Live (October 6, 2001).
• Law & Order: Elevator Inspectors Unit was briefly depicted in an episode ("Helter Shelter"; December 1, 2002) of the animated series The Simpsons.^[6]
• Law & Order was parodied on the Robot Chicken episode Tapping a Hero, where human chickens act out a normal episode only saying bawks and bagahas. Seth Green explained this on NPR, saying that Law & Order episodes are all the same and that one doesn't even need the dialogue to understand the show.
• Law & Order: PCAMPIEOFTD (Petty Crimes Against Municipal Property in Excess of Five Thousand Dollars) was Lois Griffin's response to Peter when asked, "Which Law & Order is this?" in a scene from Family Guy's Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (released September 27, 2005) set 30 years in the future.
• Family Guy parodied the Law & Order opening titles in the episode Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High. It featured Steven Zirnkilton doing the opening voiceover: "In the television comedy world, the people are entertained by two separate yet equally important types of shows. Traditional sitcoms, that get laughs out of everyday situations like trying to fix your own plumbing, or inviting two dates to the same dance, and animated shows that make jokes about farting. This is the latter." The cast are shown as Peter Griffin, Lois Griffin, and Greased Up Deaf Guy. At the end of the credits, when characters are walking toward the camera in the courthouse, Peter and Lois are shown walking with Meg and Chris when Glenn Quagmire streaks them.
• On an episode of Saturday Night Live, NBC unveiled its new gay-themed fall schedule, including Law & Order: Queer Squad.
• Law & Order: Special Letters Unit was the subject of a Sesame Street segment. The muppets used represented Don Cragen, John Munch, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.^[7]
• On an episode of The Tonight Show, a special "Jaywalk" segment about legal terms was aired as Law & Order: Special Jaywalk Unit.
• On the fourth episode of Acceptable.tv, one of the shorts is entitled Law & Order: Production Unit. The skit spoofs several aspects of the show while at the same time attempting to produce a new Law & Order series called Law & Order: Mounted Police.
• When Steven Zirnkilton appeared on the Hamish and Andy show, he recorded several humorous Law & Order-styled voiceovers, one of which was, "In the radio broadcasting system, when the red light goes on, you talk into a talking stick. Hamish and Andy know how to do that. This is them now."
• In the cartoon Back at the Barnyard, an episode entitled Fowl Play, a narrator (not from the franchise) says the voiceover: "In the Barnyard Justice System, there are animals who commit crimes and animals who prosecute them. Some of them have udders."

[edit] Other pop culture references

• In an episode of Cyberchase, during the Cyberchase for Real segment, Harry finds that an advertised stain remover doesn't work like it should, so he has a vision in which he puts the advertiser on trial. You can hear part of the Law & Order theme music being played at the beginning of the vision.
• An episode of My Gym Partner's a Monkey is entitled Law & Odor.
• In an episode of The X-Files set in 1989 (Unusual Suspects), Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) appears in the Baltimore Police Department.
• In the Arrested Development episode Exit Strategy, Richard Belzer appears as Professor John Munch, although it later turns out that this is Detective Munch's disguise to try to get evidence on George Bluth.
• An Arthur episode entitled "Flaw and Order" steals the notorious Law & Order sound, as well as the black screen with location/date/time of the scenes.
• Gaia Online features a line of clothing articles for one's avatar titled Lawl and Order. The line resembles that of a police uniform.
• The 30 Rock character Jenna's filmography includes starring in a Law & Order spin-off as a Lady Rapist, which mirrors Jane Krakowski's portrayal of a female murderer on Law & Order: SVU.
• In Back at the Barnyard the episode Fowl Play uses the signature title colors and bong sound.
• One good franchise deserves another: The eighth volume (2005) of Forbidden Broadway, the off-Broadway series spoofing musical theatre shows, was subtitled "Special Victims Unit,' a gentle roast-tribute to Jerry Orbach's dual career as Broadway leading man and television detective. The show announced it was "investigating homicides of a theatrical nature."

[edit] Games

There are three computer games based on the original Law & Order. The player must investigate crimes and then prosecute the resulting cases. Actors from the television series reprised their roles in vocal form in these games:

• Law & Order: Dead on the Money
• Law & Order: Double or Nothing
• Law & Order: Justice is Served

There is also one computer game based on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. While it shares many similarities with the other Law & Order games, the Criminal Intent game focuses more on investigations and interrogations, not prosecution.

[edit] Special Notes

• The font used in the series' distinctive logos is Friz Quadrata.
• The voiceovers in the opening of each series were done by Steven Zirnkilton.
• The theme music was written by composer Mike Post.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NBC's official website for the Law & Order franchise
  • NBC's official website for Law & Order
    • TNT's official website for reruns of Law & Order
  • NBC's official website for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
    • USA Network's official website for reruns of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • NBC's official website for Law & Order: Criminal Intent
    • USA Network's official website for reruns Law & Order: Criminal Intent
    • Bravo's official website for reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent

v • d • e Law & Order franchise Current series Law & Order · Law & Order: Special Victims Unit · Law & Order: Criminal Intent Future series Law & Order: London Past series Crime & Punishment · Law & Order: Trial by Jury · Conviction Law & Order Universe Dick Wolf · Characters · Exiled: A Law & Order Movie

v • d • e Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Characters Elliot Stabler • Olivia Benson • John Munch • Don Cragen • Brian Cassidy • Monique Jeffries • Alexandra Cabot • Fin Tutuola • George Huang • Casey Novak • Melinda Warner • Dani Beck • Elizabeth Donnelly • Rebecca Hendrix • Chester Lake Cast Christopher Meloni • Mariska Hargitay • Richard Belzer • Dann Florek • Dean Winters • Michelle Hurd • Stephanie March • Ice T • B.D. Wong • Diane Neal • Tamara Tunie • Connie Nielsen • Judith Light • Mary Stuart Masterson • Adam Beach Episodes Complete list • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 • Season 7 • Season 8 • Season 9

v • d • e Law & Order: Criminal Intent Characters Robert Goren • Alexandra Eames • Mike Logan • Carolyn Barek • Megan Wheeler • Nola Falacci • James Deakins • Danny Ross • Ron Carver • Elizabeth Rodgers • Nicole Wallace Cast Vincent D'Onofrio • Kathryn Erbe • Chris Noth • Annabella Sciorra • Julianne Nicholson • Alicia Witt • Jamey Sheridan • Eric Bogosian • Courtney B. Vance • Theresa Randle • Samantha Buck • Leslie Hendrix • Olivia D'Abo Crew Dick Wolf • René Balcer • Elizabeth Benjamin • Peter Blauner • Juan J. Campanella • Alex Chapple • Joyce Chopra • Gerry Conway • Gina Gionfriddo • Peter Jankowski • Warren Leight • Constantine Makris • Darnell Martin • Marlene Meyer • Gloria Muzio • Marsha Norman • Frank Prinzi • Theresa Rebeck • Charlie Rubin • Jean de Segonzac • Stephanie Sengupta • Steve Shill • Michael Smith • Jim Sterling • Mike Post • Alex Zakrzewski • Steven Zirnkilton Miscellaneous List of episodes • List of actors and actresses who have appeared in the series