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I don't think they threw NYPD under the bus so much as ripped from the headlines. Or if not the headlines at least from decades of books, articles, podcasts, etc. It probably was investigated more than the others, but as he was a target of convenience with no direct connection to the killer IIRC it would be a difficult case. And if he didn't have family or friends with connections most likely there would not be a lot of resources devoted to the case based on everything I have ever read and seen on other procedurals. It could have been addressed better and most likely would have been in the prime years as it would be easy to tie it in thematically, but it's not a glaring plot hole. Pretty high up. Above Garland or Dodds. Chief of Detectives according to the L&O wiki although I don't remember it being stated explicitly although that doesn't mean it wasn't. A lot of the dialogue has been rather unmemorable this past decade after all. He is a 3 star chief and is Liv's CO until they fill Garland's spot.

r But he wasn't that smart except in his choice of victims. It was both shown and stated that there was little to no real investigation done by the police because murder is just an occupational hazard of sex work in their eyes. It was pretty explicit that he wasn't a criminal mastermind brought down by elite investigators, but a pathetic deranged mysoginist who was was easily bested once the police actually started trying. Which isn't to say that there wasn't some lazy writing and Benson worship going on, just that a deliberate and respectable creative choice was made and I am willing to cut them a little slack here. It was a good and interesting idea that was executed competently but imperfectly like most of the episode.

The Good: The story. It was nice to see a good old fashioned serial sex offender and a case where we didn't know everything from the beginning. A classic SVU investigation too. It's been obvious that both Chernuchin and Leight see what worked about old school SVU and have attempted to give us some of that. Hopefully they manage to actually give us more than episode or two. Fin. For the first time in too long he was fully utilized and Ice-T seemed to be engaged. Could have used a bit more snark at times to balance out the Criminal Minds style darkness and squick, but that's a minor quibble. The ME. I really enjoyed not only having an outside expert to deliver exposition etc, and expand the world of the show beyond the squad and Carisi and show that the detectives and especially Benson don't know everything, but it was a rare instance these days of a secondary character being developed and relating to the victims. The guest cast. Some nice performances throughout. The promo for the next episode looks potentially interesting. No unnecessary OC crossover. The ending. No St. Benson coming in to bring closure and Fin got a moment. The Bad: While I appreciate a little comic relief and ordinarily strongly encourage it don't you dare compare Amanda freaking Rollins to Buffy! They seemed to overdo some of the horror movie style cinematography. It was disturbing enough already, you don't need to oversell it. They didn't seem to know what to do with the chief, Maybe there is a deleted scene somewhere that would explain the purpose of having him there, but otherwise I would have liked to have them give his time to one of the other characters we could have used more of. Really could have used more Carisi. Overall this was a solid episode. Good old school SVU with a bit of novelty thrown in. Hopefully this is the start of them finding a new sense of direction and actually moving forward.

That's one of the exchanges I was thinking of when I mentioned great comedic beats. Along with the legal side - "McCoy: That place on the World Wide Web? Connie: Actually, they don't call it that anymore. McCoy: I'm sorry, should I have said "wireless telegraph"?"

Everything old is new again... Seriously though I don't think they predicted anything, but instead ripped from the headlines of the day and we need to remind ourselves and the pundits that not everything is as novel and unprecedented as it might seem. Outrage and mob mentality have been around forever and the internet has facilitated it as long as it has existed. I have always enjoyed this episode. Some great writing especially the comedic beats. Plus it is always fun seeing one of The Daily Show greats pop up. This era's writers really should have written more loudmouthed a-holes.

Maybe in the Self-Help genre?

Hmmmmm. I don't know. Don't you think Mariska would be worried about it looking like she is using the show to express her personal feelings? Or that she can't distinguish between herself and the character she plays? I don't think she is the kind of person who would do that...

Only part of it is the producer's intent. Yes they want us to feel sorry for her, make sure she is available for UST with every male character except Noah and Fin (even Ice-T's loyalty has limits) and avoid truly blowing up the potential Benson/Stabler "happily ever after" etc. But part of it is that keeping a love interest for too long means paying the actor. And a huge part of it is that Mariska is just not able to pull it off. I mean this is someone who managed to make scenes with Andre freaking Braugher boring. One of the greatest actors of our time and she gave him less to work with than the dog on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I think one indication of Christopher's Meloni's skills as an actor is that he is able to generate chemistry with her. I would say that Robert John Burke is the only other performer who has managed to pull that off. Everyone else, even great actors whose work on the show and elsewhere I have greatly enjoyed have left me wanting to see the rehearsal with MH's stand in instead.

I think you mean nobody called her that twice. Remember when Logan thought they could be on a first name basis? As far as Cragen was concerned he was a longtime friend and former partner of Greevey and Cerreta was his Sergeant and #2 and the familiarity carried on with Logan and to a lesser extent Briscoe who was also an old timer whom he could relate with on a personal level. When Van Buren came in there was none of that past history at play and they were simply two of her subordinates. Even if they were the two that seemed to catch an extraordinary number of high profile cases that tied in to hot button social and political issues while guys like Profaci got them donuts and worked all the cut and dried cases nobody cared about...

The Good: Fin. This is the first episode this season where Ice-T seemed engaged and Fin had something to do. I kind of wish we got more of him, like that this was one of his cases, but then we probably would be wondering why we weren't seeing Munch. Still would have been nice to have more focus on how long he has been there and not just Liv. Carisi. While I wish he had more to do here since the cold case plot should mean that he was front and center the whole time, what we got was really solid. Cragen, Amaro, and Warner, They actually did a good job bringing back some old timers in a natural way. Heck they even tossed in a Rodgers reference! It was nice seeing them although it made me miss the days when we didn't need to resort to stunts to have enough cast members to tell a story. No Stabler except for flashbacks. It was nice to see them not trying to force some sort of triangle on us. Or maybe they just didn't want to remind us of how they treated Stabler during the Amaro years? The case. The original case that is, not the boring Benson's ex is a predator one. If they hadn't felt the need to rush through the resolution so we could get to the nonsense it would have actually felt like old school SVU, Rollins was largely in the background and they didn't go for any soapy nonsense with her. The Bad: Another episode of our least favorite sitcom (romcom???) Everybody Loves Benson. I'm sorry, but you only get partial credit for not being as bad as it could have been and for the occasion actually calling for a Benson focused episode. You can focus on her as the only remaining original character without making everyone being obsessed with her. And the scene with the other returning guest star from the past, Liv's Giant Wine Glass, was just embarassing, The last third of the episode. Just bad Benson angst and beating us over the head with Mariska's obsession with power differentials. Wasted a lot of potential. Not enough of the rest of the cast. The parts that they had were good, but we really needed more. As I said the focus on Benson is legitimate in this case, but they went too far. Overall this was a decent episode. B-. Maybe the best of the season, but you only get so much credit for avoiding some of the potential pitfalls and not messing up as badly as they could have and have done before this season. A lot of wasted potential here, Which is probably appropriate for summing up the current state of the series,

Perhaps non-partisan would be a better word, but some of his comments went further IMHO saying his shows examined social issues in a non-political way. I would say it is fair to say that the mothership (unlike the lesser series in his stable) always tried to make sure both sides of the issues were represented honestly and fairly, but “If you go back over the years you can’t find evidence of anything I’ve done being politically oriented. If you do that 50% of the audience is [angry] from the first frame,” is out of touch at best and disingenuous at worst and I remember statements that went even further. Dick Wolf the producer only cares about money and will put anything on the air that makes money simultaneously glorifying police power and woke hashtag feminism, but Law & Order the series had a POV although one that didn't necessarily fit neatly in a particular ideological box and as I said above always tried to be fair to both sides of the issues.

In this case I suspect it was a bit more prosaic - they needed some way to explain why a NYC detective sounded like Dennis Farina. The character trait that was a non-pragmatic nod to real life was his fashion sense which was also art imitating life but unlike his accent could have been easily changed, Agreed. Which is one of the reasons I was so disappointed to read Dick Wolf's comments in the press last year about his show's were apolitical and that they featured only good cops as they were better stories. Not only were they shallow, but it demonstrated an ignorance of his own show, both the many stories that explored police corruption and abuses of power and the complicity of "good cops" in both, and the difficulties of using the current system to try to curb those abuses and also the fact that for years it featured a lead character who brought those issues to the forefront. There were many episodes where it was clear that Green and more importantly Van Buren weren't comfortable with some of his tactics, but accepted them because he was an effective investigator. I know he was mostly worried about the money after the first few seasons, but I don't think it is too much to ask to be well versed on your flagship series. Unless he was just being purposely vague because he knew Chicago PD was indefensible both on content and aesthetic grounds so he was willing to throw his baby under the bus to avoid talking about it...

I don't know if it was about giving the fans a chance to vent, but I'm sure it was a deliberate choice. I think it was about trying to do something different, realizing there was no way they could recapture the same dynamic. They didn't try to replace Lennie even though the characters were very similar demographically. Instead they shook things up a lot and inverted things. Where Green had been in more of the hothead cowboy role in the partnership he was now the by the book one. And while they were both old school Briscoe had matured and realized that the good old days of policing had their problems and while he might "kick the ball on the fairway" occasionally he wasn't slicing it into the rough and then dropping it on the green like Fontana did. I've said here before that Dennis Farina and Fontana saved the show. If they had tried to replace Briscoe or went the way the network wanted and gone younger and hotter I think there is a good chance the show would have ended in a couple years. And a lesser actor couldn't have pulled off such an abrasive character and made him still watchable. I doubt they knew. Nobody took the idea of Fred Thompson running for President seriously even after he announced! (I kid - he was the flavor of the month for a bit and his departure was very classy - he waited to formally enter the race until the network reruns of his last season were done so that the rest of the cast and writers could get those royalties as the shows couldn't be aired under various regulations and policies once he was an official candidate.)

A little bit late on this one. I had to be at work by 5am for an IT upgrade and nothing this season has made me think it would be worth watching instead of getting to bed early. The Good: Carisi. He was almost the only thing worth watching this week. Perhaps because they didn't have enough cops there was actually a lot of courtroom action this week and he was awesome as usual. Jet. Perhaps because the SVU team couldn't do anything stupid with someone else's character or perhaps because the actress hasn't been beaten down by going through the motions of the same story a hundred times already. OR maybe because promoting OC is the show's highest priority these days above even telling quality stories about an elite squad investigating sexually based offenses. The promo for next week looks potentially good and looks like some people will be getting some of the guest appearances they wanted. The Bad: The worst kind of opening. The montage with bad music badly mixed and edited leaving no doubt about the facts of the case. Made worse by adding Benoah. No Fin. We could have really used his snark. But I guess it's better than watching him phone in half assed dialogue. Not much of anyone else. This is exactly what I feared when I heard about the cast changes. We;re back to stunts to try to give us enough characters to tell the story. And while the OC cast members were better than most of the SVU characters this week it was still glaringly obvious that they are short staffed. Made worse by the fact that it meant more focus on the guest cast which couldn't take the weight. The script. Blandly competent on the plot mechanics, obviously completely lacking any sort of understanding of the culture being depicted, and just generally dull. Not good and not bad in an interesting way. Overall this was another dud only partially redeemed by letting Carisi be the focus. It was filler and yet another ad for OC. And yes it did make me want to watch the spinoff, but that was mostly because I wanted to be done with this half-assed story about the kids these days and see the interesting detectives investigating the interesting case. And then Carisi prosecuting that case. Instead it was just filler. They should have titled this one "Our Contract Requires This".

I think this hits on one of the important differences here vs. some of the other antagonist bosses. Most of the previous jerk bosses were political hacks, concerned with image over substance. Which as a child and SO of teachers who works with many public sector employees is quite realistic and common, if depressing. It is also still all too common to find good old fashioned bigots in high ranking public safety positions, although in just about every city of any size most have learned how to hide it in public. So why not go for something that is both more realistic and more dramatically interesting? A chief who had learned the buzzwords while still harboring all the old ideas about good and bad victims would be something I'd love to see. Or some good old fashioned juking the stats. Heck they could go back to the old well of having the antagonist just be the one insisting they follow the law instead of their gut and personal morality since Carisi can't go as far as most new ADAs have in that role. There are sorts of ways to make this cliche work and they don't seem to be interesting in pursuing any of them, instead just giving us a B-list Fox News pundit who seems completely uninterested in any sort of spin and disconnected from political reality. I do wonder if the capital E Evil Chief is one of Warren Leight's pet story lines like the female detective in peril though since he also gave us Frank Adair on Criminal Intent.

Watched this along with LWT and Bill's final New Rules bit was annoyingly well done. Annoyingly in that this is one of those weeks were Bill shows that the voice that first drew me to him is still in there and that he could do so much more if he tried. Here is a theme that could set him aside from the pack if he chose to do so or cared enough to earn the respect and elder statesman of topical comedy status he so obviously craves. Also annoying in that he doesn't bother to bring it up where it would make sense - didn't see him pressing Costa on putting book profits over the fate of the republic by not releasing information when it might have helped shock people into action. And that he doesn't bother to take his own words to heart - why not announce that he is going to stop whining about his pet causes and not getting everything he wants on everything but existential issues like climate change and voting rights? I know he is capable of this to some degree if he wants. I remember 2016 when he was the only host that nailed the election from start to finish and managed to overcome his own whims (I mean you know hiring the more experienced and qualified woman over the cranky old man is not Bill's knee jerk reaction...)

It depends on how it's handled. It's been "fodder for entertainment" as long as there has been entertainment. I'm not going to give up Shakespeare and Chaucer, or Cheers and The Ofiice, because they have characters who cheat in what is intended as a comedy.

The Good: Velasco. I like how they used his start for some exposition and to remind us of some of the more unsettling aspects of the investigative process. It also was nice to have someone who could actually run for the chase scene. Hopefully they can actually deliver on the potential and tone down things a bit. It would be nice if he was a bit of an outsider for awhile, but still a team player. The guest cast. Solid performances all around. They actually managed to give us an interesting and compelling variation on a theme they have done way too much. Hopefully they will move on to something else for awhile. There are plenty of sexually based offenses out there to tell stories about. Carisi. I liked him actually pointing out to the police that the district attorney's office is a separate yet equally important part of the criminal justice system. They have done a pretty good job of making him an ally of Benson without making him seem like a subordinate as Stone too often seemed at the end of his tenure. The Bad: The new chief is still a caricature and a cartoon. I have no interest in watching Benson give self righteous speeches to a cardboard cutout all season. Fin was a non-factor this week. Even the parts where he was supposed to be a big part it seemed like the writers and Ice-T were phoning it in. They are still shitting on the DAs office for no good reason. I've said in the mothership thread that I am certain that if the revival gets off the ground they will ignore SVU on the topic, but I would think someone would have told Warren Leight to cut out this nonsense. Overall this was a solid episode. Nothing spectacular, but decent. It actually felt like a real SVU episode and not an OC ad. Not excited but for the first time this year I can see some potential. Admittedly not all of it is good, but I will take what I can get at this point. Hopefully we can get back on track now,

I forgot about that! And not only 9 seasons, but the entire NCIS franchise too. Between that and FBI CBS should be paying royalties to NBC's programming department. It's not just NBC though. I've heard many TV writers and producers say that networks interfere more than ever, insisting on approval of details that previously were left to the show's staff. The only difference I've noticed is that CBS seems to be willing to get out of the way for folks like Chuck Lorre or Dick Wolf for that matter (with FBI) who have a track record and are making money. The other networks seem to care more about their prestige in the industry than ratings and profit at least at the level of those actually actively making programming and creative decisions. At least until their shows fail because the people they want to impress aren't watching network TV anyways and the creators who can do what they want to do would rather do their thing on streaming services or cable where they are actually allowed to make creative decisions. Heaven forbid you have a series that is popular with folks over 40 in the midwest that is rerun on cable for years and makes everyone involved rich or a sitcom that makes regular people laugh. Better to have 6 hours a week of America's Next A Cappella Sensation right? And NBC has occasionally shied away from controversy with the franchise. Sometimes in stupid ways. Why would you approve a story about the Olympics if you aren't going to tell the complainers to shut up and use your money to wipe away their tears? As far as writers are concerned I am sure they can get plenty of skilled writers, both new and old. My fear with the writing is that they will be under mandates to do something other than tell the best L&O stories they can. And as far as nuance is concerned, I would argue that the even the later years had nuance. For example Bernard was quite nuanced in his views, usually socially conservative and economically populist with a libertarian streak that meant he was not always predictable in his reactions, but was still a fully developed character that was never just a way for the writers to make an argument or have conflict.

I agree both with the skepticism and the worry although it is a real possibility that they get a number of the old writers back at least for an episode or two which would help. I don't think there was any insurmountable difficulty in executing the concepts on the part of the producers. What little news has leaked out has suggested that the difficulties were in casting - specifically that NBC insisted on micromanaging the casting process, and to a lesser extent that they were nervous about controversy and some of the proposed stories, which makes anyone with half a brain wonder why they would approve a concept that was inherently controversial. OC came packaged with a bankable star so it was easier to get it done. Or at least harder for NBC's "creative" executives to sabotage after the higher ups approved and announced it. And I fully expect them to try to do the same thing here.

The Good: The actress playing the victim. She did a really good job and almost made me care about her even though she wasn't written as anything more than a plot device and a stereotype. Carisi. He was the only regular who was worth watching this week as the rest either had nothing to do (Fin) or were annoying (Benson, Rollins, the OC crew). It is always nice to see Benson not pull a miracle out of her ass, even if we know it may not last. No Benson-Stabler hookup! The Bad: It was another crossover episode that was not really an episode of the series, but a trailer for OC. I like OC but I like it much more when it's its own thing. Not when it's forced into SVU. It feels like they are trying to hide how there are no characters and no ideas left at SVU right now. The promo for next week. As I've said many times before I never trust the NBC promo monkeys, but if there is any truth there it's going to be a third episode in a row on the same theme. I want to see some sexually based offenses used to explore a variety of social issues. A variety, Not the same one over and over. We've seen that fail already. They didn't give Fin anything to do. He has a couple of good lines and made the most of what he had, serving as the voice of the viewer, but he was wasted. I know I'm going to be annoyed when he has one of his weeks off knowing they blew one of his episodes on this. Rollins. Again she is a giant hypocrite with no indication that anyone involved realizes it. I mean how could Benson listen to her lecture her about not putting up with a man's emotional distance etc. without telling her to fuck all the way off? The script. I don't think there was a single original moment anywhere. Including the OC elements that have only been around for one season. Overall this was a dud, in part because of flat writing and in part because it wasn't really an episode per se, but rather an advertisement for/ episode of OC weakened by tying it to the zombified corpse of SVU.

Ooh. I like this idea. And if the first season doesn't quite work they can retool by having him quit the DAs office and go back to being a detective and bring over Rubirosa as the new ADA... He probably would be willing if it could be worked out with CBS. And if Dick Wolf agreed not to make him shave this time!

Yeah as I mentioned at the start of the conversation I fully expect NBC to manage to screw this up since there isn't any announced A-list star already attached. So it will probably follow the usual pattern of announcement, casting, etc. followed by an announcement that is postponed, but still in active development when they can't agree on scripts, casting, etc. Because we all know that Dick Wolf and crew can't possibly handle that without NBC' "creative" executives' input. Although in this case it's probably for the best since I'm fine with the reruns of what we have. At this point I'd be more interested in seeing them follow through with one of the previously announced spinoffs or going in a different direction like a Trial By Jury revival on Peacock or a UK version of Criminal Intent.

Pretty simply actually. They mostly just ignore it, write the characters as everyone but Leight and Martin sees them and maybe toss in a line of non-specific dialogue here and there about some elements in the department think the DA is a political hack, sellout, corrupt, etc. because they can't get guilty verdicts from their crappy cases. They probably would also mention McCoy left and came back without specifying an exact time frame as it would allow a little bit more flexibility in story telling if they wanted to reopen a cold case. But maybe they will simply ignore SVU like SVU ignores the rest o the franchise bringing in characters when they want to and otherwise going their own way. I guarantee Rick Eid is not worried about hurting Warren Leight and company's feelings. And ditto for most of the other writers they might bring back. Do you think Rene Balcer or Michael Chernuchin would worry about going in a different direction?

Law & Order: NBC Revives Original Flagship Series, Orders Season 21 a Decade After Abrupt Cancellation ‘Law & Order’ Revived By NBC For Season 21 From Dick Wolf & Rick Eid I'll believe it when I see it and not until then given NBC's recent track record. They will probably find a way to screw this up by arguing about casting or controversial story lines. And Rick Eid's last run a a showrunner in the franchise is less than confidence boosting. But if it ever makes it to air I'll be watching.