S24.E08: A Better Person

[dttruman]

15 hours ago, wknt3 said:

I would argue that the deterioration in writing is evident much earlier and it is not a steady downward trend. The final Baer years were not good at all, and I did stop watching regularly during the grimdark over correction to the campy excesses that followed. Things did improve quite a bit after that and the first half of Season 17 in particular was very good. There has been good and bad after that depending on how well the showrunners were able to keep Mariska's ego in check. As far as acting is concerned there have been some fine performances as well. As far as acting is concerned I wouldn't say there has been an across the board drop off. If you were to fast forward through Mariska's monologue you would generally get 5-10 minutes of good or better acting. Ice-T has phoned in a lot of episodes and Mariska has gone full Jenna Maroney, but there has been some great work since Season 15, much of which has elevated some utter dreck to borderline respectability.

I would give the better acting to many of the guest stars, both notable ones and actors from other L & O shows and their episodes.The first time I notice the deterioration in writing or loading 3 episode premises into  one episode was when a Catholic church was involved with city gov't officials and a prostitution ring. I wish I could remember a lot of the episode titles that you all do. IMO, the prestige, reputation, or fame of the show may not go down as one of the longest lasting TV dramas, but as one that chose to put quantity above quality. Most fans will see the quality literally shrink before their eyes