Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Law & Order: SVU and its star Mariska Hargitay have cemented their places in television history. NBC has renewed Dick Wolf’s series for a record-setting 21st season, making it TV’s longest-running primetime live-action series, surpassing the previous mark of 20 seasons set by mothership series Law & Order (1990-2010) and Gunsmoke (1955-75). And the police procedural may not been done rewriting TV records books as I hear Season 21 is not currently envisioned as a final chapter.
While the mothership Law & Order series went through multiple lead cast overhauls, with none of the original cast members staying past Season 10, Hargitay has been Law & Order: SVU‘s heart and soul since the pilot, leading the cast for 20 seasons. The last 19 of them she has had Ice-T by her side.
With a full 22 episode order that would put it at approx 480 episodes. That would make season 22 and 500 episodes a foregone conclusion barring some catastophe
With a full 22 episode order that would put it at approx 480 episodes. That would make season 22 and 500 episodes a foregone conclusion barring some catastophe
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering when an announcement might come.
I haven't watched very many of the three main parts of the franchise (Original, SVU, and Criminal Intent) as first run episodes, but I'd guess that..over the decades...I've seen more than half of those nearly 50 years of episodes (20 for the Original L & O, 10 for Criminal Intent, and now now almost 20 full for SVU) in syndication.
I watched 'Homicide' when it was on, and enjoyed Belzer's portrayal of Munch even before SVU. I also remember one of Mariska Hargitay's earlier roles as a hospital employee and girl that Dr. Mark Greene dated on ER (and I probably saw 90+% of the ER episodes as 'first run').
I enjoy watching Chicago PD (another one of the Wolf shows) in reruns on the USA network.
It used to crack me up in the 60s and 70s when I'd have conversations with girls and women who knew the histories of of the characters on daytime soap operas so well that they could tell when a show had new writers who didn't know the histories of the character and would write things that didn't make much sense, or were impossible because of the deaths of various characters.
One thing that Dick Wolf has done is sort of in this same ballpark. He's liked the acting of various actors who have played criminals, and then has made them regulars as 'part of the good guys'. Two that come to mind off the top of my head....1. Jay O. Sanders played a lawyer who committed murder (either on the Original L & O or on Criminal Intent)...at some point the body was in the trunk of his Mercedes, and he later played the last head of Major Case on Criminal Intent and, 2. Diane Neal played one of three successful female Manhattanite friends who tied up etc. a man (Paige Turco, who played an attorney, was one of the other two) and then she later played ADA Casey Novak.
I still watch and enjoy the show. I forget which season I decided to give the show a chance but I've been hooked ever since. I've been waiting for Sabresfan to post that just like the flagship, season 20 would be SVU's last, but we get this instead. Good to see it'll be back next season to break the record. To this day I still say the flagship should have gotten just 1 more season to beat Gunsmoke, but I'll gladly take this
Meh, this is good but I wouldn't count my blessings on this actually going through yet. Law & Order was renewed for a 21st season and given Dick Wolf's cheap ass to take a paycut to help keep the show financially stable, it was unexpectedly cancelled out of the blue. The same thing could very well happen to SVU and given how the Chicago franchise pretty much replaced the L&O franchise as Wolf's TV market, SVU should be a bleak mist in Wolf's eyes now. He wouldn't care to see this show collapse too.
NBC is at fault too with L&O's cancellation. Rather than go through with that forgettable and USELESS Los Angeles spinoff, they should have just nixed that and kept L&O going. It's like they desperately needed an LA adaption of the show like why? The L&O franchise was unique because each spinoff was DIFFERENT. It wasn't just a rehash of the original set in a different city like you get with NCIS and CSI. You sacrifice one of your long running successful dramas for some carbon copy imitation that ended up getting canned in a year after a major retooling and then episodes being out of order? The show was a mess from jump.
The original show should have been brought back that following 2011-12 season but nope. Then with all of these revivals going on, you'd think they'd bring back the show but NOPE. Instead, we get True Crime, which was a waste and now a new spinoff is in development called Hate Crimes? How about a Law & Order revival? Enough with these lame ass spinoffs that apparently has run itself dry and unsuccessful since Trial By Jury. -_-
I watch episodes of the show every once in a while, having seen them from the very beginning. The main thing I don't like about the show is that it feels like the exact same show now, as it did back when it started. The characters are the same it seems, and no one ever goes through a big character arc of any sort.
In fact, nothing bad even happens to the characters, and the characters never get pushed over the edge, into doing anything really morally dirty or questionable.
Like for example. I recently saw the episode Surrender Benson, and in that one
SPOILER
Benson is kidnapped by a rapist and taunted by him for most of the episode, and then ends up getting free taking his gun away, and getting him to surrender at gunpoint and arrests him.
But why not have something really tragic happen to the characters for once. Instead of having an in the nick of time escape before the rape, why not actually have her be raped, and instead of her giving the suspect a fair chance to surrender after she gets the gun from him, why not have her get pushed over the edge for one and have her gun him down, unarmed, without repeated warnings?
That would have been a nice dark character change and consequence for once, that would have stood out and taken the character in a more bold direction, but they always deny themselves any opportunity it seems.
I haven't seen every episode but for all the ones I have tuned over, it's always the same and nothing seems to have changed to take the characters in new directions it seems.
I still watch and enjoy the show. I forget which season I decided to give the show a chance but I've been hooked ever since. I've been waiting for Sabresfan to post that just like the flagship, season 20 would be SVU's last, but we get this instead. Good to see it'll be back next season to break the record. To this day I still say the flagship should have gotten just 1 more season to beat Gunsmoke, but I'll gladly take this
I agree.
I was born during the first half of the Gunsmoke run, but I could never get into it that much while growing up. I loved the Original L & O, and love SVU.
I watch episodes of the show every once in a while, having seen them from the very beginning. The main thing I don't like about the show is that it feels like the exact same show now, as it did back when it started. The characters are the same it seems, and no one ever goes through a big character arc of any sort.
In fact, nothing bad even happens to the characters, and the characters never get pushed over the edge, into doing anything really morally dirty or questionable.
Like for example. I recently saw the episode Surrender Benson, and in that one
SPOILER
Benson is kidnapped by a rapist and taunted by him for most of the episode, and then ends up getting free taking his gun away, and getting him to surrender at gunpoint and arrests him.
But why not have something really tragic happen to the characters for once. Instead of having an in the nick of time escape before the rape, why not actually have her be raped, and instead of her giving the suspect a fair chance to surrender after she gets the gun from him, why not have her get pushed over the edge for one and have her gun him down, unarmed, without repeated warnings?
That would have been a nice dark character change and consequence for once, that would have stood out and taken the character in a more bold direction, but they always deny themselves any opportunity it seems.
I haven't seen every episode but for all the ones I have tuned over, it's always the same and nothing seems to have changed to take the characters in new directions it seems.
The final follow up to that storyline was on this weekend, with the grand jury refusing to indict Olivia after hearing the testimony from her interim Lieutenant (played by Donal Logue).
It cracked me up that Brooke Shields had a guest spot on another recent rerun as Noah's bio grandma. Brooke Shields is 16 months younger than Mariska Hargitay.
It cracked me up that Brooke Shields had a guest spot on another recent rerun as Noah's bio grandma. Brooke Shields is 16 months younger than Mariska Hargitay.
And what is the point here about the age gap? If you're trying to make a point off Mariska's character being the MOTHER to Noah when Brook's character (who is likely younger than Olivia) being the GRANDMOTHER, then you have to realize Olivia adopted Noah well past her motherly prime.
The final follow up to that storyline was on this weekend, with the grand jury refusing to indict Olivia after hearing the testimony from her interim Lieutenant (played by Donal Logue).
It cracked me up that Brooke Shields had a guest spot on another recent rerun as Noah's bio grandma. Brooke Shields is 16 months younger than Mariska Hargitay.
Oh I didn't see that episode. Indict her for what?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering when an announcement might come.