There was a link that implied that he would be: linky But apparently not true... Seems it was a hoax. Whew.
I know Wolf likes to think that his Law & Order shows are machines that you can simply plop any cog (actor) into and make it go, but SVU has really been as much about Benson and Stabler as it is about the various cases they tackle. If either Meloni or Hargitay leave, I'd rather see the show end than try and pair one of them up with another actor, or bring in a new pair of detectives.
I recall a few years ago a TV critic (don't remember who), while the discussing the show, said that he was in many ways looking forward to the day when Meloni decided to leave, because the Stabler character was always played as a guy who was often driven close to the edge of snapping, and he wanted to see what would happen when he finally did.
Indeed. If Meloni ever leaves, they need to do it justice and send him out the right way. Some pedophile that gets off on a technicality and Stabler finally snaps and kills him or something. Not an outright murder, but a "questionable shooting" that gets him the choice of "early retirement" rather than an inquest. That said, both Meloni and Hargitay negotiate new contracts on a year-by-year basis. Right now they're both making upwards of $300-315,000 an episode. I think they're actually the current highest paid actors on TV. At the moment, it's the only show NBC has that holds it's own. But it's getting more and more expensive to produce, and the belts tightened more and more, and I can see a not too distant future when one or both of them won't take what NBC is willing to give. I do agree, either of their departure will be a make-or-break instance for the show. We've never, ever had the same duo of detectives for this long. The next best record is 5 years, I think, which is less than half of SVU's run. People are invested. Survival without one or both will be difficult, but not impossible. But more difficult than any other L&O show. If they lost both at once, I could see it killing the show, truth be told. If they can keep one around at least an extra season after the other, it would tourniquet the bleeding of viewers.
I think the most obvious (however more cliche) way for Stabler to finally snap would be the loss of his son. Yes, I know that is very predictable, but maybe make it a season-long arc where he's searching for the killer, and you can gradually see the screws become more and more untightened as Stabler gets closer and closer to unraveling the truth about his son's death and closer to nabbing the killer.
I think Stabler and his family have been through enough. They should leave them alone. If Meloni ever does leave, they should just give Stabler a promotion ("Sergeant Stabler" - sounds like a MME fighter ) and send him off to a different squad. Let him go out in peace. That being said, they should *already* let Munch go out in peace, since he's pretty much gone already anyway.
I think Stabler's got to many black markets against him (and Benson for that matter) to make it much further up the ladder not that Sergeant seems to matter much - it didn't do anything for Munch.
The show definitely needs both him and Mariska Hargitay to survive, but it's hard to blame an actor for wanting to leave a show after twelve years, and a procedural at that. Twelve years is beyond a respectable run for any show. That being said, given that it's one of NBC's top performing shows, I imagine they'll do whatever it takes to keep Meloni, and will throw enough money at him to convince him to stay.
I remember reading an article a few years back that said if they were going to ever leave the show, they'd do it together, which would probably effectively end it.
Yep, Hargitay and Meloni have made it clear on several occasions that they're a package deal, and if one goes, the other bails, as well. Then again, you never know, as money does talk. The show isn't even guaranteed to stick around, though, as its ratings have been absolutely catastrophic this season (primarily due to the time change and The Jay Leno Show). We'll see what happens in March and April. This is incorrect. They signed two-year contracts in both 2007 and 2009.
If and when Meloni ever leaves i will go into mourning. A deep and soulful state of mourning. Whatever that means. The man is beyond hot!
I agree the show would not be the same if either one of them left. I don't think I would watch the show unless it was a repeat.
I miss when they threw Munch a bone every now and again. The Stabler and Benson storylines got stale and redunant for me two years ago, and since NBC has jerked the schedule around, I haven't bothered to follow.
I liked someone's suggestion that Munch should be promoted to lieutenant and be transferred to the 27th precinct to replace Van Buren.
Munch still needs to guest star on Criminal Intent. Although it wouldn't be quite the same since it's not the original cast anymore.
So how do you think CI will fare when Jeff Goldblum becomes the cast member with the most episodes logged under his belt? When CI first started out, Vincent D'Onofrio made a point about how you knew nothing about his character. But then when it moved to USA, it was "characters welcome" and all that changed. I guess you could say Chris Noth's first season is when it all changed since his character had lots of history to go along with him.