Law & Order:SVU-Has It Gone Down The Crapper?

[Knight Templar]

I've always been a big fan of Law & Order in general and SVU in particular.

But in my opinion, the last few seasons of the series have really gone down the toilet. Part of the reason I think is Chris Meloni's departure. I'm not certain but it seems that Mariska Hargitay's acting is not nearly as good without Meloni to play off of. The last couple of seasons she has come off shrill, overbearing, and more or less as a wannabe avenging angel.

And the rest of the ensemble can't seem to carry the water so to speak.

And the writers seem more interesting in piling up plots that are so indecipherable that if you glance away you can't follow anything.

Anyone else watch this show and feel this way?

 

[PsychoPere]

Meloni has only been gone for one season.

I caught up on several past seasons through Netflix prior to the season 13 premiere. Season 13 has been the first season that actually kept my interest on a week-to-week basis during first-run; it's the strongest season the show has had in a long time, and I hope Warren Leight stays around for a while to come. The new cast additions of Danny Pino and Kelli Giddish have been perfect, and I haven't missed Meloni even a tiny bit.

 

[MacLeod]

The quesion has to be asked how much longer does the L&O universe have in it, there must be what 40+ seasons worth of material set in the L&O shows.

As for the cast/characters even the parent show L&O went through periods were it had a weaker cast.

 

[Knight Templar]

The Meloni and Hargitay dynamic was always more important to SVU than any of the interpersonal relationships on other L & Os. I didn't realize until he was gone just how much Meloni elevated some truly bad writing from time to time.

And the writing I do think has been getting worse.

But Meloni brought a lot to the show with his "tortured family man" character. He was far and away the easiest and arguably most "normal" character one could identify with.

 

[Knight Templar]

agree with the part about meloni being the most easy to identify with.
you might be right on his partnership coupling with mariska being more important to svu as well although as a couple Ithink gorem and eames in criminal intent come across as a better partnership even if eames plays a secondary role in most parts.

The real problem for me in this season is trying to make up for the loss of meloni by placing 2 newish characters in at the same time instead of letting beltzer and ice t take most of the slack and use the new 2 a little less and build their characters a bit slower.

Well, Beltzer really could not take up the slack. About five years ago he specifically asked the SVU producers for LESS screen time. The workload I think was getting to him and he had some health issues or so TVGuide reported.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I think this season has been the best season it awhile. I thought that the show would stumble with Meloni being gone but it's been a surprise that it really hasn't. The only problem I've had is getting used to seeing Danny Pino playing a different cop character than the one I saw him play for years on Cold Case.

 

[wissaboo]

I stopped watching a few seasons back. It seemed like each episode was just trying to out gross the one before.

 

[Knight Templar]

I lost interest in Pino when his character thought his wife was having an affair (she was seeing a psychiatrist) and punched out one of her best male friends without provocation.

 

[Timby]

The quesion has to be asked how much longer does the L&O universe have in it, there must be what 40+ seasons worth of material set in the L&O shows.

43, as a matter of fact: 20 seasons for Vanilla, 13 (so far; it just got picked up for a 14th) of SVU, 10 of Criminal Intent.

As for the cast/characters even the parent show L&O went through periods were it had a weaker cast.

The only truly execrable season of Vanilla was 17, simply because the pairing of Jesse L. Martin and Milena Govich was just beyond awful.

In any event, I've been digging Season 13 of SVU. Outside of one or two really blatant misfires, the writing is the best it's been since probably Season 6. Shaking up the cast has given the show a real shot in the arm, not unlike how the cast shakeup on Vanilla for Season 18 really injected some new life into it. It took Giddish and the writers a little while to figure out what to do with her character, but once they got her settled in, the show really picked up.

But Meloni brought a lot to the show with his "tortured family man" character. He was far and away the easiest and arguably most "normal" character one could identify with.

Are you kidding me? Stabler was a cartoon character. The character's entire throughline was "get mad, yell a lot, then punch walls / suspects / lockers / random nearby inanimate objects." Stabler himself was emblematic of just how completely goofy, ridiculous and over-the-top SVU has gotten over the past seven years or so.

 

[auntiehill]

Shouldn't this be in TV/Media?

 

[Timby]

I suppose it should, but I'm too lazy to use my Mod Of All Trek BBS powers to do anything about it. When management is slacking off, you know it's hard to find good help these days.

 

[Timby]

you forgot trial by jury and law and order los angelas timby

I do my best to forget them, outside of the all too few post-shakeup episodes of LA.

 

[CorporalClegg]

And L&O London. Can't forget that masterpiece.

Plus you could include Homicide and CCF.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think the current SVU season is just fine. I don't miss Stabler much. There are other characters I'd miss more if they left, such as Cragen.

 

[Sephiroth]

stabler needed to go 8 or so seasons ago

 

[MacLeod]

And L&O London. Can't forget that masterpiece.

Plus you could include Homicide and CCF.

Isn't L&O: UK?

So which would say are the best characters from the L&O universe?

I might have to go with

Law: Briscoe
Order: McCoy

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Mothership: Briscoe, Green, Lupo

SVU: Munch, Cragen

CI: Goren, Eames, sometimes Logan

LA: Morales, TJ

 

[Knight Templar]

Anyone heard that the character of John Munch has appeared on more TV series than any other?

Homicide: Life on the Street.

Law & Order:SVU
Law & Order
Law & Order: Trial By Jury
The X-Files

And several more police shows as well.

 

[sojourner]

Munch is Tommy Westphall's number one guy.

 

[Danny99]

The thing with Stabler and Benson is that they never and in Benson's case, continue to, remain stagnant as characters. I often commented how often perps would die in their custody, far more than I believe would be found acceptable to any current police force. Call it bad writing, call it a lack of acting talent, but that dragged the show down.

It's sad that Belzer doesn't want more screen time, but I think the show could have survived with only one of Pino or Giddish coming in. I for one would have liked to see Meloni teamed up with Giddish.