Law Order SVU: The Titanic of the L&O Franchise

[Joe Washington]

I've been getting a feeling these days which has been growing over the past several seasons of Law & Order SVU that the show has been a sinking Titanic. Every season, they've been trying to keep it from sinking by bringing in famous guest stars and attempting to come up with exciting storylines, some of which were straight from the headlines, but they haven't really improved the quality of the show. They also aren't helping with the development of the characters who have been constantly ping-ponging between damaged beyond repair and stuck in permanent stasis.

Out of all these characters, this is most true of Benson and Stabler. Their relationship has been constantly messed with by the show's creators who can't seem to decide whether the partners are just close friends or potential lovers with unresolved romantic tension. Stabler is turning into a rage-aholic cop who keeps making the same mistakes and is extremely posessive of his partner. Benson is turning into a damaged soul who is destined for a future of endless misery and loneliness and any hope of freeing her from that like a potential boyfriend or raising a child is torn from her life before she could go any further with it. Also, Benson and Stabler have crossed the line far too many times for them still be on the force and is stretching the believability of the show. I'm wondering when their boss, Cragen, is going to finally throw the book on them because he always giving them time-off or suspension from work as a solution to their behavior isn't helping anything and is making him appear like an incompetent superior officer. It's a wonder he isn't drinking again because of these two.

Now they're bringing back Novack probably as another attempt to fix the show but I'm afraid the show is beyond fixing and will continue its tragic decline into mediocrity.

Thoughts? For or aganist SVU?

 

[Starbreaker]

The Titanic? It's been NBC's best rated drama for years. And Diane Neal is only coming back for one episode.

 

[Joe Washington]

"Best rated" doesn't mean how much as it used to and speaks little about class. Look at Nip/Tuck who was among the best rated dramas of FX or Weeds.

 

[Starbreaker]

I liked Nip/Tuck up until the end and I still like Weeds... guess I'm not the opinion you're looking for. SVU has still put out some quality episodes this year.

 

[bigdaddy]

I still like Weeds...

Anyways, I think L&O itself is the Titanic. They canceled the best one and it's likely that LA won't come back in the fall, CI is dead and SUV is on it's last legs.

 

[Star Wolf]

You do realize what made the Titanic, the Titanic was that the unsinkable ship indeed sunk on her first voyage. Trial By Jury or Los Angeles would be the franchise Titanic

 

[bigdaddy]

I'm gonig by the fact it took the ship awhile to sink.

 

[Gepard]

The Titanic? It's been NBC's best rated drama for years.

So it's not NBC's Titanic, it's NBC's Titanic.

 

[Danny99]

Also, Benson and Stabler have crossed the line far too many times for them still be on the force and is stretching the believability of the show. I'm wondering when their boss, Cragen, is going to finally throw the book on them because he always giving them time-off or suspension from work as a solution to their behavior isn't helping anything and is making him appear like an incompetent superior officer. It's a wonder he isn't drinking again because of these two.

This point is 100% true. Those two are such complete screw ups of detectives. How many suspects/victims/witnesses have died in their custody or on one of their plans?

It's a shame because I really like Dann Florek as Cragen, but this show has to fix a lot of things:

1) Richard Belzer - Either use him and pay the royalties for using him or cut him. The latter pains me because I love Munch, but he only shows up when they need some wisecracks for an episode.

2) Tamara Tunie - Why is she a regular? She shows up for five seconds per episode and if she has anymore screen time than that, she's yelling at the detectives for not trusting her judgment.

3) Meloni and Hargitay - It seems like these "partners" spend more time sharing the screen with Ice-T then they do with each other. If they are too expensive for both to be in each episode, pick one and cut the other. As the OP said, the writers can't decide what they want to do with them, this would be a solution.

4) Guest Stars - They do over use the special guest star credit. But there's nothing for these special guest stars to do.

 

[A beaker full of death]

This show and its parent jumped the shark years ago. It's absurdly predictable, terribly unrealistic, and has adopted pretty much every tv procedural trope there is.
This is very sad, because it was once very good.
While it was years late, they did eventually put the original out of its misery. Time to do the same here.

 

[Joe Washington]

The parent show Law & Order wasn't so bad. Making Jack McCoy the DA and bringing in a new interesting lawyer as his successor was the start of a new energy to the show that was just enough for its three-season home stretch. SVU has been lacking the same kind of energy for too long.

 

[Brikar99]

I haven't watched a new episode in, I dunno, three or four years, but I'm still perfectly able to enjoy reruns of this show. It's probably best that way.

 

[Admiral2]

I miss Trial by Jury now more than I'll miss SVU when it goes. I'm with the OP 100% on this.

(sue me...I like Bebe Neuwirth...)

 

[KB24]

I haven't watched in what 3 or 4 years, since they reduced Munch to nothing for the Adam Beach fiasco. No thanks. There's only so many times I can watch the early years when it was still decent, too. I'd rather just watch Homicide reruns. I don't even know what's going on on SVU anymore and I just don't care.

They should have just folded all the shows back together for a mini season of television movies, heavy cross over cases, or multi part two or three episode shots. NBC and Wolf just aren't happy until they milk this cash cow for all its worth. Why continue to kill the characters' integrity when they can line their pockets with the dvds?

Man, crappy tv makes me really opinionated!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Titanic? It's been NBC's best rated drama for years.

And that's why SVU gets the most famous guest stars out of all L&O-verse shows.