Law & Order (franchise)


Law & Order is a media franchise composed of a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf. They were originally broadcast on NBC, and all of them deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system. Together, the original series, its various spin-offs, the TV film, and crossover episodes from other shows constitute over 1,000 hours of programming.
Shared people and resources in a common fictional setting are the connecting links between the shows, e.g., Hudson University and the New York Ledger tabloid newspaper. Many supporting characters, such as district attorneys, psychologists, and medical examiners are also shared among the shows. Occasionally, crossovers of main characters or shared storylines between two of the shows will occur. A few major characters have also left the cast of one show within the franchise only to eventually join another. The music, style, and credits of the shows tend to be similar, with the voiceover in the opening of every series performed by Steven Zirnkilton. The shows share the iconic "dun, dun" sound effect of a jail cell locking, created, along with the theme songs, by Mike Post. Past episodes of the American series are in syndication with local over-the-air stations, along with cable channels such as USA Network and Bravo, TNT, WGN America, Ion Television, and AMC Networks' SundanceTV and WeTV, showing episodes sometimes up to six times a day.
In October 2012, showrunner/executive producer Warren Leight said of the future of the Law & Order franchise, " sometimes talk in general terms of where could go. I'm curious to see if there's another iteration somewhere down the line," he says. "We try hard to maintain a certain level of quality which I think is why the shows sustained in reruns so well. And I'd like to believe there's room for another generation in some way." In February 2015, NBC was purported to have interest in bringing back the flagship Law & Order as a limited series. As of February 2016, NBC has not publicly announced intentions to revive the original series.

Current series

''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''

SVU follows the cases investigated by NYPD Captain Olivia Benson and her Manhattan Special Victims Unit colleagues. The show's focus is on detectives who investigate sexually based crimes and crimes against children, the elderly, and women. At the start of season twenty-one, these detectives included characters portrayed by Jamie Gray Hyder, Kelli Giddish and Ice-T, while Peter Scanavino co-stars. Season twenty-one premiered on September 26, 2019. In 2020, the series was renewed through the 24th season.

Past series

''Law & Order''

Law & Order, a crime procedural, features both a police investigation of a crime discovered during the cold open, and a prosecution case set forth by the New York County District Attorney, at the Manhattan DA's office. The first thirty minutes of an episode typically features a lead detective trio, while the second thirty minutes follows their legal counterparts. On May 14, 2010, NBC announced that it was canceling the original series, although various spin-offs will continue. The series finale aired on May 24, 2010. Wolf briefly attempted to continue the series on cable, but the series "moved into the history books".

''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''

Criminal Intent focuses on high-profile cases investigated by the Major Case Squad, with special focus on the actions of the criminals pursued, often including scenes from the victim's or perpetrator's lives not involving the police, thereby giving a hint as to the "criminal intent". The detectives depicted, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe, during the final season, will often attempt to infiltrate the mind of the suspect. Julia Ormond and Jay O. Sanders also star in the tenth season of the series. On July 15, 2011, USA Network co-president Jeff Wachtel confirmed Law & Order: CI would end with its.

''Law & Order: Trial by Jury''

Trial by Jury, starring Bebe Neuwirth, Amy Carlson, and Jerry Orbach, followed the preparation by the legal teams, both prosecution and defense, for a jury trial. This was the first Law & Order spin-off to be canceled due to low ratings. Orbach's death was one factor to in the show's cancellation; competition from the hit series NUMB3RS was another.

''Law & Order: LA''

Originally titled Law & Order: Los Angeles, LA was the first American Law & Order series set outside of New York City. As with the original series, the first half hour of the show focused on the police investigation of a crime discovered in the cold open; the second half took place at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office and focused on the prosecution of the criminal suspect. On May 13, 2011, Law & Order: LA was canceled by NBC after only one season, but because of the hiatus did not air its final episode until July 11, 2011.

''Law & Order True Crime''

In April 2016, Wolf and NBC announced they were working on True Crime, a scripted anthology series that will follow one significant true-to-life case per season. Season one, titled Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders stars Edie Falco as Leslie Abramson, Gaston Villanueva as Lyle Menendez, and Gus Halper as Erik Menendez. It premiered on September 26, 2017 and concluded its first season on November 14, 2017. The series is currently on hiatus.

Future series

''Law & Order: Organized Crime''

On March 31, 2020, NBC announced that a 13-episode order had been given to an as-yet-untitled Special Victims Unit spin-off starring Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, now the head of an organised crime task force. Meloni had previously starred on SVU from 1999 to 2011. On June 2, 2020, it was announced that the series would be called and writer Craig Gore has been fired. When NBC announced its fall schedule on June 16, Organized Crime was the only new show on the schedule, slotted for Thursdays at 10/9c.

''Law & Order: Hate Crimes''

On September 4, 2018, NBC announced that it had given an order of 13 episodes of the latest installment of the franchise entitled Law & Order: Hate Crimes. However, on March 4, 2019, NBC announced that the series would be heading back into redevelopment to flesh out the concept and such introduction on SVU would not take place. The series was once again touted in 2020 as part of a multi-year contract signed with creator Dick Wolf. On June 5, 2020, it was reported that the series would likely move to Peacock due to language concerns.

Media

TV film

The Law & Order franchise has one TV film, . Chris Noth reprises his role as Mike Logan, as the film explores what happened to the character following his departure from the original series.

Video games

The franchise has also spawned a series of video games for the PC, which feature appearances by then-current cast members of the TV series.
The typical course of most of the games follows the original series' format with the player investigating a crime with interviews of witnesses and examination of evidence. After the arrest is made, the player then prosecutes the case with challenges such as selecting appropriate questions for witnesses on the stand, recognizing improper questions to raise objections and selecting the most persuasive arguments for the judge to allow certain evidence in court.
The following table lists all the crossover stories in the Law & Order franchise.

John Munch crossovers

The character John Munch, who originated on Homicide: Life on the Street, is notable for either appearing in or being referenced in a wide variety of other series, ranging from appearing in the science fiction series The X-Files, to the sitcom Arrested Development, to being referenced by name in the UK crime drama Luther. Whether this places these series in the Law & Order universe is a matter of debate.

Other related series

New York Undercover
Deadline
Conviction

Foreign adaptations

The franchise, as a result of its popularity, has led to the adaptation of scripts from the American series into foreign-produced series. These are:
Paris enquêtes criminelles
Paris Criminal Investigations follows the format of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, adapted to Paris and the French legal system, with detectives from the Prefecture of Police DRPJ and the Ministère public attempting to secure a conviction. The series stars Vincent Pérez, Sandrine Rigaux, Jacques Pater, Hélène Godec, Laure Killing, and Audrey Looten. The show is also aired in Germany on ZDF, under the title Law & Order: Paris.

Division of Field Investigations follows the format of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, set in Moscow and adapted to the Russian justice system. The series stars Ivan Oganesyan, Alisa Bogart, Dmitry Brusnikin, Alexander Naumov, Valery Troshin and Xenia Entelis.

Criminal Intent follows the format of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, set in Moscow and is adapted to the Russian Justice System. The series stars Mikhail Homyakov, Igor Lagutin, Elena Kovalchuk and Boris Mironov.

UK follows the format of the original Law & Order show but adapts it to the new setting of London, with detectives from the Metropolitan Police CID and the Crown Prosecution Service attempting to secure a conviction. The series stars Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber, Harriet Walter, Ben Daniels, Freema Agyeman, Bill Paterson, Paul Nicholls, Dominic Rowan, Georgia Taylor, Peter Davison, Sharon Small, Paterson Joseph, and Ben Bailey Smith.

Series overview


Location

Setting

Most of the American series have been filmed almost entirely in the New York City area. The original Law & Order series has filmed a few episodes in the Los Angeles area and Baltimore; these episodes or portions of episodes were set in the cities in which they were filmed and concerned multi-jurisdictional investigations or extradition.
Law & Order: LA expanded the franchise to a new main city, the new series' namesake. L&O: LA was canceled after one season.

Effects on casting

With some frequency, actors have appeared on the various series that make up the franchise, usually as different characters. This is because filming occurs in the New York City area and thus draws from the same pool of actors. Some prominent examples of the same actor playing different roles in different episodes are:
Also due to the New York filming, a number of actors appearing in Law & Order shows have had regular or recurring roles on soaps. Most notable is Tamara Tunie, who simultaneously played both medical examiner Melinda Warner on SVU as well as District Attorney Jessica Griffin on As the World Turns. Likewise, New York theater actors have also been frequently cast.
Also as the result of sharing the same pool of New York-based television actors, the series' casts have had significant overlap with that of the former HBO series Oz. This is perhaps most pronounced in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, whose cast has included three regularly credited actors, as well as two recurring actors who were also regularly credited actors on Oz, also Kathryn Erbe from Oz starring in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Similarly, Law & Order: UK sees significant overlap with other programs' casts; most prominently series regulars Freema Agyeman and Peter Davison, who starred in Doctor Who as companion Martha Jones and the Fifth Doctor as well as Bradley Walsh who joined the show at the same time as Jodie Whittaker the Thirteenth Doctor as her companion Graham O'Brien

Characters in the franchise

Police

Prosecutors

Medical professionals

; Abbreviations

''True Crime''