Dr Jacques COULARDEAU The interest in these rather old (more than twenty years old) seasons is in the obsolescence of so many things that do not exist anymore or the absence of what is common today. This is TV archaeology. Thus you have the big monstrous PCs, the old dial telephones, the old enormous cars, and no smart phones, no portable phones, no tablets, and even practically no bikes. The traffic is practically fluid and you can park your car anywhere easily. Security is light, the presence of cops and even thieves is light too. The police force is hardly racially integrated, definitely very little at investigating police level and same thing at justice, DA and court level. This vision of the world in New York in the early 1990s is amazing. Do you remember it? Or rather can you imagine it?The second element is typical of US American-centered vision. Every episode starts with the sentence: "In a criminal justice system," wrongly quoted as "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories," by http://lawandorder.wikia.com/wiki/Law_%26_Order, because it is not true of any criminal justice system in the world and the use of "A criminal justice system" implies the universality of the remark. I checked I do not know how many dozens of episodes and it was always the same, the use of the American-centered indefinite article. What is shown in this series is purely American. In many other systems in the world investigation means looking into what the prosecution can use and what the defense can use. The defense research or investigation is not paid by the accused and done by his lawyer but most of it is done by the investigating team under the responsibility of a judge. It is this very justice system of the USA that leads to the worst possible jury decisions that are irreversible because no one can be tried twice for the same offense. . . In other words, they only look for a culprit and as soon as they find one – or they are convinced they have found one – they are satisfied and go to court.The series is very clear about that and many episodes show how tricky it is if the defense does not investigate on their own side. They even actually show cases in which the investigation is wrong, the jury finds the defendant guilty and the judge sends him to prison to serve a 25 to life sentence and yet right away afterwards new elements come up showing that the culprit is another man who was exonerated. They cannot reverse the jury decision. The judge cannot change it at all. They have to find a way to beat about the bush, negotiate the obstacle and use a detour to prove the other suspect guilty without bringing the first convicted one into the picture. Then and only then the first trial can be voided. The least we can say is that it is slightly distorted. Some might say corrugated.That's probably the best side of this series: it does not hide the fact that the American criminal justice system is deeply problematic. In spite of their Miranda warning that states what follows: "You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. etc.," in spite of that the prosecution will not target both guilt AND innocence but ONLY guilt. And over and over again the episodes show how bungled a case can get when the defense attorney is not diligent enough. This series shows all judicial mistakes come from the basic police work at the root of everything else afterward. The police work is often based on a personal conviction or even belief more than facts. The advantage of the police shown here is that the lieutenant who follows the investigation performed by his or her (in this case her) detectives can challenge them and the facts they bring up and ask them to look in other directions, to check other sides of the situation. But even so, nothing is clear. The main issue – or one of the main issues – is the role of women and in this particularly series the lieutenant is a woman, what's more ethnic, and the assistant district attorney Jack McCoy's assistant, Claire Kincaid, is also a woman. They often bring in a new note, a softening note, at times an alternative approach. But that is not in any way based on truth and the search for truth but on the deep conviction the case of women, or relevant facts that only women can see have been ignored. The next step in this series is the importance of deals reached by the public prosecutor with the defense before the court decision. Such deals are not dealing with justice nor even the truth but only with speeding up the procedure, save on court expenses and most of the time reduce the sentence by reducing the qualification of the crime. And when wrongly accused the duress is so hard in some situations that the innocent person accepts to plead guilty in exchange of a soft sentence, but yet it is fake justice. . . Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

jdc121 I wish I could rate each season individually, as "Law & Order" began as a 10 star television series in 1990, but gradually deteriorated into virtually unwatchable by the time it left the air.This series, created and produced by Dick Wolf, took the formula first appearing in the 1963 series "Arrest & Trial" and honed it to perfection.The original cast was wonderful. George Dzundza provided comic relief, Chris Noth was his young sidekick, Dan Florek was the tough captain, Michael Moriarty was the no-nonsense executive DA, Richard Brooks played the always-serious assistant DA, and Steven Hill was their irascible boss.In the second year, Paul Sorvino replaced Dzundza. Not quite as good, but no slouch. The third year, however, the series struck gold, as Sorvino left and was replaced by Jerry Orbach. Orbach's character would result in this series becoming an institution. Only with Sam Waterston's emergence in season five would Dick Wolf again find a character that would benefit the series for the better.Sadly, it was in season four that NBC, in their infinite wisdom, decided to stick their fingers into the formula and start "Law & Order" on its slow but steady decline. The brilliant minds at NBC came to the conclusion that more people would watch the show if you had more females in lead roles. And, with the exception of S. Epatha Merkerson, "females" in NBC's mind meant "pretty faces". This parade of pretty faces started with Jill Hennessey and then Carey Lowell, both of whom performed adequately, but were far from the believable assistant DA character that Richard Brooks had created. It is with the third and fourth pretty faces, however, that things really started a decline. Angie Harmon chewed up the scenery, and her replacement, Elisabeth Rohm appeared at most times to be reading off cue cards. Rohm was proof that all NBC wanted was a pretty face. Acting ability was not required.With the exception of the weak performers in the role of assistant DA, however, the series kept rolling every week with brilliant scripts, and top notch production.At the end of season ten, Dianne Wiest replaced Steven Hill. Certainly no "Adam Schiff", the DA's character became a bit of a non-entity while she was in the role. But it got worse. She was replaced after two seasons by Fred Thompson, whose character was an obnoxious blow-hard, just as the actor playing him.Lennie Briscoe's (Jerry Orbach's) sidekick changed a couple of times over the years as well. Benjamin Britt replaced Chris Noth almost seamlessly. But Jesse L. Martin, while playing his role well, presented us with another rather obnoxious character.In spite of all this, the series continued to be entertaining, if not top shelf, week after week. That is, until Jerry Orbach had to leave the series due to illness. (Sadly, he passed away shortly thereafter.) At this point, the casting director appears to have just given up. Dennis Farina, who replaced Orbach, was extremely bland, and the casting continued to get worse. The performances of Michael Imperioli, Annie Parisse, Milena Govich, Anthony Anderson, Alana de la Garza, Jeremy Sisto, and Linus Roache were enough to make any junior high school acting teacher cringe. The series was finally killed after 20 years, but should have been put out of its misery about 5 years earlier."Law and Order" will still go down in television history as one of the greatest dramas of all time. But sadly, like series such as "The Andy Griffith Show" (which went three seasons too long), it too will be remembered as a series that would have been more of a classic if it had quit while it was ahead.I thoroughly recommend catching "Law & Order" in reruns if you did not see it during its original run. But pay attention to the version you are watching. If the lead detective isn't George Dzundza, Paul Sorvino, or Jerry Orbach, its a good time to go do the laundry.

georgeszaslavsky I have been watching the show since some months but even though the actors of DAs and detectives have changed, the undeniable facts are that this show has won 6 golden globes, 43 wins & 156 nominations. That is more than an achievement that is a huge triumph and it says how well made was the show. Always interesting plots and several twists, the cases and the trials are very realistic even tough sometimes a little bit exaggerated. Of course the glory years of the show were when Orbach was playing Det Lennie Briscoe but even after his departure, the show remained consistent in quality. I highly advise to watch this show which is very good.

bkoganbing Law And Order is a testament to the intelligence of the American viewing public that if police drama and courtroom drama is presented intelligently doesn't need crazy car chases nor choreographed police shootouts to become a hit. It has stayed at the top of the viewing public's taste because of the intelligent way it presents the criminal justice system and the issues of the day.The typical Law And Order episode will have a murders the cops will investigate and arrest their suspect and then the District Attorney will take over. The ADA be it Michael Moriarty, Sam Waterston, or Linus Roache will have some obstacle tossed his way by smart defense lawyering or a judge that will hinder the prosecution. They will have to overcome it and most of the time they do. But not always, defense lawyers do win, it's why they command the fees they do and folks this is not Perry Mason.The show's concept has struck a resonating tone with the public, it has to be the concept because no other show in the history of television drama has undergone as many cast changes as Law And Order. Even the boss has changed with New York County having four District Attorneys in the time of the show with Steven Hill, Dianne Weist, Fred DaltonThompson and now Sam Waterston moved up through the ranks. Hill was clearly based on the District Attorney in Manhattan for almost 40 years Robert Morgenthau.The police are also an interesting lot. I think the show really lost something when Jerry Orbach left and died. Lennie Briscoe had the map of New York written across his face and I used to live for Orbach delivering Briscoe's cynical, but uncanny observations about life and love. There were good actors before and after Orbach, but none ever really got the essence of New York in their character. Three regulars have died on the show, ADAs Jill Eikenberry and Annie Parisse, and Detective George Dzundza. Two of the ADAs Richard Brooks and Carey Lowell have become defense attorneys and have come back to the show on a few occasions. One I've been waiting to come back as a defense attorney was Elizabeth Rohm. When Fred Dalton Thompson fired Rohm and said she was more suitable as a defense attorney and after she confessed that she was a lesbian, I've been waiting for her return.One of the other things I liked about the show was the steady semi-regular cast of defense attorneys who would appear now and then. Of the group I liked the late George Grizzard, Tovah Feldshuh, and Bob Dishy. And it was a special episode indeed when the late William Kunstler did a cameo role to defend a Sixties radical who was now in custody.This show spun two successful other Law And Order franchises, Special Victims and Criminal Intent. Those shows have their points, but I think Law And Order sticks far more to reality than the others. Both the two spin-offs are likely to come up with some really wacky scenarios that go far beyond the scope of the shows.This show could run forever as it apparently isn't dependent on any one player to succeed. And it has a never ending supply of plots taken from real life. What could be better?