I'm a crime show junkie. There. It feels good to get it out. I watch "CSI" and "Elementary" and anything and everything on the "Investigation Discovery" network. And, of course, I watch the original crime drama, "Law & Order". L&O began in 1990 and my mom and grandma watched it religiously for the first few seasons. I don't fully recall when I jumped on the bandwagon, but I think it was in high school. And right as college began, so did the first L&O spin-off, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit". I liked the original L&O (and am currently re-watching it from the very beginning, thanks to Sundance Channel). I was meh about the later spin-off, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (yet still watched most of the episodes, thanks to USA network). But I LOVED SVU in a way that was probably borderline unhealthy (but most people I know who loved the show felt the same way). Why was that L&O above all others? I have no idea. I guess because the chemistry between the characters was insane and the episodes were very well written. The one thing universal across all the L&O's was that there were never any, "Oh, like that would really happen" moments. It was all believable, all well withing the realm of real-life possibility. The original L&O struggled to find its way after Jerry Orbach, the best detective that version ever had, died. They brought in an ADA who was so disliked that they killed her off and stuffed her in a car trunk, they brought in a handful of detectives who didn't quite gel with Jesse L. Martin, and eventually L&O went off the air, although it was the longest running show in history. CI had a strange journey where it went through cancellation on NBC, rebirth on USA and ended with a completely different cast than it began with. And now, I fear SVU is about to run the same path.
SVU began with Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). I liked Stabler because he didn't take any BS, he was always right on the edge of going too far with any given perp. I adored Olivia Benson. She was a great detective, she was strong, she was smart and funny, yet there was still this kind of vulnerability to her. And it didn't hurt that she was gorgeous, of course. Both played their roles very well, which couldn't have always been easy since their entire run had a "will they or won't they"-esque quality to it. We all knew they wouldn't, producers said as much, but still that feeling was always there because Stabler was the only good man who ever came into Benson's life, and he was very protective and fond of her, but was married with kids. The first season of SVU had five detectives, but two of them would be written out by the second season. Enter Ice-T (yes, that Ice-T). He and his partner, Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer, who played this same detective for over 20 years on various TV programs) brought the comedy element to the show and all four actors, plus the medical examiner, ADA and the Captain, gelled and made up the nucleus of the show for most of its run. But things began to change at the end of season 9. For reasons apparently unclear to even her, the second best ADA the show ever had was not brought back for another season. This led to a number of seasons of playing musical ADA, plugging one in for a few episodes and then removing her, before finally settling on a permanent ADA last season. Things changed even more dramatically when season 12 concluded with a shootout at the precinct where Stabler shot and killed a teenager in self-defense. It was common knowledge that both Hargitay and Meloni's contracts were up for renewal, but this had been the case at the end of prior seasons and was always quietly worked out before production started up again. Not this time. Hargitay re-upped, but Meloni did not. He refused to even come back for an episode to wrap up his 12-year long storyline, which was very disappointing. That show gave him a much higher profile and opened doors for him but when he was done, he was done. This led to two new detectives being cast and a major overhaul of the dynamics of the show, and a new executive producer taking over. Stabler's exit wasn't ever really addressed, other than Benson telling the newbies he decided to retire because he couldn't handle that he'd shot a kid. That wasn't really a decision that went in line with the Stabler we knew, but it was all we were gonna get so we kinda had to accept it. The new detectives were...very meh. Not as well written as the originals and too much time was spent focusing on their personal lives and trials. The show did that with Benson and Stabler as well, but only after we'd grown to be invested in these people. With the new detectives, it was like two episodes from their introduction to their life problems and you don't really care about the life problems of someone you just met. I think a lot of people began to feel like the show was on its last legs. Benson was still as strong a character as ever but she didn't really gel with her new partner and he seemed to be a poor man's Stabler. She was carrying the show.
Season 15 brought more change, even though the previous ones weren't really working. At the end of the previous season, the show began a storyline entangling Benson with a man who had been acquitted of raping seven different women. He fixated on her, kidnapped her and held her captive for four days while the squad rushed to try and find her. The season 15 premiere dealt with her finally escaping him and nearly beating him to death in the process. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and, in hindsight, she should've just killed the bastard. Why? Two reasons; one, because it's the only way to actually "win" against a psycho like that and two, because then they wouldn't be able to milk this storyline long past its expiration date. It is now the tenth episode of the season and we're still dealing with all this. What's even more confusing is that twice in the premiere, producers chose to skip ahead by a few months, making it seem as though the story would be wrapped in a few more episodes and everything would move forward. I thought that was an odd decision since something like a kidnapping changes a person. It's an even odder decision when you realize they intend to take this storyline right to this year's finale. In the process, they're completely destroying the only good thing that was left on the show - Olivia Benson. I've never been a fan of when they have Benson-centric negative episodes because the character has been through too much already. And it seems as if other viewers agree since SVU's ratings this season have decreased almost by the episode. This week's return from the holiday break dealt with the trial of her kidnapper, who chose to represent himself and claim that it was Benson who fixated on him and held him hostage for four days. He was acquitted of a few charged but convicted of the kidnapping. He also managed to smear Benson's reputation with all of his BS. Then, the show flashed forward another four months and the dude was being wheeled out of prison on a gurney by a female doctor telling him he would be okay. It became clear he was okay and this was his escape, and then the credits rolled. Since it's already the second half of the season, I can tell he's going to re-enter the picture around finale time.
I hate to say it but I think SVU has one, maybe two more seasons before the ax comes down. Part of the reason it's still on is because NBC continues to struggle. This season has been a hot mess. With all the time jumping, I'm more confused than I was while watching "Lost", and that's saying something since that show was the greatest mindfuck ever. I don't know what year we're in on SVU, I don't know how many months have elapsed and, honestly, I'm beginning to not care anymore. Next week is yet another storyline with one of the newbies and I don't like his character very much so I'm debating whether or not to even watch it. *sigh* This concludes my first world problems rant.
