Here's a non-Desperate ...
Question: Here's a non-
Desperate Housewives/
Arrested Development/
Scrubs/
24/
Lost/
Alias/
Grey's Anatomy-related question for ya: What do you think of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit? I know you've spoken of it in your column a few times in the past, but I thought I'd add my own commentary. Of the three
L&Os on air right now,
SVU is far and away the best of the bunch. True, the formula is unchanged since the show's inception: Solve crime, catch the perpetrator. But the cast, particularly
Christopher Meloni as Det. Eliot Stabler and
Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson, have a dynamic chemistry. The stories, while often uncomfortable or just downright disturbing, galvanize the actors into churning out some fine performances. They also help to provide insight into the detectives' motivations, something the original
Law & Order has mainly shied away from during its 16-year history. Whether it's Eliot's struggles with his emotions (a running plot since almost the very beginning) and his fractured home life, or Olivia's need to help the victims of sex-based crimes stemming from her own intense history, the show has given some much-needed depths to its characters. That's just my opinion and there's too much more to say, but I thought I'd close here. Thoughts?
Answer: No argument. I've often said
SVU is my favorite of the
Law & Order dramas. That's been the case for the last few seasons at least (let's say, since
Jill Hennessy left the original
L&O), and your reasons are as good as any for continuing to back that opinion.
