Law & Order: Criminal Intent

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent
StarringVincent D'Onofrio
Kathryn Erbe
Chris Noth
Julianne Nicholson
Eric Bogosian
Country of originUnited States United States
No. of episodes131 (list of episodes)
Production
Running timeapprox. 45 minutes (per episode)
Original release
NetworkNBC (2001-2007),
USA Network (2007-; repeats of these episodes will continue to air on NBC)
ReleaseSeptember 30, 2001 –
present

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (also known as Law & Order: CI, L&O:CI, Criminal Intent, LOCI or simply CI) is an American crime drama television series set in New York City that premiered on September 30 2001. It is the second spinoff of the long-running crime drama Law & Order. The show currently stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Chris Noth, Julianne Nicholson and Eric Bogosian; the last two actors made their debuts in the sixth season. Theresa Randle has also been recently cast as a recurring character.

Beginning in the fall of 2007, new episodes of Criminal Intent can be seen on the USA Network. In addition, re-runs are aired on the USA and Bravo cable TV channels, and also beginning in the fall, the show will be stripped five nights a week in syndication across the country.

Series overview

Criminal Intent follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the "Major Case Squad". The Major Case Squad investigates high-profile cases, usually homicides, such as those involving VIPs, local government officials and employees, the financial industry, and the art world; though sometimes the cases are similar to the cases from the original Law & Order show as well. Unlike the other shows in the Law & Order franchise, Criminal Intent episodes typically alternate between two teams of detectives: Team A episodes follow Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames, while team B episodes follow of Mike Logan and Megan Wheeler.

The series also gives significant attention to the actions and motives of the criminals, rather than focusing exclusively on the police and prosecution, and the information they have, as in the other Law & Order series. This has caused viewers to rate the show as creepier than other spinoffs. A feature of each Criminal Intent episode is that the teaser always involves a series of cut-scenes that show events from the suspects' and victims' lives, leading up to the crime. Clues to the crime's eventual solution can often be found in this teaser sequence.

History

Law & Order: Criminal Intent was created by René Balcer and Dick Wolf in 2001. Balcer served as the show's executive producer, showrunner and headwriter for its first five seasons. The show dominated its original time slot on Sundays at 9:00pm for its first three seasons (routinely beating its competition Alias and The Sopranos in households and in the 18-49 demos), and was often the highest rated show of the night, with an average audience of 15.5 million viewers. For a time, it was the most popular of the three Law & Order series.

Beginning in its fourth season, it faced stiff new competition from ABC's night-time soap opera Desperate Housewives, a show that soon became the number one drama on television. Ratings for Criminal Intent further eroded in the fifth season when Chris Noth joined the cast in alternating episodes as Det. Logan. Noth's episodes routinely scored much lower ratings than D'Onofrio's. Despite stiff competition and Detective Goren's reduced presence, the series maintained respectable ratings through the fifth season, enough to get it renewed for a sixth season on NBC.

Balcer left the show at the end of the fifth season, and the show was handed off to Warren Leight, a longtime Criminal Intent staffer. Under Leight's leadership, the show acquired a new, more melodramatic tone--the mystery aspect of the show was simplified in favor of more personal stories involving the detectives, notably Goren, who endured his mother's long agony from cancer culminating with her death in the last episode of the sixth season, "Endgame". The show's look and editing style also changed in an effort to ape the more successful CSI franchise.

Since NBC had acquired the rights to Sunday Night Football for the 2006-2007 season, Law & Order: Criminal Intent was moved to a new time slot on Tuesdays at 9:00pm, to serve as a lead-in to SVU. For its first six outings, it faced CBS's The Unit and baseball on Fox. The show held its own against such competition. In late October, Fox's smash hit House MD moved opposite Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It was hoped that the show could maintain second position, beating the then-marginal The Unit but to no avail--though the show remained the most profitable to the Law & Order franchise, the show's ratings suffered a steep drop and regularly finished fourth in its time slot. By the end of the sixth season, Law & Order: Criminal Intent saw its lowest ratings ever.

In May, 2007, NBC faced a choice of renewing either Criminal Intent or the original Law & Order, which had seen a ratings increase in its last few outings of its seventeenth season. Ultimately, because of weak ratings, NBC passed on Criminal Intent and picked up Law & Order. Because new episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent were still a profit center for the NBC-owned studio that produces the series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent was moved to the NBC-owned USA Network for a seventh season of original episodes. There is a possibility NBC may rerun the USA-only episodes at a later date.

Characters

Main Article: Law & Order Characters (All Series)

File:Robert Goren.jpg
Det. Robert Goren
  • Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), is a quirky yet extraordinarily intelligent investigator and criminal profiler, known for his instinct and insight. Often, Goren's intuition turns out to be the case-breaker, rather than solid evidence (which is usually the case in the other two series). Each episode, Goren typically employs his knowledge of an unusually wide range of topics, from theoretical physics to (multiple) foreign languages. Goren once served in the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, stationed in Germany and South Korea. The Robert Goren character is very reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes; he notices tiny — yet important — details ignored by others, and possesses broad encyclopedic knowledge. Frequently, Goren obtains crucial information and confessions by psychologically manipulating and provoking suspects, and suspects' associates. Mental illness seems to run in Goren's family, his mother suffers from schizophrenia and his brother is homeless (where many individuals with untreated mental illness often wind up). At times, Goren's investigative style resembles that of a high functioning autistic, for his ability to focus on details and make connections that others overlook.
  • Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe), a quiet, practical partner who always seems to mesh well with Goren, despite the noticeable personality differences between the two. Her character is much like the screen portrayals of Holmes' partner Doctor Watson: a lesser equal, overshadowed by the charismatic presence of a prodigy partner. While still an assertive and no-nonsense cop and the senior partner of the pairing, much of Eames' dialogue consists of sarcastic, pun-heavy observations delivered at dramatically opportune moments (much like Law & Order's Det. Lennie Briscoe character). There are occasional hints of a strong affection between the two partners, but their relationship is not romantic. Their working relationship is outwardly more formal than that of the lead detectives in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, who typically call each other by their first names and have strong emotional interplay. Goren and Eames are more businesslike and typically call each other by their last names, but when Eames observes that Goren is under particular stress, she will call him "Bobby".
    • When Erbe went on maternity leave, she was largely replaced with Samantha Buck as Det. G. Lynn Bishop (Season 3 [2003-2004], episodes 5-11). During this period, Erbe sometimes cameoed as Det. Eames — on desk duty — in police station scenes. The storyline explanation was that Det. Eames (who is single) had embarked upon a surrogate pregnancy, as a solemn favor to her sister who was too fragile to carry her own baby.
  • Capt. James Deakins (Jamey Sheridan), Goren and Eames' immediate supervisor; he periodically checks up on their progress during investigations. At Season 5's end, Deakins resigned rather than battle a conspiracy to frame him. The vendetta stemmed from a previous episode, in which Deakins -- torn between his loyalties and his integrity -- reluctantly allowed Goren and Eames to put his "friend" Frank Adair (a former Chief of Detectives) in prison by refusing to cover up Adair's misdeeds. Adair used his connections to plant false evidence alleging Deakins was corrupt, and Deakins refused to tarnish the department by fighting the charges.
  • Capt. Daniel Ross (Eric Bogosian) is Deakins' successor as Major Case Squad commander. He is given the position as a reward for a successful three-year stint as head of a Joint Task Force on International Money Laundering. With him, he brings Detective Megan Wheeler.
  • Patricia Kent (Theresa Randle) is Carver's replacement as the Major Case Squad's primary ADA. She appears as a Special Guest Star, but is not part of the starring cast of the series. Patricia Kent was supposed to be played by Nona Gaye, but she quit the series shortly after production began.

Beginning with the 2005 season, a second team of detectives were introduced to alternate with Goren and Eames (reportedly to relieve D'Onofrio from being overworked, which had led to medical problems in previous seasons). "I wouldn't be doing a fifth season if it wasn't for Dick Wolf stepping in and coming up with a better idea. It was just too much. Kate and I, we work our butts off".[1]

The second team is as follows:

  • Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth), Logan is a troubled detective who had formerly worked as a homicide detective in Manhattan's 27th precinct (from 1990–1995, on the original Law & Order). He had been banished to the NYPD's career graveyard (Staten Island harbor patrol) after publicly punching a homophobic politician who had murdered a gay man that Logan had grudgingly come to respect; however, Logan redeemed himself by solving a dirty-cop murder/conspiracy case (as seen in the 1998 NBC TV movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie). He was later transferred from Staten Island to the NYPD's Domestic Disputes department. He made an appearance working with Goren and Eames, as a colleague co-investigating allegations of prisoner abuse at the hands of corrupt federal prison guards. In addition, Logan was involved in the 'officer-involved shooting' used to fuel the career-ending conspiracy against Capt. Deakins.
  • Det. Carolyn Barek (Annabella Sciorra), partner of Mike Logan. Barek is a brilliant criminal profiler who ascended from the hard-scrabble streets of Brooklyn's Cobble Hill to the highest ranks of the NYPD and beyond, spending two post-9/11 years with the FBI. Her reason for departing Major Case is not known.
  • Det. Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson), Mike Logan's second partner during his run with the Major Case Squad. Wheeler transfers into Major Case with her captain/mentor, Daniel Ross. She is a "by-the-book" officer and is more reluctant to bend procedural rules than Logan. She was departing at the end of the 2006-07 season to head to Europe do some follow-up work with the Joint Task Force she had previously worked with Capt. Ross, her return uncertain.
  • Det. Nola Falacci (Alicia Witt), who is to join the cast as Logan's partner for the 2007-08 season, temporarily replacing Wheeler during her absence (as Julianne Nicholson will be on maternity leave). Whether or not Falacci will be a permanent addition to the cast is yet to be seen.

The real NYPD "Major Case Squad"

The NYPD does have a "Major Case Squad" but unlike the Major Case Squad on Criminal Intent, the real "Major Case Squad" only handles the following types of cases.

  • Kidnappings as directed by the Chief of Detectives
  • Burglary or Attempted Burglary of a bank or bank safe
  • Larceny by extortion or attempt, from a bank
  • Robbery or attempted of a bank by an armed perpetrator
  • Burglary of a truck contents over $100,000
  • Larceny of a truck contents over $100,000
  • Robbery of a truck and contents by hijacking
  • All robberies in warehouse depots or similar locations where the objects of the crime is a truck or its contents
  • All commercial burglaries in which the value of the property stolen exceeds $100,000
  • Art Theft

The "Major Case Squad" does not investigate homicides. All homicide investigations are conducted by precinct detective squads and borough homicide squads.

Episodes

Main article: List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes

Trivia

  • The words to the opening narration have been spoken each week by Steven Zirnkilton since 2001.[2]
  • The title theme for the UK terrestrial channel five version of the series is the instrumental version of "There's Only Me" from Rob Dougan's Furious Angels.[3]
  • The Major Case Squad is located on the 11th floor of New York One Police Plaza.
  • In 1997, Vincent D'Onofrio guest-starred as John Lange in "The Subway", an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. In the very next episode of Homicide, "All Is Bright", Kathryn Erbe guest-starred as "Rita Hale". It should be noted that Homicide, having three times crossed over with the original Law & Order and sharing the character of Det. John Munch with SVU, takes place within the same universe as the Law & Order franchise.
  • Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe), Jesse L. Martin (Det. Ed Green), Fred Thompson (Arthur Branch), Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet) and Leslie Hendrix (Elizabeth Rodgers) are the only actors to play the same character on all four Law & Order series (Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Trial by Jury). As of the 2005-06 season, Criminal Intent is the only Law & Order series in which Richard Belzer has not played the SVU/Homicide character Det. John Munch.
  • While many cast members of the various Law & Order shows previously appeared in other roles, there are a few who have done so more than once:
    • Eric Bogosian played Gary Lowenthal on 2 episodes on the original Law and Order Series in season 3.
    • Courtney B. Vance previously played two different characters on the original show (a mayoral aide in "By Hooker, By Crook" and a stockbroker in "Rage") before accepting the role of Ron Carver.
    • Julianne Nicholson appeared on the original Law & Order in the episode "All My Children", then starred in Conviction as Christina Finn before joining Criminal Intent as Det. Barek's replacement, Megan Wheeler.
  • A planned miniseries which would have featured Det. Goren and united the casts of Criminal Intent, SVU, and the original Law & Order was cancelled because of the events of 9/11. The plotline centered around a terrorist attack using biological weapons.
  • D'Onofrio's real-life father, Gene D'Onofrio, appears in the episode "Slither". He is seen walking within the Major Case Squad.
  • The episode "30", which aired in season six, was criticized by the Jerusalem Post for portraying Israel in a harsh and unbalanced light and appearing to promote anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews as disloyal citizens.[4] The episode shows Israeli bulldozers destroying a Palestinian school and a Jewish police captain who agrees to cover up for Israel by shutting down a criminal investigation at the urging of the head of the local pro-Israel group. In one scene, after Capt. Danny Ross tells his officers to halt their investigation, Det. Mike Logan confronts him and asks, "Are you a Jew first and a cop second?" When one character tries to draw distinctions between the actions of the IDF and the terrorist targeting of civilians by Hamas, Logan cuts him off, implying that it is also a common IDF practice to target civilians.

Awards

Won

  • 2005 Edgar Award for Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay (René Balcer and Elizabeth Benjamin, for "Want")
  • 2002 Maggie Award for the "The Third Horseman", from Planned Parenthood

Nominated

  • 2006 Banff Television Award for Best Drama. for "In The Wee Small Hours"
  • 2006 Reims International Television Festival, Best Drama Episode "In The Wee Small Hours"
  • 2005 Edgar Award for Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay (René Balcer and Gerry Conway, for "Conscience"; René Balcer and Warren Leight, for "Consumed"; René Balcer and Warren Leight, for "Pas De Deux")
  • 2004 Edgar Award for Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay (René Balcer and Gerry Conway, for "Probability")
  • 2004 Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Drama (Vincent D'Onofrio)
  • 2003 Edgar Award for Best Television Episode (René Balcer, for "Tuxedo Hill")
  • 2002 Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (Courtney B. Vance)
  • 2002 People's Choice Award, Best New Series

DVD releases

DVD Name
Cover Art
Release dates
Region 1
Region 2
Region 4
The Complete 1st Season The Complete First Season October 21 2003 February 28 2005 January 20 2005
The Complete 2nd Season The Complete Second Season December 12 2006 July 17 2006 March 7 2006
The Complete 3rd Season The Complete Third Season September 14 2004 N/A N/A

Technical information

Law & Order: Criminal Intent has been shot on film in 16:9 format since at least 2004. This also presents the unique oddity of reruns in this format providing more (previously cropped) material than when the episodes were first run broadcast in 4:3. Since 2004, first run episodes have also aired in HDTV. Since 2006, all new episodes of the multiple Law & Order series have aired letterboxed for 4:3 screens, following other NBC shows such as The West Wing, ER, and Crossing Jordan.

Related series

File:CI game.jpg
The L&O: CI computer game
  • In addition, a Law and Order: Criminal Intent computer game by Legacy Interactive was released in November 2005.

French adaptation

In July 2005, NBC Universal sold the format of Law & Order: Criminal Intent to French channel TF1 Alma Productions to launch a localized French version of the drama. The version will get its own native language title (Paris, enquêtes criminelles) and actors. It should go into production and premiere in 2007. It will mirror the content of the original US stories, although the location will be in Paris and adjusted for language and culture. Vincent Perez is going to play Vincent Revel (same character as Vincent D'Onofrio). Sandrine Rigaux is going to play Claire Savigny (same character as Kathryn Erbe). A crossover between Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Paris, enquêtes criminelles is in preparation for April 2007.

Vincent Perez on the subject of differences between his character Ravel and Goren (translated from French), "I've watched very little of the original series so as not to be influenced, but I had the impression that Goren was very cerebral. Ravel is more instinctive and perhaps, more vulnerable".

The show premiered in France in May 2007 and has become a major success for TF1. A second season has been ordered.

A Russian version of LOCI (shot in Moscow with Russian actors) premiered in March 2007 to become one of Russia's top-rated series. As a result, the initial order of eight episodes has been expanded to some forty episodes. Other international versions of the show are presently in negotiations.

In addition, dubbed versions of the original series are available in over 150 countries.

International Broadcasters

Country Alternate title/Translation TV Network(s) Series Premiere Weekly Schedule
 United States Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC (Original Airing),
USA Network and
Bravo (Syndication)		 October 7 2001 Tuesdays 9:00pm ET
 Canada Law & Order: Criminal Intent CTV & NBC (Original Airing),
Access, Channel M, OMNI.2
and Mystery (Syndication)		 October 7 2001 Tuesdays 9:00pm ET
 Australia Law & Order: Criminal Intent Network Ten (First run)
TV1 (Syndication)		 Thursdays 8:30pm AEST
 Austria ORF
 Brazil Lei e Ordem: Crimes Premeditados
("Law & Order: Deliberate Crimes")		 Sony Entertainment Television (Cable)
and Rede Record
 Colombia Law & Order: Criminal Intent AXN (Cable)] Thusdays 8:00pm GMT -5
 Czech Republic Zákon a pořádek: Zločinné úmysly TV Prima & TV Nova January 2, 2005 on Prima
 France New York - Section criminelle
("New York - Criminal Section")		 TF1 September 7 2002
 Finland Kova laki: Rikollinen mieli
("Tough Law: Criminal Mind")		 YLE2 Fridays at 22:05 PM
(A slot for L&O franchise)
 Germany Criminal Intent - Verbrechen im Visier
("Criminal Intent - Sights set on Crime")		 VOX August 2 2004 Mondays 9:10pm CET and
Wednesdays 9:10pm CET
 Greece Νόμος και Τάξη: Αστυνομικές Ιστορίες
("Law and Order: Police Stories")		 Star Channel
 Italy Criminal Intent Rete 4 June, 2003 Saturday 9:20pm CET
and Saturday 10:15pm CET
 Ireland Law & Order: Criminal Intent RTÉ Two Series 6

Late Sunday Night

 Netherlands Law & Order: Criminal Intent NET5

Late Saturday Night

 Philippines Crime/Suspense
 Portugal Lei & Ordem : Intenções Criminosas
("Law & Order: Criminal Intentions")		 FOX Life Wednesdays 9:00pm GMT
 Saudi Arabia
and Arab World		 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Showtime Arabia, Tv Land,
Tv Land +2 (Subtitled)		 Saturday at 21:00 PM
 Serbia Red i zakon: zločinačke namere
RTS
 Spain Ley y orden: Acción criminal
("Law & Order: Criminal Action")		 Calle 13, TVE and Localia
 Sweden I lagens namn: ur brottslig synvinkel
("In the Name of the Law:
From a Criminal Point of View");
this title is only used on Viasat Crime		 Kanal 5 (Sweden) (first run);
Viasat Crime, Hallmark Channel
and TV4+ (syndication)
 United Kingdom Law & Order: Criminal Intent Hallmark Channel (Satellite/Cable),
Channel Five (Terrestrial) and
Five US (Freeview, coming soon) [5]
 Venezuela Law & Order: Criminal Intent AXN (Cable) - English/Spanish subtitled Thursday, 9:00pm
(current season)
Monday thru Friday, 6:00pm
(previous seasons) – all ET

See also

References

  1. ^ "D'ONOFRIO SPLITS WORKLOAD WITH NOTH". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 2005-07-29.
  2. ^ "Steven Zirnkilton". Retrieved 2001-10-07.
  3. ^ "Rob Dougan". MP3.com. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  4. ^ "NBC slammed for 'anti-Semitic' TV show". JPost.com. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  5. ^ "Five hangs on to key acquisitions". Five.tv. Retrieved 2007-04-16.

External links


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