law and order: special victims unit
weeknights @ 8pm eastern standard time.
usa network

tv dramas almost always suck. whatever the premise is, be it millions of people come back from missing at once or a police story that involves a seeing eye dog or boston school teachers, all these shows always have the same problems. cold self righteous characters, crappy actors and overall poor worksmanship.

the ones on basic cable are especially bad. they are a large part of the popularity of and backlash to reality television that goes highly under the radar. think about it. would you rather watch the dead zone featuring a child actor from the breakfast club, or a bunch of metro to the point of being gay dudes compete to be gerry hall's personal bitch on vh1?

yeah, thats what i thought. a game where nobody wins.

the venerable law and order franchise has gone from its primtime police drama from car chase interogation court scene the end to spawn a few useful spinoffs. no one reading this will remember the names of any of them, save for maybe csi miami. but somehow, out of all that rubble called nbc, l&o svu has managed to find a permanent home and survive for a very long time.

it takes a few things that most shows dont have in order to do that.

good actors

a good network

and great writing.

the two main characters, olivia benson and elliot stabler (mariska hagarty and chris meloni) are wonderful characters because they represent great ideals, but are also human enough for me to relate to and become emotionally invested in.

benson rules because she really is that smart tough independent female that destinys child can only sing about. shes the obvious sex symbol of the show, and accomplishes that without even trying. her human side is that her mother drank too much, and her dating life leaves something to be desired. if there was ever a wolf on tv, shed be it.

stabler rules cuz hes the superhero without being a superhero. leads by example and has everyones respect without having to show off. his human side is that he is a loving husband and father of four and somehow manages all that even with grueling hours at work and a stressful job. hes what men what to grow up to be.

the real star of the show is the writing. the premise is that this unit deals with sex crimes, so all the victims involve someone being raped. however, the show never ever stops there. every show the writers somehow find a new way for the investigation to get fucked up, or for a perp to hide out, or for a victim to disappear, or for some kind of legalese situation to add drama to the case. the court room scenes are always top notch.

you just never know whats going to happen. and thats why the show is so great.

oh, and it has that famous doink doink sound. gotta have that.

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