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1* Tied with ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' as the longest-running, non-animated, scripted series in American primetime television at 20 seasons in 2009-10. This record was broken by SpinOff ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' in the 2019-2020 season.
2* This was one of only two freshman series in the 1990-91 Creator/{{NBC}} primetime lineup to get renewed for a second season. The other was ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''.
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4!!Listed Trivia:
5* ActingInTheDark: The relationship between EADA Jack [=McCoy=] and his assistant, Claire Kincaid, is strongly implied to be a romantic one, but this was never ''explicitly'' revealed until after Creator/JillHennessy, who played Kincaid, left the show. Reports vary on whether the actors were told about the relationship at the time. Some sources say that Creator/SamWaterston, who played [=McCoy=], was explicitly told but Hennessy was not. Hennessy herself allegedly says both she and Waterston were kept in the dark initially, but she put two and two together and finally asked the writers about their relationship. After they confirmed it, they then decided to clue Waterston in as well. (Toward the end of Hennessy's run the hints started to get pretty blatant: in one episode Kincaid is asked point-blank if she is sleeping with [=McCoy=], and she doesn't answer.)
6* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: [[spoiler:WordOfGod says Creator/AnnieParisse left because she felt unfulfilled in her role and wanted to explore different acting opportunities, and the reason she was killed off was because the writers had always wanted to murder an A.D.A.]]
7** The same thing happened to Max Greevey after Creator/GeorgeDzundza wanted out. {{Justified|Trope}} up to a point since they couldn't even get Dzundza to come back to film a farewell episode, so a death gave them a way to explain his abrupt departure.
8* ActorSharedBackground: Lennie Briscoe is Jewish on his father's side, implied to be Catholic on his mother's side, and was raised Catholic— the same as Creator/JerryOrbach.
9* AdoredByTheNetwork: The show fell off in popularity after its cancellation in favor of ''SVU'' and the rise of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', but in the latter half of the 2010's, the show gained renewed interest. Creator/BounceTV, Creator/IonMystery, Sundance Channel, [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]], and WE TV, among others, heavily advertised their marathons of the show, eventually leading to the announcement of a series revival in 2021.
10* AwesomeDearBoy: Jerry Orbach spent years starring in successful productions of Broadway musicals, but was itching to transition to grittier, more dramatic roles. His first day on set, he announced to one and all that "you guys are gonna have to roll me out of here." [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim And so it came to pass.]]
11* BannedEpisode: "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" was pulled by NBC after Puerto Rican groups complained about its depiction of the Puerto Rican community. It's also notable that this was the ''only'' episode in the show's run to receive this treatment.
12* ButIPlayOneOnTV: Actor Creator/FredThompson's reputation as a "law and order candidate" (no pun intended) came more from his time on this show as Arthur Branch than on anything he'd actually said or done.
13* TheCastShowOff: Creator/JerryOrbach's talent at pool surfaces numerous times during the series. Notably, in "Everybody Loves Raimando's" Lennie Briscoe does cool trick shots to convince a [[spoiler: hitman]] that he's not a cop, then arranges a [[spoiler: meeting with said hitman to nail him]].
14* CastTheExpert:
15** Attorney and politician Fred Thompson played the district attorney for several years, though he also had prior acting experience playing the roles of senior government officials and authority figures, so this would be a cross between CastTheExpert and TypeCasting.
16** Joe Fontana was a police officer with the Chicago Police Department before moving to New York. Creator/DennisFarina served with CPD for 18 years in RealLife before starting his acting career.
17* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/JerryOrbach auditioned for Sgt. Max Greevey before being cast as Lennie Briscoe.
18* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Creator/JerryOrbach's death in 2004 it was made clear on several occasions that (now-retired) Lennie Briscoe has passed on offscreen as well. In a sweet touch, it's acknowledged by all three of his onscreen partners: Green discusses it during his later years on the show, Logan mentions it on ''Criminal Intent'' (apparently he took it pretty hard), and Creator/BenjaminBratt even returned for a brief guest appearance as Curtis, where he discusses Lennie's passing with Lt. Van Buren at his wife's funeral.
19* DyeingForYourArt: S. Epatha Merkerson prefers to keep her hair in braids and, during her stint on the show, wore a wig over her natural hair to give Van Buren a more "professional" look. This was before the cancer storyline that had her character deal with hair loss with a more obvious hair piece.
20* ExecutiveMeddling: [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools A strangely positive case.]] You know Creator/SEpathaMerkerson's character? How about Creator/JillHennessy's? Both came about via NBC wanting more women on the cast. Thus, Creator/DannFlorek (Don Cragen) and Creator/RichardBrooks (Paul Robinette) were written out of the series, since the show's formula could only handle six principals. (Although this was a negative from the point of view of the two actors and their fans, Brooks was able to reprise his role in a later episode to give closure to the character, while Florek received a not-bad consolation prize - he was cast in a central role on the long-running SVU spin-off. Both Creator/MichaelMoriarty and Creator/ChrisNoth were bitter about NBC's meddling; the former even went on rants in public about the whole deal and proved to be a liability for Dick Wolf. Thus, both actors were canned (or resigned) in Seasons 4 and 5, respectively.
21* FakeAmerican:
22** Creator/JillHennessy is Canadian. Hennessy's character (Claire Kincaid) does have a slight accent.
23** Same with Creator/LinusRoache, who has a very thick English accent but pulls off a compelling Brooklyn accent in his portrayal of Mike Cutter.
24** It is sometimes erroneously stated that Creator/MichaelMoriarty is also Canadian; in fact, he was born and raised and began his career in the United States, but later became a Canadian citizen after leaving Law & Order.
25* HostilityOnTheSet: This happened often in the show's early years.
26** Creator/GeorgeDzundza disliked commuting from Los Angeles to shoot in New York and bristled at the show's focus on the ensemble over its leads (namely, him). This didn't endear him to said ensemble and he left after the first season. Allegedly he and his onscreen partner Creator/ChrisNoth had a particular antipathy which, fortunately, [[EnforcedMethodActing added depth and realism to the squabbles between their characters]]. His replacement, Creator/PaulSorvino, got along better with the cast but had trouble keeping up with the show's grueling filming schedule and asked to be released from his contract after just a season and a half. He was replaced by Creator/JerryOrbach. Fortunately, everybody '''loved''' Jerry Orbach, up to and including the ''real'' [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD.]]
27** Noth and Creator/MichaelMoriarty were very displeased by the [[ExecutiveMeddling controversial removal of Dann Florek and Richard Brooks due to NBC wanting female characters added on the show]], and their relationships with Creator/DickWolf went downhill as a result. Moriarty also became increasingly hostile to the show's "liberal" political bent (ironically, Wolf supported the presidential campaigns of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and ''L&O'' cast member Fred Thompson, both conservative Republicans) and wasn't pleased when UsefulNotes/BillClinton won the 1992 presidential election. He constantly and ''very'' publicly attacked US Attorney General Janet Reno, accusing her of actively censoring network television and "forcing" shows like ''Law & Order'' to promote Clinton's agenda. Moriarty left at the end of the show's fourth season and vowed never to return unless NBC fired Wolf (which as of this writing, they have yet to do). Tellingly, unlike Florek and Brooks and even Chris Noth, all of whom left the show on unpleasant terms, Moriarty has never returned to the franchise, and indeed his character was [[BusCrash killed offscreen]] on the SpinOff ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' in 2018.
28** Noth stayed on an extra year, partly because he was [[MrFanservice very popular with female viewers]], and partly because unlike Moriarty, he avoided tilting at windmills and focused his ire on Wolf himself. Noth even claimed the show was better with an all-male cast. After his contract was up at the end of the fifth season, Wolf declined to renew it and Noth was fired - and replaced with another MrFanservice in Creator/BenjaminBratt as the new junior detective. However, Noth and Wolf patched things up surprisingly quickly - just three years later Noth's character of Det. Mike Logan returned as the lead character of the only telefilm in franchise history, ''Exiled: A Law & Order Movie'', and went on to costar on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' after star Creator/VincentDOnofrio started to experience burnout due to the latter series' grueling schedule.
29* LongRunner: Three ''Law & Order'' shows are this:
30** Series/LawAndOrder ran for 20 years from 1990 to 2010.
31** Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit has been on the air since 1999 and is currently on its 22nd year.
32** Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent ran for at least 10 years, from 2001 to 2011.
33* LifeImitatesArt: Both Jamie Ross and her actress, Creator/CareyLowell, left for the same reasons: they wanted to spend more time with their daughters.
34* MakingUseOfTheTwin: When Creator/JillHennessy was playing Claire Kincaid in a crossover with ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet,'' she was mostly absent from the L&O set in New York. The producers brought her identical twin sister Jacqueline — an occasional actress — in to play Claire in the episode "Corpus Delicti" in wide shots, reaction shots and inserts, while Jill still filmed the dialogue scenes. The "other" Ms. Hennessy received no screen credit for these brief appearances.
35* MissingEpisode: When being sold to syndication, the show is split up into packages of Seasons 1-12, 13-20, and 21-present. Most stations only buy one of the packages, not the others, which causes this trope.
36* MoneyDearBoy: Countless theater actors have appeared on the mothership and its spin-offs, some several times, because guest roles pay very well for just a few days' work.
37* NoOriginStoriesAllowed: Unlike contemporary shows like ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' or ''Series/NYPDBlue'', this show was rather restrictive when it came to characters' backstories save for the occasional line of two about a memory, an observation or even a [[SelfDeprecation a joke]] about their home life. Around season seven however, the detectives/prosecutors' personal lives took more of a spotlight.
38* OldShame: Creator/ChrisNoth considers his time on the show to be this, not because of the show itself, but rather his poor working relationship with Creator/DickWolf. The men have had bad blood since the controversial removal of actors Creator/DannFlorek and Creator/RichardBrooks, as well as the firing of Michael Moriarty from ''Series/LawAndOrder''. Eventually, this led to his own firing from said show after he openly complained about Wolf, which resulted in his character written off as [[PutOnABusToHell being transferred]] [[ReassignedToAntarctica to Long Island for ten years.]]
39* ThePeteBest: The original DA was not Adam Schiff, but Alfred Wentworth, who appeared only in the pilot. By the time the show was picked up as a series, Wentworth's actor, Creator/RoyThinnes, had taken a co-starring role in ''Series/DarkShadows1991''.
40* PlayingAgainstType:
41** Creator/JerryOrbach was better known as a song-and-dance man before he began playing Lennie Briscoe and he became so associated with the character that "grizzled lawman" became his new type.
42** Comedian Creator/AnthonyAnderson as Kevin Bernard, a ByTheBookCop.
43* RecastAsARegular: Counting only those who are recast as main characters here.
44** While Lennie Briscoe became the face of the franchise for the better part of the series, actor Creator/JerryOrbach first appeared in the second season as defense attorney Frank Lehrmann. Every bit as much of a DeadpanSnarker as his later detective character, Orbach's attorney character is remembered for the line "It's called plea bargaining, not plea scalping!"
45** Creator/SEpathaMerkerson played the bereaved mother of a murder victim years before she was cast as Lieutenant Van Buren.
46** Creator/AnnieParisse played the stripper girlfriend of a defendant shortly before being cast as ADA Borgia. Parisse allegedly wanted to play the same character and claim that she had been working as a stripper to pay for law school, but Dick Wolf wasn't keen on the idea, and not without reason; in story, initially Jack wasn't keen on Abby becoming his assistant due to her inexperience- she'd been an ADA for five years at that point. Given the short timespan between Annie Parisse's appearance as a stripper and her debut as Borgia, it would stretch credibility that she went from paying her way through law school to climbing the ranks of the DA's office in such a short amount of time.
47** A clean-shaven Creator/JeremySisto appears as defense attorney Clint Glover in the season finale of the 17th season. In the very next episode, he returns as a scruffy Detective Cyrus Lupo and continues this role for the rest of the series. It's explained that Lupo had been working for the NYPD Intelligence Division in Iraq for the previous four years.
48** Creator/AnthonyAnderson appeared as a different cop on ''SVU'' before being cast as Detective Kevin Bernard.
49** Creator/MilenaGovich had a one-off role here preceding ''two'' regular roles in the franchise: first as ADA Jessica Rossi in the short-lived ''Series/{{Conviction}}'', then back in here as Detective Nina Cassady.
50** Creator/JeffreyDonovan played the VillainOfTheWeek in the Season 17 episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS17E17GoodFaith Good Faith]]". When the series was revived he was cast as Detective Frank Cosgrove.
51** Creator/CamrynManheim played three different one-off characters in the history of the show before being cast as Lt. Kate Dixon.
52** Creator/MehcadBrooks played a VictimOfTheWeek in the ''SVU'' episode "[[{{Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS13E2PersonalFouls}} Personal Fouls]]".
53** Creator/TonyGoldwyn, who has been announced as playing the new DA after Creator/SamWaterston steps down as Jack [=McCoy=], previously played Robert Goren's junkie brother on ''Criminal Intent''.
54* StarMakingRole: For Creator/ChrisNoth, Creator/JillHennessy, Creator/SEpathaMerkerson, Creator/BenjaminBratt, Creator/AngieHarmon, and Creator/AlanaDeLaGarza. It served as more of a CareerResurrection for Creator/JesseLMartin.
55* TomHanksSyndrome: Creator/JerryOrbach was originally known as a song-and-dance man (Lumiere in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is a good example of the sort of roles he took prior to ''L&O'') and was an immensely respected stage actor. Being cast as Lennie Briscoe, however, greatly changed the trajectory of his career.
56* TroubledProduction: Though the series was ultimately a huge success, it had a bit of a rough start.
57** One of the major problems was actor Creator/GeorgeDzundza's dissatisfaction with the show; Dzundza had believed he was to be the show's singular main character, and was disgruntled to find himself as part of an ensemble main cast, reinforced by the fact that his character was often important only in the first half of an episode. Dzundza departed the show after the first season, alleviating much of the conflict.
58** Creator/MichaelMoriarty, who played the original district attorney Ben Stone, also caused difficulty for his co-stars and the producers. Among other things, Moriarty had a habit of publicly ranting and name-calling at public figures, most famously calling then-Attorney General Janet Reno a "psychopathic Nazi" for her attempts to cap violence on television; when the producers asked him to tone it down, he responded by quitting the show. [[note]]Moriarty did later admit that he had had an alcohol problem during his time on the show, although it's unclear if this was related to his behavior, as he continued to be known for his bizarre and unusual political rants long after he claimed he was sober.[[/note]]
59* TypeCasting:
60** Creator/JerryOrbach had performed in numerous musicals and other performances prior to his role on the show, playing a detective character only once in a movie. Nevertheless, his performance in that movie impressed Dick Wolf so much that he wanted Jerry to continue with the snarky detective character; because of his immense popularity as Det. Lennie Briscoe, he remains instantly recognizable as his detective character.
61** Creator/DennisFarina, as mentioned before, was a cop in the Chicago PD, so he played numerous police roles before and after his stint as Joe Fontana.
62* UnCanceled: The twenty-first season started airing in 2022, twelve years after the original run ended.
63* UnderageCasting: Jill Hennessy was twenty-four when she was cast as Claire Kincaid. In the United States the minimum age at which one can graduate from law school is twenty-five. But, if don't take any time off and have a birthday after May, you would graduate at twenty-four (high school graduation at seventeen, college at twenty-one, law school at twenty-four). It's not common, but it's possible, especially if you commit to becoming a lawyer young. Alternatively the physical differences between someone aged 24 and 25 are close to nonexistent so almost no one in the audience would notice. Had she been 19 then it would stick out a bit more prominently.
64** Claire also clerked for a judge for two years before joining the D.A.'s office.
65** Caridad Montero in "Rebels" is presumably college-age, since she's the girlfriend of the college-aged VictimOfTheWeek and owns her own apartment. Her actress, Creator/ElizabethRodriguez, was only fourteen in RealLife.
66* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
67** A particularly tragic case of RealLifeWritesThePlot: In early 2001, Dick Wolf was planning a large-scale miniseries event involving the casts of ''Law And Order'', ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', and ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' teaming up to investigate a terrorist attack on New York City. Then [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror September came along,]] and... (Sadly, as a result, they never did get around to doing a three-way crossover of any type with the original L&O trio.)
68** Less tragically, Detective JustForFun/JohnMunch from ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' was originally pitched as joining the original series as Detective Briscoe's new partner, but by the time the suggestion was made, Creator/JesseLMartin had already been hired, so he was moved to ''SVU'' instead.
69** Creator/AlanaDeLaGarza's pregnancy would have been written into Season 21 if the show had not been canceled.
70** Remember those [[CrossOver crossovers]] that would involve ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet''? At one point, producers wanted the story arc to include ''Series/{{ER}}'', but ''ER'''s producers either declined outright or the collective group couldn't figure out how to work the latter show in, so the idea was dropped.
71** A new commanding officer at the 2-7 would have been introduced in Season 21, had there been one. Creator/SEpathaMerkerson announced her departure from the show well in advance of its cancellation.
72** Creator/MichaelMadsen was a finalist for Det. Mike Logan.
73** Creator/EriqLaSalle was considered for Paul Robinette.
74** Creator/JohnLeguizamo and Creator/DannyTrejo were considered for Det. Rey Curtis.
75** Creator/MartinSheen was considered for Sgt. Max Greevey. Creator/StephenTobolowsky also auditioned for the role.
76** Creator/JoeMantegna was considered for Detective Joe Fontana.
77* YouLookFamiliar: The term for these in the fandom is "repeat offenders".
78** Several character actors appeared numerous times in the series, each time in a different role. As examples:
79*** Comedian Creator/LarryMiller appeared three times -- twice as a husband who hired people to murder his two wives, and once ''as himself''.
80*** It's a bit off-putting when a certain actor (Paul Calderon, to be specific) appears as a pedophilic child rapist who pours insecticide on a 10-year-old girl in one episode, reappears as a particularly good lawyer in another, and then reappears as a decorated war veteran acquitted for assaulting and killing a college student in another.
81*** Character actor Jonathan Hogan played ''seven'' different characters on the various ''Law & Order'' shows, including four different characters on the mother show.
82*** Dan Ziskie played at least nine different characters on ''SVU'', ''CI'' and the original. [[{{Typecasting}} He often played]] a cop.
83** [[RetroactiveRecognition Future Daily Show correspondent]] Creator/AasifMandvi played numerous characters across ''Law & Order'' as well as its spin-offs: a hot dog vendor, a pornography store owner, a university professor, and finally a judge on ''Trial By Jury.'' [[WordOfSaintPaul Mandvi has gone on record]] as saying they're all the same guy, and he's very proud of that guy for working his way up in the world.
84** Creator/ZeljkoIvanek made one appearance on ''Law and Order'' as a smug, corrupt businessman, convicted for murdering an elderly man who swindled money from him (which he had, in turn, swindled for his wealthy friends) who managed to get acquitted after the police actually find the body years later. After that, he made at least two appearances as his ''[[Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet Homicide]]'' character before making another appearance as a different character. Ivanek also appeared on SVU alongside [[JustForFun/JohnMunch Richard Belzer]], who he had previously starred with in ''Homicide''.
85** Creator/TamaraTunie appeared as a defense attorney in the L&O episode "Deadbeat" before she landed a role in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' as Dr. Melinda Warner.
86** Creator/AnthonyAnderson had first appeared in the ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'' episode "Fat" as Elliot Stabler's temporary partner a rule-bending, hotheaded detective named Lucius Blaine, before playing a lead in the last 3 seasons of Law and Order.
87** Creator/EricBogosian appeared as a defense attorney in two episodes of the early L&O seasons, more than a decade before he started out as Cpt. Danny Ross in ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''.
88** Creator/JoannaMerlin had recurring appearances in several episodes of L&O as, weirdly enough, ''two different'' defense attorneys, Carla Bowman and Deirdre Powell, before she was established as Judge Lena Petrovsky in ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]''.
89** Before Creator/MichelleHurd was cast as Det. Monique Jeffries in ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'', she made a guest appearance as a dubious informant in L&O episode "Entrapment".
90** Creator/PeterScanavino appeared in the Season 20 Episode "Just a Girl In The World" after having already guest starred in ''Trial By Jury'' and ''Criminal Intent'', and before being cast in ''SVU'', first in another guest appearance and then as series regular Detective Carisi.
91** Creator/CynthiaNixon played Laura [=Di Biasi=] on the ''L&O'' Season 1 episode "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" and Janis Donovan on the ''SVU'' Season 9 episode "Alternate."
92** Creator/MichaelGross played Carl Braddock on the ''L&O'' episode "Trade This!," Arthur Esterman on the ''SVU'' episode "Lust," Jeffrey Prince on the ''SVU'' episode "Assaulting Reality" and Dr. Charles Webb on the ''CI'' episode "Crazy."
93** Both Creator/JeremySisto (Lupo) and Creator/AlanaDeLaGarza (Connie) would eventually star as different characters (Juval and Isobel respectively) in {{Series/FBI}} and Series/FBIMostWanted, which take place in the same universe.

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