Law & Order Series Ranked

Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Brothers only aired for one season and eight episodes, making it the shortest of the franchise’s outings. Following the trial of Erik (Gus Halper) and Lyle (Miles Gaston Villanueva), the series was intended to be an anthology, with a new true crime case taking the stage in each season. Headlined by Edie Falco as defense attorney Leslie Abramson, the Sopranos star earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for her work, but it’s not enough to save the show.

One of the suggestions for the second season was to follow the Oklahoma City bombing, which like the Menendez trial, took place in the 90s. Focusing on one case ignores what makes the Law & Order franchise enduring: ripped from the headline stories anchored by an expansive ensemble cast.

Intended to take over as the main show after the initial cancelation of Law & Order in 2010, Los Angeles was cursed from the get-go, with fans upset over the cancelation refusing to give it a chance. Making matters worse was the massive overhaul following the mid-season hiatus, with Skeet Ulrich, Regina Hall, and Megan Boone leaving the series.

Alfred Molina’s Deputy District Attorney Morales inexplicably became an LAPD Detective as part of the shake-up, and while he’s the best part of the show, it confused viewers. If the episodes had aired in order, it might have been easier to follow, but for some reason, NBC aired the first 10 episodes normally, then eight with the new cast, and finished with five more with the original characters after they had been written out and in one case, killed off.

Focusing on the trial itself, Law & Order: Trial By Jury was the fourth spin-off, and it tried to be wildly different in its extreme focus on only one part of the criminal justice system. From jury selection to deliberation and mock trials, what could have been dry and boring material was infused with the franchise’s charm and in a just world, would have stayed on the air.

Featuring cross-overs with the other shows airing at the same time, Senator Fred Thompson’s District Attorney Branch was a series regular, while Jerry Orbach appeared in the first two episodes as Lennie Briscoe. Law & Order: Trial By Jury was ahead of its time, as today, a series that finds most of its drama within a case and not cartoonish characters, would be perfect for the true-crime podcast audience.

While Trial By Jury focused on “Order,” Law & Order: Criminal Intent put “Law” under a microscope by focusing on the Major Crimes Division of the NYPD. Featuring Vincent D’Onofrio as Detective Goren and Kathryn Erbe as Detective Eames, Criminal Intent would later broaden to split episodes with a second team, originally led by Chris Noth’s Detective Logan, and then Jeff Goldblum as Detective Nichols.

Through it all, the magnetic performance of D’Onofrio as Goren kept fans coming back, with the series finally dipping in the ratings after seven years on the air. To contrast the character from other Law & Order detectives, Goren focused on the “why” of the crime, driving himself crazy in the process as he sought to understand the criminal mind.

A new series, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, is set to premiere next year, but no connections with the original series have been announced so far.

10 years after leaving Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Christopher Melloni returned to the franchise, recurring on his old show and taking the lead in his own spin-off, Organized Crime. Unlike the other shows in the franchise, Organized Crime isn’t a “case of the week” series but focuses on multiple-episode story arcs.

Dealing with organized crime in New York City as the basis, the Law & Order “ripped from the headlines” style of story-telling is still present, with the aftermath of the Covid lockdowns and the war in Ukraine prominently involved in storylines. If it wasn’t part of the long-running franchise, Organized Crime would still be one of the best crime dramas on network TV, but frequent cross-overs make it a must-see for franchise fans.

One of the longest-running shows in television history, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit remains fresh with new stories a quarter of a century after its debut. Mariska Hargitay has played Olivia Benson for over 500 episodes. At the same time, Ice-T is now more famous for his role as Detective Tutola than as a rapper, with 476 episodes under his belt.

Despite the success, Special Victims Unit can be a tough watch, focusing on sex crimes, it’s one of the darkest shows on network television, and not every episode has a happy ending. Major guest stars have appeared, and for some reason, they seem to delight in playing horrible characters, from Robin Williams to the original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, much to the delight and terror of the audience.

The original, and still the best, Law & Order came back last year and showed no signs of disappearing from the airwaves ever again. “Ripped from the headlines” story-telling organized in a simple act structure, with the first half focusing on the investigation and the second half on the trial, may seem quaint now, but it was revolutionary.

Listing the stars that have been on the franchise would take forever, but the standouts are Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe and Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy, two veteran stage actors that elevated every scene they were in. With mostly self-contained episodes Law & Order helped create the concept of binging episodes, as famously, TNT and TBS would air episodes so frequently it was possible to watch the show for 24 hours straight.