"Law & Order: SVU" on NBC in HD - Page 4

Solitary would suck.
What about all of our modern electronics and electricity! haha

Edit: started a new page.
SVU originally aired on 10/07/2009 titled "Solitary" had Stabler in Solitary for 3 days.

Wow. Last nights episode title "Hammered" really fit well with the episode.
Any information on why last night was ADA Sonya Paxton (played by Christine Lahti) last episode?
(Maybe I missed a HOTP posting.)

it was only matter of time
her character was setup to fail
saw it coming on her first ep

I can only hope it was the last we've seen of her. I don't feel she worked well with the cast at all. Everything she did seemed so "forced".

I agree. The character was pretty much a dead-end right from the start.

"Hammered" did serve as a good virtual PSA on alcohol abuse.

^^^ Christine Lahti was only signed for the four episodes she appeared in (though the door was left wide open for her character to return and 'make ammends' with the SVU squadron). Basically Lahti was a last-minute casting stunt when Michaela McManus quit the show instead of returning from her scheduled hiatus (the weeks that Staphanie March returned as ADA Cabot last season) to give the producers time to cast a new ADA. Either they're not going to have an ADA (ala "Criminal Intent"), guest-stars will play ADA on a show-by-show basis or they haven't cast an actor to play ADA yet. McManus quitting suddenly, March refusing to return to the show full time and the uncertainty whether Hargitay & Meloni were coming back (all at the end of last season, when pre-production was being planned for this season) all conspired to leave the show without a solid ADA character, hence the guest-starring Lahti playing ADA Paxton. That's the reason the opening sequence and 'group shot' at the end of the intro doesn't have an ADA in the mix.

BTW, did anyone else notice that last night's "SVU" didn't have the typical 'BOINK BOINK' sound effect when they showed the 'legends' of where the characters are? Has this happened on the previous "SVU" episodes this season or is this the first? "Criminal Intent" did away with the legends/boink a few years back, and maybe "SVU" is about to lose them (or one of them) this season.

Actually, Stephanie March will be returning for the majority of the remaining episodes starting next week. She was always my favourite ADA on this show.

Good episode tonight. I want another season

I have watched Law & Order SVU for years and found it to be usually entertaining. This week's show, though, was perhaps the dumbest episode of any police procedural I have ever seen. It's no surprise, therefore, that not many folks post about this moribund series these day. Against my better judgment, I will watch next week's show but if it's not exponentially better than this week's dreck, I will be canceling my season pass. If you haven't been watching the show lately, do yourselves a favor and stay far, far away. Law & Order SVU hasn't just jumped the shark, it has been eaten by the shark.

Don't judge TV episodes from non-Christmas December outings. It's a dumping ground for what the showrunners consider the weakest and most 'sausage' scripts that they need to produce nevertheless to meet their contract. Yes, the episode sucked (and this coming from as liberal a person as you can find in deep-blue NYC) but (a) it was an Ice-T episode and (b) it was filler. When "L&O" and "SVU" start pulling out crap episodes like this during November sweeps or on premiere/finale weeks then start going nuts.

For whatever reason, this week's Law & Order SVU was absolutely the worst I have ever seen. Most of the time over the years I have found it to be acceptable and sometimes very good. Christopher Meloni, as Stabler, and Mariska Hargity, as Benson, are uniformly good. Unfortunately, they were just spear carriers this week, so they had no chance to rescue the show. I continue to shake my head and wonder what they were thinking to put on such a mess. Like you, my horror had nothing to do with the show's political slant. Instead, it was its sheer stupidity. Thank God for Dexter!

This year's shows have gone off the deep end as far as court procedure. Last week was the worst. Both attorneys made speech after speech in the guise of interrogating a witness. No objections by anyone, even the judge. Apparently they're trying to jazz things up.

The show has always played fast and lose with the procedural niceties of trials. Any similarity between Law & Order SVU's version of what goes on in a courtroom and the real thing has always been an accident, not to mention rare.

In some previous episodes they've brought up some interesting legal details I didn't know, like attorney-client privilege doesn't exist when a third party is present. I always got the impression that they were trying to get the details correct enough to make it entertaining.

Yeah, it's clear that whoever made the final script decisions didn't know much law. I can't imagine that they didn't at least get some input from a real lawyer. If they did, though, accuracy, always lost out to the drama. Another thing that has driven me nuts is that one of their favorite dramatic hooks has been to have a judge make a toweringly stupid ruling, which sidetracked or even derailed the prosecution of an obviously guilty criminal. I have known a few judges in my day who were, to put it gently, not the brightest stars in the firmament but none in my experience were dumb enough to make the kind of rulings I have seen routinely in Law & Order SVU.

The Law&Order franchise has been around for 20 years. They've probably got people that could actually pass for lawyers. The SVU show is deliberately ignoring procedure. Another item is the drunken ADA. I think they've decided that thay can't use Stabler's anger management problems and Olivia's child-of-a-rape anymore.

Dad did not bump this thread and post the information.
I had no idea this happened. (I need to start reading HOTP thread more often )
I just found out tonight's episode (s) are both repeats. I went to google "Law & Order: SVU" and it was a news headline.

Taken from fredfa's HOTP thread.


Anybody know if Season 11 is still airing? Did it end?
When are the new episodes coming back? (Checking google...)

Edit:
Season 11, Episode 13: Confidential
Original Air Date—3 February 2010
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/episodes#season-11

This did not air on TV?

Last week was a repeat, as well as last night (although Titan TV claimed the first episode was new, it wasn't). A promo carried in the episode said new SVU episodes would return after the Olympics.

Thanks.

2 hours of new episodes tonight.

i have a season pass (new only) set for this show, so it's already selected tonight's two episodes to record. won't be able to watch them until tomorrow however, darn.

Doesn't it feel like forever since NBC aired new "SVU" episodes? I know one of them was pre-empted by the President's State of the Union but I can't for the life of me remember if there was only one or two new "SVU" episodes shown before the Winter Olympics. I remember the one with Benson wearing the boot telling the perp to 'lick it' (shown endlessly during promos but not on the actual episode, go figure!) but I think there was one more. No matter. Tonight, like Monday with the back-2-back mothership episodes, my "SVU" thirst will be quenched.

Tonight will be Season 11 - Eps 13 and 14

Talk about an executive decision.
I liked the 2nd episode more. Too bad SVU can not be a steady week program. 12 episodes every week back to back?
Edit: New episode next week. (so they say)

The first 15 minutes of "P.C." (Kathy Griffin's episode) had me thinking I was going to watch one of the worst "SVU" episodes ever. But then I realized this episode was going for laughs (like those old "X-Files" episodes that were tongue-in-cheek humorous) and it became a laugh riot, a valentine of sorts to Benson-Stabler shippers. Stabler's many PC's were hilarious and him getting kissed by a lesbian... sorry, bisexual woman () was a nice exclamation point to the farce. Griffin went so over-the-top portraying her caricature character (and the equally-cliche characterizations of the other lesbian characters) that you just couldn't take this episode seriously. That said, Hargitay sure can play a butch detective like the best of them. And Kathy making advances to both Olevia and Cabot (March looked flattered)? Too much fun.

By contrast "Savior" was dark and serious (a nice way to transition from the silliness of "P.C." back to "SVU's" stock 'noir' feel and look) with terrific guest stars. "Oz" fans probably enjoyed the reunion of Lee Tergesen and Chris Meloni too much. The 'embraces' these guys had in that HBO series weren't as religious as the one on NBC last night. Micha Barton was OK and the story tragic, predictable and ended on the right ambiguous note (we'll probably know later in the season what decision Olevia made when she visits either a tombstone or a hospital). BTW, where's Munch? For these two episodes Finn was the 'bring the information' background role usually filled by Munch on most episodes. Guess France must be nice this time of the year.

From Fredfa's "Hot Off The Press" thread on the 'HDTV Programming' page:

Nielsen Overnights (18-49)
'L&O: SVU' rises in Leno's old spot
Averages a season-high 3.0 in 18-49s at 10 p.m.
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - March 4th, 2010

It's not terribly surprising, but NBC is seeing its ratings shoot up at 10 p.m. now that Jay Leno is back in late night.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" drew NBC's best rating in the timeslot with regular programming this season, a night after "Parenthood" made similar gains over former occupant "The Jay Leno Show."

"SVU" averaged a 3.0 rating at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, for the second half of a two-hour episode. The show was a close second to CBS's "CSI: NY," which won the timeslot with a 3.1.

"SVU" was way up from a 1.2 for the last episode of "Leno" in this timeslot last month. The two-hour show averaged a 2.7 overall, tying its best performance since November.

A night earlier, "Parenthood" averaged a 3.1 rating at 10 p.m. to win its timeslot. So far this week, including an episode of "Law & Order" on Monday, every show NBC has aired at 10 p.m. has outrated "Leno's" very low season average.

Meanwhile, Fox was first last night among 18-49s with an 8.5 average overnight rating and a 23 share. CBS was second at 2.8/8, NBC third at 2.3/6, ABC fourth at 2.0/6, Univision fifth at 1.3/4 and CW sixth at 0.3/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won't be available for several weeks. Thirty-six percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. Fox was first with an 8.3 for American Idol, while ABC and CBS tied for second at 1.9, ABC for a repeat of Modern Family and a new The Middle (2.1) and CBS for The New Adventures of Old Christine (1.7) and Gary Unmarried (2.0). Univision was fourth with a 1.7 for Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe, NBC fifth with a 1.6 for Mercy and CW sixth with a 0.5 for a repeat of Life Unexpected.

Fox was first again at 9 p.m. with an 8.7 for more Idol, followed by CBS with a 3.6 for Criminal Minds. ABC was third with a 2.9 for Modern Family (3.5) and Cougar Town (2.4), NBC fourth with a 2.5 for SVU, Univision fifth with a 1.4 for Corazon Salvaje and CW sixth with a 0.2 for a Gossip Girl rerun.

CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 3.1 for CSI: NY, with NBC second with a 3.0 for more SVU. ABC was third with a 1.3 for an Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special and Univision fourth with a 0.8 for Don Francisco Presenta.

Among households, Fox led the night with a 13.4 average overnight rating and a 21 share. CBS was second at 6.6/11, NBC third at 4.9/8, ABC fourth at 3.6/6, Univision fifth at 1.8/3 and CW sixth at 0.6/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...s_old_spot.asp

Munch was in 10% of the episode last week.
Glad to see him being "active" again.

Can't wait for tonight's episode.

Good episode tonight, pretty dramatic.
I wonder if Alexandra Cabot is really leaving?

Edit: I don't see the OP, nashvillecat, post a lot anymore.

I enjoyed tonight's episode. The smokin' hot Diora Baird did a good job with her role.

Other than the usual 'preachy' moments "SVU" loves to engage in it was an OK episode (kind-of boring actually) but a pivotal one since it marks another Cabot departure (what is it now, the third time the character's gone away?). I didn't like Baird's Jessica Simpson-like sexy simpleton character at all, even when they turned her into a martyr of sorts that inspires Cabot and the Congo lady to take chances with their lives (more because the script said they had to rather than anything on-screen feeling compelling-enough to do so). Eric Lange's perp, like in "P.C." a couple of weeks ago, was way too shallow and two-dimensional to make an impression. I just love how sleazy Ned Eisenberg's Kressler lawyer can be, especially when going toe-to-toe with Alex. Assuming Cabot doesn't return to the show last night we saw her last duel with Kressler, which have been some of the best and most entertaining moments in the series (like when Alex got into trouble in Judge Petrovsky's court! ).