X
- 1999
- TV-14
- NBC
- 1999
- TV-14
- NBC
Summary "In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."
Created By: Dick Wolf
- 1999
- TV-14
- NBC
- 1999
- TV-14
- NBC
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
26 Seasons
Season 1 Premiere: Sep 20, 1999
66
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary "In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."
Created By: Dick Wolf
Where to Watch
All Seasons
26 Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
66
56% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
44% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
66
56% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
44% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sparse, tough, nuts-and-bolts, hit-and-run TV. You'd need a magnifying glass to find a nuance. But it works, and grippingly.
Despite a bizarre courtroom sequence that strains credibility early in the episode, this is a very good start for Special Victims Unit, which promises to be a solid cop drama capable of occasionally stretching toward greatness.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 270 User Ratings
8.4
86% Positive
233 Ratings
233 Ratings
3% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
10% Negative
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 270 User Ratings
8.4
86% Positive
233 Ratings
233 Ratings
3% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
10% Negative
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
Really great show!
can we all agree that Cardigan by Taylor Swift is the most accurately written and relatable song about being cheated on? it's like a bunch of stories compiled together to make a new one. from 'a friend to all is a friend to none', it's like a reminder that your partner's friend isn't your friend. sometimes they are the ones who tolerate the betrayal. or sometimes it's actually from a friend of yours where the betrayal starts. and 'chase two girls, lose the one', a consequence of cheating that you're not just losing one of them, but actually the one. to 'playing hide-and-seek and giving me your weekends', the feeling of longing for something because he was always physically unavailable, and meeting someone behind the mall. and 'you drew stars around my scars, but now i'm bleeding," they somehow assured you, gave light to your dark past. however, they still did the things you told them that once hurt you. until, "i knew you, tried to change the ending: peter losing wendy" when they were trying to turn the table and change the narration of the story. when they were trying to make that it was wendy who was losing peter. when they were trying to look innocent through lies. and of course, "i knew you, leaving like a father, running like water" when they ran from their responsibility and didn't even have the face to hold themselves accountable for what they had done. and people would think that it's fine; it was just puppy love. we are all deprived of expressing ourselves, from sensual politics to feeling like a cardigan under someone's bed, because when you are young, they always assume that you know nothing.
Report
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Report
Victims Unit also imports Mr. Belzer's sardonic John Munch character from NBC's canceled Homicide: Life on the Street. His wise-guy asides are a little forced in this first hour, as are some of the recurring sexual references. But the featured case gets more compelling by the minute. [20 Sept 1999, p.1C]
First episode lacks the energy and grit of the first season of "Law & Order," but Anthony Jannelli's camera work reveals the guilty, and director Jean De Segonzac and editor Doug Ibold keep the action taught even when it's apparent exactly where things are headed.
At times, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit flashes the same no-nonsense style of its sire: spare writing, quick pacing, ripped-from-the-headlines plot. But for much of the time, tonight's premiere is enervating, plodding and dull, which seems kind of odd when you're dealing with crimes of passion. [20 Sept 1999, p.E-3]
[The show] still portrays Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as the most naive, bleeding-heart molester busters in America.
The problem is that the new show makes the original look far better...There isn't enough special yet about this Special Victims Unit. [19 Sept 1999, p.F1]
Eh. It's okay, not the best series in the world, but if you have nothing better to do... I will say some of the episodes can be pretty interesting to watch, and the whole appeal of the show is finding out "who did it". It's not all bad, give it a watch, but don't indulge yourself in every episode ever, there are A LOT of them first of all, but secondly only do it if you're feeling up to it.
Report
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Report
Stop with the racial episodes! This show is an inspiration to women who have experienced sexual assault. Please don’t turn it to race.
Report
The reason the ratings went down is simple bad writing from the beginning the captain never went out with the detectives. Benson takes over and she is never doing the captains job she is still a detective it makes zero sense. One episode she tells the suspect no deal he will get a certain sentence I guess she is also the D/A now. In another episode a guy is saying how sexy she is come on she has a turkey neck now that same episode a guy is calling Rollins hot except, she looks like the joker from batman with the plastic surgery or Botox. The guys got old and were replaced except Fin and he looks good but the writers don't pretend he is still 20 or 30. They took the realism out of it and act like they never watched the show before because they go against decades of procedure. Stabler thinks he is 20 and tough he was young and tough when he started now, he is a blading old man pretending to be the guy he was 20 something years ago. This is why this show will not last much longer in the real world no one works SVU more than 5 years. Back when this show started they knew this and either had them become D/A's or another job but every so many years brought in new talent. People who are diehard fans are going to see all these mistakes or lazy writing and switch to another show. You want to say a woman cop is hot then have them say that to the young hot cops they have not the 50 and over club. The stories have gotten lazy and in a lot of them they have cut out the court room altogether and end the last 5 minutes with deals no d/a no judge just Benson telling you what the deal was. The court room was a big part of the show I know they cut cost but they still have and actor playing the D/A I doubt it breaks the bank to have a judge and a jury there is always a defense lawyer. Now they have let go a couple of the newer stars brought back Stabler who could not carry his own show with SVU doing cross overs. To tell you the truth the best thing they could have done was to have Fin be captain and have him act like all the real captains before Benson. Fire everyone else bring in a whole new cast of young people a computer expert you can keep the M/E. I think it would have gotten a few diehard fans mad but with the right new cast they could have won them over because most of the old cast had run their course. I guarantee you would have gotten the same ratings you are getting now. Worst case scenario it's time to end the show I think they would have lasted the same amount of time. Best case scenario you have just created a new young cast that could have lasted another decade. Instead of fans going OMG what happen to her face or boy did she put on weight etc.. I can't watch it the writing is bad the acting isn't that good either. They took a show people got immersed in and turned it into like a really bad sequel **** movie where you say the original movie was great the sequel was terrible.
Report
Production Company:
- Wolf Films
- Studios USA Television
- Universal Network Television
- NBC Universal Television
- Universal Media Studios (UMS)
- Universal Television
Initial Release Date: Sep 20, 1999
Number of seasons: 26 Seasons
Rating: TV-14
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
People's Choice Awards, USA
• 3 Wins & 27 Nominations
Prism Awards
• 7 Wins & 25 Nominations
