Why We Still Can’t Get Enough of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’

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If 25 years ago, producer Dick Wolf had stuck with the original subtitle of his first Law & Order spinoff, which was inspired by the prosecution of “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers, this story may not have been written. After all, recommending a show subtitled Sex Crimes to your parents might have elicited a certain “ick” factor.

Luckily, that wasn’t a problem when the drama, retitled Special Victims Unit, premiered on September 20, 1999. Most critics praised the show, even with its “squirm-inducing cases,” and over 14 million viewers tuned in and became regular watchers despite the “heinous” crimes on display, to quote the show’s weekly opening prologue.

SVU won new fans in Season 3 when it deviated from the original Law & Order’s all-about-the-case content and delved into what made the unit’s detectives, as well as the criminals, tick. Admitting that the earliest episodes were “a bit too sensational,” Wolf hired ER executive producer Neal Baer “to elevate the show,” and the cases became more psychologically oriented. By Season 4, SVU had become a household name, and its popularity has never wavered, as evidenced by its landmark 25th season. Each of the first three episodes in 2024 topped the Thursday-night network ratings as the show headed toward its 550th episode!

In a TV landscape where dramas are exceedingly lucky to make it to seven seasons, how did a gritty sexual crime-based cop show become TV’s longest running primetime drama? Loyal viewers often have justified their commitment by citing the groundbreaking, respectful treatment of rape and abuse survivors and the satisfying justice meted out to the guilty more often than not. Check out any SVU online discussion group and you’ll find the word comforting as a major reason they are fans.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 25 stars (Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

That’s not all, of course. The cop show struck gold with its compelling lead detectives, Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler. Hargitay was nominated eight times for an Emmy Award, and won in 2006 for the nail-biting “911” episode about the rescue of an abused child. The actress also earned a Golden Globe and two People’s Choice Awards during her many years playing Benson. (Meloni earned his only Emmy nod in 2006.)

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Hargitay’s fans have formed a strong bond with the actress through her empathetic performance onscreen and her advocacy off. Her Joyful Heart Foundation has encouraged police departments to open up thousands of unchecked rape kits, and the foundation provides services for rape and abuse survivors.

The tough but always humane Benson had the perfect partner in Stabler, a sometimes hotheaded seeker of righteousness with such unwavering loyalty and protectiveness toward Benson that fans nicknamed him “Protelliot.” Though Stabler was married with a passel of kids, “Bensler,” as the two partners were dubbed, sizzled with chemistry.

The stars were backed by a strong ensemble. Among them: Dann Florek, whose mentoring Capt. Donald Cragen originated on the mothership; the inimitable Richard Belzer, who revived his cynical, conspiracy-spouting Det. John Munch from Homicide: Life on the Street; and arriving in Season 2 and still in the cast, rapper Ice-T (Dick Wolf’s New York Undercover) is the philosophical Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola. More recent valuable players have included Benson confidants Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish, who exited in December 2022) and detective turned ADA Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino).

Actors Peter Scanavino, Kelli Giddish, Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay attend the TV Guide Celebrates Mariska Hargitay at Gansevoort Park Avenue on January 11, 2017 in New York City (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

Fans also delight in the prestigious guest stars who’ve flocked to the show, eager to take on the juicy roles of villains or victims. In its first decade, the series was an Emmy-nod incubator, with the likes of Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, Angela Lansbury and Marcia Gay Harden being nominated, and Ellen Burstyn, Cynthia Nixon and Ann-Margaret, among others, winning the statue.

Some feared for SVU’s future when Meloni exited the show in 2011 as contract negotiations failed. Storywise, Stabler and his family moved to Europe, where he had secured a new position. But viewership held up and the show triumphed with a switch to Hargitay as the face of SVU and the glue holding everything together.

From that point, Benson slowly moved up the ladder to captain. Personally, she tried on several romances, including a serious relationship with Internal Affairs captain Ed Tucker (Robert John Burke) that she ended when he wanted her to retire. As if!

But “Bensler” gained new life when Stabler returned to New York in April 2021 as a detective on the spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime. Fans didn’t have to wait long for a reunion with Benson; the prodigal detective was widowed in his series’ inaugural episode after his wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies) was gravely injured in a car bombing and died in the next episode of SVU.

Their chemistry is as strong as ever, but Benson still has trouble trusting the man who abandoned her without even saying goodbye. As she tearfully told him when he returned, “You were the single most important person in my life.” There have been, however, plenty of longing undercurrents between them keeping the audience’s romantics interested, including a near kiss last season.

Even if a deeply committed friendship is the endgame for the characters, there’s plenty more to keep fans coming back to SVU, says Hargitay: “It’s a show that matters, that deeply affects and connects with the human heart.”

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s Law & Order: SVU 25^th Anniversary issue. For more inside scoop on the long-running NBC franchise, pick up a copy of the issue available on newsstands and for order online at LawAndOrderMagazine.com.