Follows the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Unit (SVU), a specially trained squad of detectives who investigates sex crimes including rape, child sexual abuse, human... Read allFollows the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Unit (SVU), a specially trained squad of detectives who investigates sex crimes including rape, child sexual abuse, human trafficking and domestic violence.Follows the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Unit (SVU), a specially trained squad of detectives who investigates sex crimes including rape, child sexual abuse, human trafficking and domestic violence.
- Won 6 Primetime Emmys
- 57 wins & 182 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMariska Hargitay is a trained rape crisis counselor.
- GoofsDespite many of the crimes being homicides in addition to being sex crimes, homicide detectives are not shown to have responded to the case. The major crime would be the murder itself, with the sex crime elements being included offenses.
- Quotes
[Looking through a victim's purse for ID]
Olivia Benson: No jewelry. I always carry at least a pair of earrings in my purse.
Elliot Stabler: Yeah, like you carry a purse.
Olivia Benson: That's 'cause you carry it for me.
Elliot Stabler: Heh...
- Crazy creditsFrom the second episode of the second season (2000-2001), the opening credits break the pattern followed by the earlier episodes of SVU, the original Law & Order, and Criminal Intent. Instead of the credits ending with a shot of the cast walking towards the camera, they instead are shown sitting around a desk.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2002)
The thing that makes SVU stand out so much in opinion, is that the stories depicted are very realistic and heart felt. I personally appreciate it very much, that there are no cheap attempts to make you cry by extending dramatic scenes or underscoring them with sad music. Mostly the sad parts happen quite suddenly and are relatively short. Maybe that's just another 'trick' to get you to cry without being as obvious as many soap opera's. TO me though, it makes the stories appeal much more life-like and truly gut-wrenching and sad.
Also all of the characters are good. If you watch long enough, you can get bits and pieces of information on everyone of them, thus discovering what makes them tick. I must admit that the series has changes it's emphasis a bit in recent years. In the first year there were numerous episode's that featured theme's or events from the investigator's home environment (especially Stabler's). This trend has somewhat diminished over the years, yet you can still see each individual's background shining through into their work ethics. One thin I really had to get used to was Richard Belzer's (Det. John Munch) role getting smaller. It seems to me that in the first few years of the series he was present much more and he made much more cynical remarks, something I really enjoyed. But overall the series has not changed for the worse, for I feel it has actually improved. While a few years ago I'd given this series an 8 out of 10 I'm much more inclined now to rate it even higher. What I've come to appreciate these last 2 or three years, were the additions of Ice-T (Det. Fin Tutuola), B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang) and Stephanie March (A.D.A. Alex Cabbot) to the team. Stephanie March's character provides the viewer not only with an insight to what the D.A's job is, but her involvement in the series also shows what difficult decisions need to be made at times when the victim becomes the pursued or when a suspect cannot legally be brought to justice. Huang's intense involvement lately is in my opinion the biggest and best evolution the series has undergone (up until now). Not only because there have been few if any series which placed the work of the forensic psychiatrist is in the spotlight, but also it is much more realistic than for instance the media's depiction of profilers in The Silence of the Lambs or the TV-series Profiler. Also I think it is good (in addition to being very interesting) to show the public that not every offender is purely bad, but there is often much more when you go beyond the surface. As for Ice-T's character, I think he really completes the mix in the show, as the tough street cop. Him and Belzer are an ideal couple, just like Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni).
The reasons, I personally feel SVU is the best crime series on the tube at the moment, are easily summarized. It has very much diversity, it offers insight into the psyche's of both victim's and perpetrators and it is realistic in every aspect.
9 out of 10
IMDb's 2024 TV Guide
IMDb's 2024 TV Guide
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- Special Victims Unit
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro