Yahoo Daily News
Date: 2001-09-25 13:13:03 PST
'Law & Order' Spinoff Is Third AP Television Writer, NEW YORK (AP) - And then there were three. First came ``Law & Order,'' which premiered Sept. 13, 1990. In 1999, ``Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' made its bow. Now NBC is trying again with ``Law & Order: Criminal Intent.'' It debuts Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT. Unprecedented for prime-time drama (other than the soap ``Peyton Place,'' which ABC aired thrice weekly for a few months in the mid-1960s), ``Law & Order'' in one form or another hits the street nearly every other night. The logic of this product line seems self-evident to Dick Wolf, its producer-auteur. A former advertising man (``You can't beat Crest for fighting cavities'') he sees ``Law & Order'' as a flourishing brand: ``A brand extension is always a good thing - unless you do something that doesn't live up to the expectations for that brand.'' So far, so good. ``Law & Order'' (which begins its 12th year Wednesday at 10 p.m.), won its largest-ever viewership last season, logging ninth place in TV households. Meanwhile, ``Special Victims Unit'' (whose new season begins Friday at 10 p.m.) grew by 7 percent over its freshman year to finish in a hearty 26th place. Now fans of those shows will be happy to discover that ``Criminal Intent'' displays a definite family resemblance. (As Wolf observes, ``All Campbell's soups have that red label.'') Each series explores the legal system. Each is set and graphically filmed in New York City, with its reliably strong scripts often cued by recent headlines (or, sometimes, uncannily forecasting them). Despite the breathless tempo, each is a series of ideas and words more than action, confronting violence with a remorseful tone that, after Sept. 11, seems at least as fitting as it did before. Each features a robust ensemble cast - and one constantly replenished. (On ``Law & Order,'' umpteenth newcomer Elisabeth Rohm is now settling in as Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn.) And each begins with a sonorous voice to set the scene: ``In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate and equally important groups ...'' That, of course, is how ``Law & Order'' starts, reaffirming its two-tiered format: For the first half-hour, detectives track down the bad guy; the second half, prosecutors haul the accused into court. ``Special Victims Unit'' asserts that, since ``sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous,'' an elite team of crime fighters is always at the ready. And the new ``Criminal Intent'' carries this 10-second mission statement: ``In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories.'' In each instance, the never-seen speaker is Steve Zirnkilton, who, from his studio-home in Seal Harbor, Maine, describes his ``Law & Order'' voice as ``commanding, but not judgmental; firm, without attitude.'' Just so. But no less demonstrative is the musical theme, whipped up in its three successive versions by prolific composer Mike Post. For the original ``Law & Order'' theme he sought music with ``some of the strength and majesty of the law, but - since the first half is about the cops - with some flavor of the street.'' For ``Special Victims Unit,'' he slowed it down slightly and ``got heavier with the strings, since it was more about victims.'' And now, for ``Criminal Intent,'' he has rearranged it with the bad guys in mind: ``I got nasty, with a baritone slide guitar.'' BEE-BONG! There's one other distinctive ``Law & Order'' trademark: the ``BEE-BONG'' or ``CHA-CHING'' or whatever you call the hiccuplike sound that, inserted every now and then, gives the story's breakneck pace a needed pause. ``The sound began as the slam of a jail door,'' says Post from his Los Angeles headquarters. ``Then I added some percussion and other metal sounds.'' Listen up: Although the BEE-BONG remains otherwise unchanged since ``Law & Order'' began, Post confides that for ``Criminal Intent'' he mixed in ``a little bottom'' to his mini-entr'acte. ``We'll find out if people are paying attention.'' BEE-BONG! Another thing is different about ``Criminal Intent.'' While each of its forebears is an ensemble drama with certain greater-among- equals in its ranks (Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston on ``Law & Order,'' Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay on ``Special Victims Unit''), ``Criminal Intent'' is blatantly a showcase for Vincent D'Onofrio. D'Onofrio stars as Detective Goren, a shrewd and intuitive polymath who taps into the criminal mind like a modern Sherlock Holmes. Plenty smart but usually a half-step behind him, Detective Eames (co-star Kathryn Erbe) serves as Goren's Dr. Watson. Dick Wolf calls his latest ``a psychological drama. The first two shows are a triumph of police and legal procedure over criminality. `Criminal Intent' is the triumph of intellect over criminality.'' BEE-BONG! ``NBC has taken to hyping `Law & Order' as `the second-longest-running drama series on network television.' No one mentions it would have to stay on the schedule through 2001 to match `Murder, She Wrote's' tenure right now.'' That passage appeared in September 1995, not long after the initially struggling ``Law & Order'' caught ratings fire. Now, with a guaranteed renewal through 2004-05, it is sure to rank second only to ``Gunsmoke'' (20 years) as the longest-running non-news-or-sports prime-time series in TV history. At this moment, 262 episodes of ``Law & Order'' have been filmed, along with 53 of ``Special Victims Unit'' and 13 of ``Criminal Intent.'' Figure 45 minutes apiece (minus commercials), and you would need a week and a half, around the clock, to watch them all. Better yet, just flip on cable almost any time to play catch-up. ``Law & Order'' encores several times a week on TNT and four times a day on A&E. Miss this week's ``Special Victims Unit'' on NBC? It runs Sunday at 11 p.m. on USA, which also repeats the current ``Criminal Intent'' at 11 p.m. the following Saturday. BEE-BONG! Campbell's Soup has dozens of varieties. For ``Law & Order,'' might there be at least a fourth selection? It's a little premature to talk about, says Wolf, whose immediate concern is how viewers take to ``Criminal Intent.'' Even so, he admits, ``I've got two other variations buried in the recesses of my head.'' Talk about the long arm of the ``Law''!