Law & Order: Criminal Intent

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent
title card
Also known as	Law & Order: CI, Criminal Intent
Format	Police Procedural, Drama
Starring	Jeff Goldblum Saffron Burrows Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Vincent D'Onofrio Kathryn Erbe Eric Bogosian
Narrated by	Steven Zirnkilton
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	171 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 43 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (2001–2007) USA Network (2007–present)
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 30, 2001 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Law & Order Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Trial by Jury Conviction Paris enquêtes criminelles Law & Order: UK
External links
Official website

Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural TV series, which premiered on September 30, 2001. The series is about the Major Case Squad in a fictional version of the New York City Police Department set in New York City's One Police Plaza and is the second spin-off of the long-running crime drama Law & Order. The show currently stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jeff Goldblum and Eric Bogosian. Goldblum joined the cast for the 2009 season, replacing Chris Noth.^[1] Season 9 will have major changes with charter members D'Onofrio and Erbe exiting the USA Network series and Jeff Goldblum taking over full-time. D'Onofrio, Erbe and Bogosian will say goodbye in a two-hour premiere to start the ninth season, which is scheduled for March 2010.^{[2] [3]}

The first six seasons of the show aired on NBC. Since October 4, 2007, new episodes of Criminal Intent have aired on NBC Universal-owned USA Network and rerun on NBC. In addition, all episodes continue to be aired on USA and other NBC platforms such as Bravo and Sleuth, as well as on MyNetworkTV and in broadcast syndication.

As with all American members of the Law & Order franchise, the opening is narrated by Steven Zirnkilton.^[4]

Premise

Criminal Intent follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the "Major Case Squad". The Major Case Squad investigates high-profile cases (in most cases murder, just like the regular Law & Order in this sense), such as those involving VIPs, local government officials and employees, the financial industry, and the art world; though sometimes the cases are similar to the cases from the original Law & Order show as well. Unlike the other shows in the Law & Order franchise, as of Season 5 Criminal Intent episodes typically alternate between two teams of detectives: Team A episodes chronicle the cases of Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames, while team B episodes follow the exploits of Zach Nichols and Megan Wheeler. Originally, team B followed Mike Logan and his partners, Carolyn Barek, Megan Wheeler, and Nola Falacci.

The series also gives significant attention to the actions and motives of the criminals, rather than focusing exclusively on the police and prosecution, and the information they have, as in the other Law & Order series. A feature of each Criminal Intent episode is that the cold open always involves a series of cut-scenes that show events from the suspects' and victims' lives, leading up to the crime. Clues to the crime's eventual solution can often be found in this teaser sequence. Criminal Intent episodes do not usually contain trials. Unlike other Law & Order series, most Criminal Intent episodes end in confessions rather than plea bargains or verdicts.

For the first five seasons, Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver (played by Courtney B. Vance) worked with the detectives on their cases. After Vance's departure, Theresa Randle took over as Patricia Kent, but only appeared in two episodes at the beginning of season six. ADAs have not played a regular role in the show since.

As with all the Law and Order series, the Criminal Intent title card features an opening voiceover by Steven Zirnkilton. This is the only one of the whole franchise series up to now not to open with the line In the criminal justice system...

History

The cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2009); from left, Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Nicholson, Eric Bogosian, Kathryn Erbe, and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent was created by René Balcer and Dick Wolf in 2001. Balcer served as the show's executive producer, showrunner, and head writer for its first five seasons. The show dominated its original time slot on Sundays at 9:00 pm for its first three seasons (routinely beating its competition Alias and The Sopranos in households and in the 18–49 demos), and was often the highest rated show of the night, with an average audience of 15.5 million viewers.

Beginning in its fourth season, it faced stiff new competition from ABC's night-time soap opera Desperate Housewives, a show that soon became the number one drama on television. Ratings for Criminal Intent further eroded in the fifth season when Chris Noth joined the cast in alternating episodes as Det. Logan. Noth's episodes routinely scored much lower ratings than D'Onofrio's. Despite stiff competition and Detective Goren's reduced presence, the series maintained respectable ratings through the fifth season, enough to get it renewed for a sixth season on NBC.

Balcer left the show at the end of the fifth season, and the show was handed off to Warren Leight, a longtime Criminal Intent staffer. Under Leight's leadership, the show acquired a new, more melodramatic tone. The mystery aspect of the show was simplified in favor of more personal stories involving the detectives. For example, notably Goren endured his mother's long agony from cancer, culminating with her death in the last episode (for Goren and Eames) of the sixth season, "Endgame" ("Renewal" is the season finale). The show's look and editing style also changed in an effort to attract more viewers than the newer CSI franchise.

Since NBC had acquired the rights to Sunday Night Football for the 2006–2007 season, Law & Order: Criminal Intent was moved to new time slot on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm, to serve as a lead-in to SVU. For its first six airings, it faced CBS's The Unit and baseball on Fox. The show held its own against such competition. In late October, Fox's smash hit House moved opposite Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It was hoped that the show could maintain second position, beating the then-marginal The Unit but that didn't occur. The show's ratings suffered a steep drop and regularly finished fourth in its time slot. By the end of the sixth season, Law & Order: Criminal Intent saw its lowest ratings ever.

In May 2007, NBC faced a choice of renewing either Criminal Intent or the original Law & Order, which had seen a ratings increase in the last few outings of its seventeenth season. Ultimately, because of weak ratings, NBC passed on Criminal Intent and picked up Law & Order. Because new episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent were still a profit center for the NBC Universal-owned studio that produces the series, Criminal Intent was moved to the NBC Universal owned USA Network after six seasons on NBC, because on USA Network it attracted a much larger audience.^[5] The remaining episodes from the seventh season began screening on June 8.^[6] The show was stopped in December 2007 due to the writers' strike. In Canada Law & Order: Criminal Intent airs new original episodes on CTV at 10 PM Sundays.

For its move to the USA Network, the "heavier" sounding version of the Law & Order: CI theme used for the show's opening credits was replaced by the version used on the short-lived Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

It was announced on May 22, 2008 that USA Network had renewed Criminal Intent for an eighth season. The seventh season was the top-rated television series on basic cable, having more than quadrupled the audience for the 10 PM Thursday slot on USA Network when compared to the ratings from the previous year. Nielsen Ratings for the week of July 13, 2008 showed that Criminal Intent was ranked sixth overall on top 20 cable ratings, with a viewer base of 4.899 million viewers.^[7] The network ordered 16 episodes which were originally going to begin screening in November 2008, but the network moved the premiere -- first to February 5, 2009, then with an expected date of spring–summer 2009, and finally announcing the start date as April 19. The only change in cast members from the seventh season was ^[5] Chris Noth exiting, and replaced by Jeff Goldblum^[8]. At the end of the seventh season, Leight, who left to focus on In Treatment, was replaced by new executive producers Walon Green and Robert Nathan. In December 2008, Nathan left the show after completing two Goldblum episodes. Law & Order co-executive producer and writer Ed Zuckerman then picked up Nathan's assignment while continuing his duties for the original L&O's 19th season. In April 2009, NBC began airing Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 8 encores a few days after they premiered on USA.

Hollywood Reporter reported that the USA Network is currently finalizing a deal for the ninth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.^[9] Later, it was reported that D'Onofrio, Erbe and Bogosian would be leaving the series,^[10]. Some sources have speculated that USA Network prefers Goldblum's lighter Monk-style contribution as it fits better with their slate of other series.^[11]

In response to news of the impending cast changes, on September 27, 2009, dedicated fans of the series united and launched a grassroots campaign to save departing cast members D'Onofrio, Erbe and Bogosian. Among the more traditional methods of letters, postcards, email and phone calls, the fans included sending jars of marshmallow fluff by the case to express their displeasure at the proposed change of tone for the series.^[12][13][14]

Characters

Partners A

• Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) Season 1 - Season 9 Premiere is a quirky, extraordinarily intelligent investigator and criminal profiler, known for his instinct and insight. Often, Goren's intuition, rather than solid evidence, turns out to be the case-breaker. Each episode, Goren typically employs his knowledge of an unusually wide range of topics, from theoretical physics, chemistry, and literature to history, psychology, and multiple foreign languages. Goren once served in the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, stationed in Germany and South Korea, and worked in the NYPD's Narcotics Division before transferring to Major Case (in the first season episode "The Insider", it is revealed that he worked on three undercover operations resulting in 27 arrests and convictions). The Robert Goren character is very reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes; he notices tiny-yet-important details ignored by others, and possesses broad, almost encyclopedic knowledge. Frequently, Goren obtains crucial information and confessions by psychologically manipulating and provoking suspects and their associates. Mental illness seems to run in Goren's family: his mother suffered from schizophrenia and his biological father was a serial killer. Recently, it has become clear that this history, coupled with Goren's unorthodox style, has become a source of trouble for him within the NYPD, spawning rumors and accusations that he is mentally unstable. In particular, this view is held by the Chief of Detectives, who suspends him for six months without pay after he embarks on an unauthorized undercover infiltration of a prison's mental ward. In the season 7 finale, he lost his brother Frank (Tony Goldwyn) to his archnemesis Nicole Wallace, and realized his mentor Dr. Declan Gage helped him and somehow betrayed his archnemsis allowing Goren to be freed.^{[verification needed]} During season eight, he begins to recover after the events of season 7.

• Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) Season 1 - Season 9 Premiere is the quiet, practical partner who generally seems to mesh well with Goren despite the noticeable personality differences between the two. She worked in the NYPD's Vice Division for four years before transferring to Major Case. Her character is much like the screen portrayals of Holmes's partner Doctor Watson: a lesser equal, overshadowed by the charismatic presence of a prodigious partner. While still an assertive and no-nonsense cop and the senior partner of the pairing, much of Eames's dialogue consists of sarcastic, pun-heavy observations delivered at dramatically opportune moments (much like Law & Order's Det. Lennie Briscoe character). There are occasional hints of a strong affection, and even jealousy, between the two partners, but their relationship has never become romantic. Their working relationship is more formal than that of the lead detectives in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, who typically address each other by their given names and have strong emotional interplay. Goren and Eames typically address each other by surname, but when either Eames or Goren is particularly stressed, she calls him "Bobby". She is a legacy officer: her father and late husband were both cops. In the third season, Eames embarked on a surrogate pregnancy for her sister and brother-in-law and, before her maternity leave, was assigned to desk duty at the police station; her work in the field with Goren was covered by G. Lynn Bishop. Recently, Goren and Eames' working relationship has become more strained, as she has become fed up with what she sees as Goren's habit of taking her for granted, expecting her to run interference for his off-beat tactics and style with both co-workers and superiors without acknowledging her contributions. These feelings boil over in the episode "Purgatory", after Goren embarks on a secret undercover mission for his superiors, and fails to inform her. Eames takes Wheeler's place starting in the episode "Major Case".

• Det. G. Lynn Bishop (portrayed by Samantha Buck) in episodes 5–11 of season three. Bishop is introduced in the episode "Pravda" as the temporary partner of Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), assigned to the Major Case Squad of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), due to Det. Alexandra Eames volunteering to serve as a surrogate mother for her sister's baby. Bishop and Goren often seemed to have a lack of chemistry between them. She found it complicating to keep up with Goren's many unorthodox ways of solving a case, something Eames had gotten accustomed to. Her shield number is 8141; it is clearly legible in the episode F.P.S. during a scene in which she, Goren, and a third detective are examining an ATM. It is unknown what happened to her.

Partners B

Beginning in season five, episodes alternated between two sets of detectives: the A team, featuring Goren and Eames, and the B team, featuring Logan and another detective through season 8. In season 8, Logan was replaced by Nichols.

• Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth) Season 5 - Season 7 (Season 4 Recurring) is a troubled detective who formerly worked in the homicide division of Manhattan's 27th precinct (from 1990–1995, on Law & Order). He was banished to the NYPD's career graveyard (Staten Island) after publicly punching a homophobic politician who had murdered a gay man whom Logan had grudgingly come to respect; however, Logan redeemed himself by solving a dirty-cop murder-conspiracy case (the NBC TV movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie). He was transferred from Staten Island to the NYPD's Domestic Disputes department. Logan first appeared on Criminal Intent in the fourth-season episode "Stress Position", through his romantic involvement with a nurse employed at a prison being investigated by Goren and Eames. At the beginning of season five, he was officially transferred to the Major Case Squad at the behest of Capt. Deakins, in the episode "Grow". In addition, Logan was involved in the "officer-involved shooting" used to fuel the career-ending conspiracy against Capt. Deakins. After solving a 16 year homicide case in the episode "Last Rites", dissatisfaction with the corruption and overall inflexibility of the justice system drove him to leave the force.

• Det. Carolyn Barek (Annabella Sciorra) Season 5 is Mike Logan's first partner in the Major Case Squad and a brilliant criminal profiler who ascended from the hard streets of Brooklyn's Cobble Hill to the high ranks of the NYPD and beyond, spending two post-9/11 years with the FBI. Why she left the Major Case Squad is unknown.

• Det. Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) Season 6 - Season 8 is Mike Logan's second partner in the Major Case Squad. Wheeler transfers in with her captain-mentor, Daniel Ross. She is by-the-book, and is reluctant to bend procedural rules, unlike Det. Logan. She left at the end of the 2006–07 season to go to Europe for follow-up work with the Joint Task Force, where she had worked with Capt. Ross. She returns to the role in the episode "Contract"; the absence was written in to cover Julianne Nicholson's maternity leave. During Season 8, Det. Wheeler announced she is pregnant by her ex-fiancé. It was later reported that the character will be absent from the final episodes of the season in conjunction with Nicholson's real life pregnancy, and Det. Eames will partner with Nichols for the remaining episodes.

• Det. Nola Falacci (Alicia Witt) Season 7 first half who served as Logan's partner for a short time while Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) was in Europe teaching American police procedure to European police officers.

• Det. Zach Nichols (Jeff Goldblum) Season 8 - Present. Joined as a replacement for Logan after the latter became dissatisfied with the justice system. He came to Major Case in the episode "Rock Star", after being away from the NYPD for seven years.

• Det. Julia Porter (Saffron Burrows) Season 9 - Present Joins as a replacement for Wheeler .^[15]

Other characters

• Capt. James Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) Season 1 - Season 5 was Goren and Eames's first immediate supervisor; he periodically checked their progress during investigations. At the end of Season 5 (2005-2006), Deakins retired rather than battle a conspiracy to frame him. The vendetta stemmed from an episode in which Deakins—torn between loyalty and integrity—reluctantly allowed Goren and Eames to imprison his "friend" Frank Adair (a former Chief of Detectives), by refusing to cover up his misdeeds. Adair used his connections to plant false evidence of Deakins's corruption; Deakins refused to tarnish the department by fighting the charges.

• ADA Ron Carver (Courtney B. Vance) Season 1 - Season 5 was an idealistic, by-the-book ADA who always pressured Goren and Eames for additional evidence, as Goren and Eames use instincts to a degree to develop theories to solve their cases. Like Anita Van Buren, from Law & Order, Carver graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. No reason has been given for Carver's departure at the end of Season 5 (2005–2006).

• Capt. Daniel Ross (Eric Bogosian) Season 6 - Season 9 Premiere is Deakins's successor as the Major Case Squad commander. He is given the command as a reward for a successful three-year stint as head of a Joint Task Force on International Money Laundering; he took Det. Megan Wheeler with him to the MC Squad.

• Capt. Sarah Brooks (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) Season 9, episode 2 - present is Ross's successor as the Major Case Squad commander and the first female captain of the Major Case Squad.

Main Cast

* not main cast; doesn't appear in the opening credits

Seasons

Criminal Intent's seasons 1–6 aired on NBC on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM EST. In October 2007, new episodes of season 7 aired on the USA Network on Thursday nights at 9:00 PM EST. In June 2008 the remaining episodes of the season aired on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM EST on USA. Starting on January 9, 2008, reruns of season 7 began airing on NBC. Criminal Intent's season eight premiere aired on April 19, 2009 along with the second season premiere of In Plain Sight and both shows' season finales aired August 9, 2009.

Hollywood Reporter confirms that the network is currently finalizing a ninth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.^[16] It was reported that Criminal Intent will premiere the ninth season in March 2010. ^[17]

Episodes

Awards/Nominations

DVD releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released Law & Order: Criminal Intent on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4. Seasons 1–3 have been released in Region 1, while in Regions 2 and 4 they have released seasons 1 and 2. Season 4 will be released in Region 1 on November 24, 2009. ^[18]

Technical information

Law & Order: Criminal Intent has been produced in 16:9 format since at least 2004, when it was first broadcast in HDTV. Standard definition NBC stations aired the episodes cropped to 4:3 until 2006, when all Law & Order series began airing episodes in 16:9 for SD. Reruns of those episodes which were cropped to 4:3 have subsequently been aired in 16:9 as well. Some broadcasters outside the USA however still use versions cropped to 4:3.

Related series

• Law & Order franchise
  • Law & Order
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • Law & Order: Trial by Jury
  • Conviction
• A Criminal Intent computer game was released by Legacy Interactive in November 2005.

Crossovers

On June 15, 2008, Mary McCormack made a guest appearance in the 2008 episode "Contract", as Mary Shannon, her character from In Plain Sight. At the time of the original airing, In Plain Sight followed Criminal Intent on the USA Network.

French adaptation

In July 2005, NBC Universal sold the format of Law & Order: Criminal Intent to French channel TF1 Alma Productions to launch a localized French version of the drama. The version came with its own native language title (Paris enquêtes criminelles) and actors. The first season, consisting of eight episodes, went into production and premiered in 2007. The show mirrors the content of the original US stories, although it is set in Paris and is adjusted for language and culture. Vincent Perez plays Vincent Revel (French equivalent of Vincent D'Onofrio's role, Robert Goren). Sandrine Rigaux played Claire Savigny (French equivalent of Kathryn Erbe's character, Alex Eames) during the first season. A crossover between Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Paris, enquêtes criminelles was produced in preparation for April 2007.

Vincent Perez on the subject of differences between his character Ravel and Goren (translated from French), "I've watched very little of the original series so as not to be influenced, but I had the impression that Goren was very cerebral. Ravel is more instinctive and perhaps, more vulnerable".

The show premiered in France in May 2007 and has become a major success for TF1. A second season has been ordered. Sandrine Rigaux will be replaced by Audrey Looten, who will play Mélanie Rousseau.

Russian adaptation

A Russian version of L&O: CI (shot in Moscow with Russian actors) premiered in March 2007, where it was shown back to back with the Russian version of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, to become one of Russia's top-rated series. As a result, the initial order of eight episodes has been expanded to some 40 episodes.

Other international versions of the show are presently in negotiations.

In addition, dubbed versions of the original series are available in over 150 countries.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent cast members
• List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes
• List of television shows filmed in New York City

Notes

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Law & Order: Criminal Intent

• Official website on NBC
• Official website on USA Network
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent at the Internet Movie Database
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent at TV.com
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent at the TV IV
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent ("Revolution") Season Finale Preview
• New Executive Producers
• Season Delayed