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,
Julianne Nicholson, and
Eric Bogosian. Goldblum joined the cast for the 2009 season, replacing
Chris Noth as Nicholson's partner.
[ER:6;_ylt=AjZ5wqmSXxER6YVpgm6d60L6o9EF Jeff Goldblum - Yahoo! TV] Season 9 will have have major changes with charter member Vincent D'Onofrio exiting the USA Network series and Jeff Goldblum taking over full-time. D'Onofrio's character will say goodbye in a two-hour premiere to start the ninth season, which is scheduled for March 2010.
[Vincent D'Onofrio Leaving 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'] [Twitter / Criminal Intent: The new season is tentativ ...]
The first six seasons of the show aired on
NBC. From October 4, 2007, to the end of 2007, however, new episodes of
Criminal Intent could only be seen on the USA Network; starting January 9, 2008, these episodes "reran" on NBC. Starting May 6, 2009, NBC began to show the eighth season following the original airings of season eight on USA Network. In addition, re-runs of all seven seasons of the show continue to be aired on the USA Network,
Bravo, and in
broadcast syndication on
MyNetworkTV.
As with all American members of the
Law & Order franchise, the opening is narrated by
Steven Zirnkilton.
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, 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.
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
[
& Order CI Season 8.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|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.
The remaining episodes from the seventh season began screening on June 8.
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.
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
[ Chris Noth exiting, and replaced by Jeff Goldblum]
Hollywood Reporter reported that the USA Network is currently finalizing a deal for the ninth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.[Network also finalizing deal to bring back 'Criminal Intent'] Later, it was reported that D'Onofrio, Erbe and Bogosian would be leaving the series as Wolf preferred Goldblum to be the main star of the show,[www.tvguide.com/News/DOnofrio-Erbe-Bogosian-1010183.aspx] and because USA Network preferred Goldblum's lighter, Monk-style contribution to D'Onofrio's darker characterization.[showbiz411.blogs.thr.com/law-order-criminal-intent-vincent-donofrio-erbe-bogosian-jeff-goldblum/]
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. 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 & Eames.
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.
- 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.
- TBA (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.[Network also finalizing deal to bring back 'Criminal Intent'] It was reported that Criminal Intent will premiere the ninth season in March 2010. [Twitter / Criminal Intent: The new season is tentativ ...]
| Network
| Season
| Timeslot (EST)
| Season premiere
| Season finale
| TV season
| Ranking
| Viewers
(in millions)
|
| NBC
| 1
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| September 30, 2001
| May 10, 2002
| 2001–2002
| -
| 11.9
|
| 2
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| September 20, 2002
| May 18, 2003
| 2002–2003
| -
| 14.3
|
| 3
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| September 28, 2003
| May 23, 2004
| 2003–2004
| -
|
|
| 4
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| September 26, 2004
| May 25, 2005
| 2004–2005
| -
| 12.1
|
| 5
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| September 25, 2005
| May 14, 2006
| 2005–2006
| -
| 11.0
|
| 6
| Tuesday 9:00 p.m.
| September 19, 2006
| May 21, 2007
| 2006–2007
| -
| 8.38
|
| USA / NBC
| 7
| Thursday/Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| October 4, 2007
| August 24, 2008
| 2007–2008
| -
| 4.889
|
| 8
| Sunday 9:00 p.m.
| April 19, 2009
| August 9, 2009
| 2009
| TBA
| 5.50
|
| 9
| Friday 9:00 p.m.
| March, 2010
| unknown, 2010
| 2010
| TBA
| TBA
|
Episodes
Awards/Nominations
| Year | Group | Award | Result | Recipient(s)
|
| 2002
| Maggie Award
| "The Third Horseman", from Planned Parenthood
| Won
|
|
| People's Choice Award
| Best New Series
| Nominated
|
|
| Image Award
| Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
| Nominated
| Courtney B. Vance
|
| 2003
| Edgar Award
| Best Television Episode
| Nominated
| René Balcer
for "Tuxedo Hill"
|
| 2004
| Satellite Award
| Best Actor in a Series, Drama
| Nominated
| Vincent D'Onofrio
|
| Edgar Award
| Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay
| Nominated
| René Balcer and Gerry Conway,
for "Probability"
|
| 2005
| Edgar Award
| Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay
| Won
| René Balcer and Elizabeth Benjamin,
for "Want"
|
| Edgar Award
| Best Episode in a Television Series Teleplay
| Nominated
| René Balcer and Gerry Conway,
for "Conscience"; René Balcer and Warren Leight,
for "Consumed"; René Balcer and Warren Leight,
for "Pas De Deux"
|
| 2006
| Reims International Television Festival
| Best Drama Episode ("In The Wee Small Hours")
| Nominated
|
|
| Banff Television Award
| Best Drama ("In The Wee Small Hours")
| Nominated
|
|
| ALMA Award
| Outstanding Director of a Television Drama or Comedy
| Nominated
| Norberto Barba
|
| 2008
| Edgar Award
| Best Television Episode Teleplay
| Nominated
| Warren Leight, Siobhan Byrne, & Julie Martin
for "Senseless"
|
| Image Award
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
| Nominated
| Darnell Martin
for "Bombshell"
|
| Satellite Award
| Best Actress in a Series, Drama
| Nominated
| Kathryn Erbe
|
| ALMA Award
| Outstanding Director of a Television Drama or Comedy
| Nominated
| Norberto Barba
|
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. ['Law & Order: Criminal Intent' Season 4 DVD Release Date Nov. 24, 2009]
DVD name
Most Popular AllStar Movies
|
