Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural and legal drama series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. It began running on September 20, 1999 and is on its twenty-fourth season. This series is in the Law & Order Universe.
Series summary[]
Each episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the efforts of New York police detectives and prosecutors to deal with crimes involving sexual acts and/or children. The show has had several different characters in its ensemble, but the best-known are probably detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and John Munch (Richard Belzer). John Munch is notable for having originated in another show, Homicide: Life on the Street; after that show was canceled, the character left the Baltimore Police Department and was transferred to New York.
Note that Munch appearances that took place prior to Special Victims Unit are counted in the Homicide: Life on the Street entry.
Spin-offs[]
- Conviction revolved around former Special Victims Unit assistant district attorney Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) returning to New York after a stint in witness protection, and was focused more on characters and back stories than its parent show.
- Law & Order: LA was a short-lived attempt to revive the Law & Order format, moving the action out of New York for the first time in the US franchise's history. It spun directly out of Special Victims Unit "Behave" that introduced Las Angeles detective Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich).
- Law & Order: Organized Crime is a series that features Elliot Stabler working with the organized crime task force.
Franchise connection[]
John Munch appeared in Law & Order: Trial by Jury "Skeleton, Part 2".
Universe connections[]
- Erin Lindsay from Chicago P.D. appeared on "Comic Perversion". It continued on Chicago P.D. "Conventions" where Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola and Amanda Rollins appeared.
- Chicago Fire "Nobody Touches Anything" is followed by "Chicago Crossover" and concludes in "They'll Have to Go Through Me".
- Chicago Fire "We Called Her Jellybean" begins a crossover that continues in Chicago P.D. "The Number of Rats" and concludes in "Daydream Believer".
- "Nationwide Manhunt" concludes in Chicago P.D. "The Song of Gregory William Yates".
Westphall connections in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit[]
- In the film Lawrence of Arabia, fictional reporter Jackson Bentley works for the fictional Chicago Courier newspaper. This newspaper appears in "Hope".
- The National Probe tabloid, prominently seen in I Love Your Work is seen in "Deception".
- A photograph of Baby Jane Hudson from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? can be seen on a table behind Ash Ramsey's desk in "Shadow".
Connections to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit[]
- In Arrested Development "Exit Strategy", Munch is briefly seen working undercover to try to extract confessions from criminals.
- In The Beat "They Say it's Your Birthday", John Munch helps out Dorigan and Marinelli.
- In the (untitled) fifth episode of the first season of Luther, the titular character tells his colleague to contact Detective Munch in New York's Special Victims Unit.
- The Wire "Took" was set in Baltimore, the same city as Homicide: Life on the Street; in the episode , Munch is seen at a bar, complaining about the service. He mentions that he used to own a bar himself - this was a recurring subplot in Homicide.
Other connections[]
- The children's show Sesame Street featured a spoof of Special Victims Unit, complete with its own Munch. However, this Munch was a Muppet character and not voiced by Richard Belzer, and so does not count as a crossover.