Law & Order, we need to have a serious talk.
After 35 years (counting the ten-year hiatus), some things are bound to change, but the cold opens shouldn’t be one of them.
Law & Order originally had a winning formula, and it’s a shame that the newer episodes don’t follow it.
The Original Law & Order Had The Right Idea
When Law & Order first premiered in the 1990s, it had a very simple yet effective way to open each episode.
Someone would be walking a dog, getting on a subway, or otherwise living their life when suddenly they stumbled across a dead body.
Ironically, the pilot episode didn’t do this, but pilots usually don’t follow the same rules as the rest of the series.
This worked for so many reasons.
Among other things, that perfectly fits the character of New York City.
New York is a city where people are out and about at all hours of the day and night, so it’s believable that someone would constantly run across something horrifying.
The only thing that was unrealistic was that they always called the police.
Story-wise, it was always so much fun to solve the mystery alongside the cops.
It’s sort of like how Elsbeth is more fun when we don’t do the Columbo-style thing of learning ahead of time who the killer was.
It’s just not as much fun when you know the right answer and are waiting for the characters to catch up!
Why, Exactly, Have We Ditched This For Victims’ Life Stories?
Both Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU have developed a bad habit of revealing too much.
Nobody needs so much of the victim’s life story that it feels like a pilot to a new show.
Cold opens (the scene before the opening credits) used to be two minutes long, not 10-15 minutes, and they typically focused on discovering that someone had been victimized and the police arriving on the scene.
I know that shows have to change with the times, and 2025 won’t be the same as 1990 or 1999.
However, not all progress is beneficial.
Bring back the shorter cold opens!
Law & Order Has Taken Some Steps In The Right Direction Recently
I was thrilled that Law & Order Season 24 was getting closer to the right kind of cold open.
We still had the victim’s story, which was unnecessary, but at least the cold opens were shorter again.
Do you have strong feelings about Law & Order?
We need to hear them! Hit the comments with all of your passion. As a bonus, it’ll help me be able to write more articles like this.
The cold open can’t take up a quarter of the show. If it does, there’s not enough time to actually develop the case.
That’s a secondary problem with the newer episodes.
Instead of proper police work, we often get an exclusive focus on one suspect until they’re proven innocent, then a second innocent suspect, then the guilty party.
Even if Law & Order keeps that formula, it needs to ditch the victims’ backstories.
It makes it too damn obvious who did it, which turns the formula into an irritating waiting game until the cops get it right.
Do You Agree, Law & Order Fanatics?
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Law & Order will return with all new episodes on NBC on September 25, 2025.
And catch our other coverage of the franchise leading into the the 35th anniversary of the pilot episode, which premiered on September 13, 1990.
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