There are show that have been on-air for forever, and then there’s Law & Order: SVU. The police procedural has been cranking out episodes before the turn of the millennium, its first episode bowing in late September, 1999. It’s still going. It may never stop going. SVU is set to begin its 25th season — yes, twenty-fifth! — this month. But when exactly?
The answer: On Thursday, January 18th at 9pm EST, on its forever home at NBC.
Over that quarter century, there’s been one constant: Mariska Hargitay, whose Olivia Benson has gone from Jr. Detective to, in 2021, Captain. Ice-T’s Fin Tutola is the show’s second most enduring character, first appearing in Season 2, also as a Jr. Detective, and now a Sergeant. Good for both of them! Meanwhile, Christopher Meloni’s Sr. Detective Elliot Stabler, who departed in Season 12, has been back since Season 22, albeit only in recurring mode. After all, he’s been busy with another L&O spinoff, Organized Crime.
Though SVU will almost certainly never end, duking it out with The Simpsons on which can remain on TV forever, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t attracted its share of backlash. Back in 2022, the show was called out by John Oliver for essentially offering a “fantasy” version of how real-life police handle sexually-based offenses. But surely its legions of fans know, verisimilitude aside, this isn’t how the criminal justice system really works, right? Right??
