Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American television series set in New York City, where it was primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001 as the third season of Wolf`s hit Law & Order franchise. Criminal Intent focuses on Major Case Squad`s investigation in a fictional version of the New York City Police Department at New York`s One Police Plaza. In the style of the original Law & Order, episodes are often “ripped from the headlines” or loosely based on an actual crime that has attracted media attention. This series of the franchise is characterized by a strong focus on the motivations and actions of criminals and runs parallel to the investigation with scenes from the lives of suspects that show the audience circumstances that investigators can deduce to the maximum. Each episode shows a cold opening of the victim and suspects in (at most) a few days before the crime; These scenes are depicted without context and maintain tension over the identity and often motive of the perpetrator until subsequent investigation reveals it. However, some episodes reveal the culprit at first, while other important details are omitted and a mystery is presented that detectives work on and torture themselves to find out. In doing so, they provide the episode`s plot conflict and (usually) the solution to the case: solving the crime and (also) suggesting a plea or verdict of “guilty”. Sometimes, however, detectives accept that a conviction is not feasible – or an acquittal or dismissal dramatizes the limits of prosecution. Unlike other Law & Order series, most episodes of criminal intent end with detectives making confessions instead of moving on to trial.
A Russian version of L&O:CI (filmed in Moscow with Russian actors) premiered in March 2007, where it was shown immediately along with the Russian version of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to become one of Russia`s highest-rated series. As a result, the original order was expanded from eight episodes to about 40 episodes. The show is called Закон и порядок. Преступный умысел (Law & Order: Criminal Intent[54]) During the first season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (L&O:CI), several actors from the original series made appearances as characters from Law & Order (L&O). Dianne Wiest appeared in the first episode of the series, “One”, Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin played guest roles in the episode “Poison”, S. Epatha Merkerson appeared in the episode “Badge”, and J.K. Simmons appeared in the episode “Crazy”.
The media reported in August 2010 that actor Jeff Goldblum (Detective Zachary Nichols) had decided to leave the cast of Law & Order: CI. [13] [14] The return option of all actors officially expired on July 31, 2010, after being extended by one month on June 30, 2010, when they were initially active. A final decision by USA Network on renewing the series for another season had not yet been announced at the time. In 2005, Chris Noth reprised his role as Detective Mike Logan for the fourth season of the series. This appearance led Noth to join the cast in the fifth season and appear in the lead role for half of the season`s episodes. Noth remained on the show for three seasons before leaving the show in 2008. Law & Order: Criminal Intent has been produced in 16:9 aspect ratio since late 2003, when it first aired on HDTV. NBC standard definition networks aired shortened episodes to 4:3 until 2006, when all Law & Order series began airing 16:9 episodes for SD.
Reruns of these episodes, which were shortened to 4:3, were later aired in 16:9. However, some broadcasters outside the U.S. still use versions adapted to 4:3. Criminal Intent follows the NYPD Manhattan`s “Major Case Squad,” a group of detectives investigating high-profile cases (in most cases murders, kidnappings, or major robberies), such as VIPs, local government officials and employees, the financial industry, and the art world. On May 22, 2008, USA Network renewed Criminal Intent for an eighth season. Season 7 was the highest-rated TV series on Basic Cable, having more than quadrupled the audience at 10 p.m. Thursday on USA Network compared to last year`s ratings. Nielsen`s ratings for the week of July 13, 2008 showed that Criminal Intent ranked sixth in the top 20 cable ratings with an audience base of 4.899 million viewers. The network ordered 16 episodes, which were originally scheduled to air in November 2008, but the network postponed the first, first to February 5, 2009, then with a scheduled spring/summer 2009 date, and finally announced the April 19 launch date.
The only change in the cast of season seven was[9] the departure of Chris Noth and his replacement by Jeff Goldblum. At the end of season 7, Leight, who was focusing on In Treatment, was replaced by new executive producers Walon Green and Robert Nathan.[12] In December 2008, Nathan left the series after completing two episodes of Goldblum. Law & Order co-executive producer and writer Ed Zuckerman then accepted Nathan`s assignment while continuing his duties for the original 19th season of Law & Order. Michael Chernuchin produced the episodes of Green and Tim Lea co-produced the episodes of Zuckerman. Other executive producers of the series include Norberto Barba, Peter Jankowski, Diana Son, Julie Martin and Arthur W. Forney. Charlie Rubin was the supervising producer and Balcer, Eric Overmyer and Siobhan Byrne O`Connor were the consulting producers. In April 2009, NBC began airing Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 8 a few days after it premiered in the United States. In the fifth season, Chris Noth joined the cast and reprises his role as Detective Mike Logan from the original Law & Order.
Noth alternated the lead role in every other episode with D`Onofrio and was partnered with Annabella Sciorra as Detective Carolyn Barek. Sciorra left the band after one season. The series aired on NBC for the first six seasons, but moved to NBCUniversal`s USA network starting with the seventh season to split costs and due to declining ratings. During NBC`s broadcast, each episode aired the week after NBC`s original broadcast in the United States. The 10th and final season premiered on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 9 p.m. EDT[1] with Vincent D`Onofrio[2] and Kathryn Erbe[3] as detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames, respectively, and Jay O.