Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

The cast is first rate, delivering sympathetic and believable performances. The writing is intelligent, providing intellectual grist to the grisly moments. And the direction is as crisp as it is clever. [20 Sept 1999, p.1E]

A crackling-sharp spinoff...The show swiftly finds its balance. Not every series lends itself to cloning, but the essential qualities of "Law and Order" seem made for it: headline-generated stories resolved in self-contained episodes; a no-nonsense tone; a cast large enough to vary the focus.

It's only measured against that formidable benchmark that the spinoff falls short of those expectations. It's a solid drama, but it's no Law & Order - yet...On its own, it's a good show. But it's got the genes to be great. [20 Sept 1999, p.1E]

Despite a bizarre courtroom sequence that strains credibility early in the episode, this is a very good start for Special Victims Unit, which promises to be a solid cop drama capable of occasionally stretching toward greatness.

And we learn more about the lives of Stabler and Benson than Wolf usually reveals in a whole season with his L&O detectives. [20 Sept 1999, p.1]

It takes a while to pull you in -- but once it does, you're likely to stay. [20 Sept 1999, p.1D]

Time will tell whether this spin-off of NBC's cops-to-courts standby can lure an audience to Mondays. There's plenty here to work with. The question is, in what direction will creator Dick Wolf move it all? [20 Sept 1999, p.E1]

Victims Unit also imports Mr. Belzer's sardonic John Munch character from NBC's canceled Homicide: Life on the Street. His wise-guy asides are a little forced in this first hour, as are some of the recurring sexual references. But the featured case gets more compelling by the minute. [20 Sept 1999, p.1C]

The key here is that the emotional payoffs are dead-on. [20 Sept 1999, p.38]

The absence of the familiar law-order yin-yang gives the spin-off its own identity, but in the beginning it feels like a loss...What may turn out to sink this sharply written, well-acted show, however, is the premise itself. The prospect of tuning in every week to confront a creepy new sex crime, with most of the victims women and children, simply isn't very appealing. [20 Sept 1999, p.E6]

As a loyal "Homicide" viewer, for me Munch is the best part of SVU, especially in tonight's scene where he explains his departure from Baltimore. [20 Sept 1999, p.B-1]

First episode lacks the energy and grit of the first season of "Law & Order," but Anthony Jannelli's camera work reveals the guilty, and director Jean De Segonzac and editor Doug Ibold keep the action taught even when it's apparent exactly where things are headed.