Law & Order

NBC | Release Date: September 13, 1990

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

69	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Ken TuckerJun 13, 2013

Season 11 Review: L&O's been having a sleek, swift season. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 12, 2013

Season 8 Review: It's as fine a crime show as any that television has produced. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 9, 2013

Season 2 Review: [Its] quality has, if anything, improved in its second season. Read full review

John J. O'ConnorMar 7, 2013

Season 1 Review: The first four episodes, made available for preview, indicate that Law and Order could climb quickly to the top echelons of the genre, right up there with "Crime Story" and "Hill Street Blues." [13 Sept 1990, p.C26]

Maureen Ryan

Season 19 Review: All in all, the show is much better than it was when it was rotely doing “ripped from the headline” stories, which was only a few seasons ago. Read full review

Gillian FlynnJun 18, 2013

Season 15 Review: Still humming along, L&O has become the ultimate comfort show: Every week it offers a new crime cut, dried, and shelved, making the series a handy, self-contained alternative to all the serial dramas with their demanding mythologies. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 11, 2013

Season 6 Review: I've noticed a drop in the quality of the writing. Too many cases derive their initial inspiration from real events (the Susan Smith case, and even, recently, that of Patty Hearst), with slight, facile alterations. Then too, the dialogue, once a model of hard-boiled terseness, is all too often now a jumble of gabby cliches. ... But you never know when L&O will let loose a corker. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 10, 2013

Season 3 Review: Orbach has restored to Law & Order the grit it was starting to lack at the end of its '92 season. As Det. Lennie Briscoe, Orbach displays a smoky voice, impatient manner, and perennial air of hangdog cynicism that adds some realistic rust to L&O's gleaming efficiency. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 7, 2013

Season 1 Review: It's a little gimmicky, but it works, primarily on the strength of the cast. Read full review

Verne Gay

Season 19 Review: A few new faces from last season are back, but the formula remains ironclad, right down to the soaring courtroom rhetoric and McCoy's somewhat suspect ethical calculus. This comfort food remains comfortable, indeed. Read full review

Ken Tucker

Season 19 Review: Wolf has put snappin' Jack at the center of some of the best episodes of the immortal series' 19th season. Read full review

Tom ShalesMar 7, 2013

Season 1 Review: Nothing if not serious, and nothing if not good, NBC's Law & Order nevertheless seems a victim of one particular TV tyranny. Its stories are too long for the one-hour format into which they are stuffed. Otherwise the series... has all the ingredients associated with quality television: strong scripts, relevant themes and a cast that qualifies as first-rate-plus. [13 Sept 1990, p.D1]