Unrelenting, powerful and full of twists, Law & Order remains TV’s longest running crime series of all time. Honored with 11 consecutive Primetime Emmy® Award nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and an amazing 50 Primetime Emmy® Award nominations since its inception, this acclaimed and intelligent series continues to captivate audiences with its provocative storylines ripped from today’s news headlines. And now, the entire Seventh Year—all 23 groundbreaking episodes—are available on DVD in this five-disc collector’s set. Carey Lowell joins returning stars Benjamin Bratt, Sam Waterston and Jerry Orbach as they take on new cases that deal with everything from explosive race relations to poisonous blood relations. Also featuring guest stars Taye Diggs, Edie Falco, Lauren Graham, Felicity Huffman, Jennifer Esposito and more, it’s hard-hitting viewing that sets the bar for every other legal drama ever made.
Buy “Law & Order: The Seventh Year” For Only $38.94
June 10, 2008
#1
I liked this show and still do, as a matter of fact, I purchased the first season when it first came out and then I waited…………..and waited ………………and waited…..and waited for the second season and it seemed to take years for it to arrive on shelves so one day I was in the store and I saw a new release for Law & Order and I said “It’s about time”……..IT WAS THE 4th Season, so I said to myself, what happened to the 2nd and the 3rd season???, so I traded in the first season and gave up on it. If you’re going to crank out the seasons, then CRANK OUT THE SEASONS IN NUMERICAL ORDER, don’t screw with us, we’re not stupid, we make YOU, YOU don’t make us, someone should remind you studios of that once in awhile.
NYPD BLUE is the same way, they came out with 4 seasons and then BOOM, they haven’t come out with anything since and that was years ago, life is too short and I’ve moved on.
I’d rather get Law & Order: SVU, a much better quality show anyway, it’s not so monotonous as Law & order is, every episode is Murder…catch the crook…..trial…murder… catch the crook ….trial….it gets boring after awhile, and they’ve done this for 16 years now?
June 10, 2008
#2
OK, OK…so the DVD isn’t out yet…I can still comment on the show as I remember it. A superb packaging doesn’t make it better or worse.
This was Benjamin Bratt’s second season (after replacing Chris Noth) and Cary Lowell’s first season (replacing Jill Hennessy.) I’ve already commented that Ben Bratt was a ratings move rather than a quality move. He wasn’t bad, he just broke the spell of the “New York” feel to the show we had with Chris Noth and Jerry Orbach as cynical cops. They may not have had much contrast, but it felt more real to THIS New Yorker.
Cary Lowell in for the (supposedly) dead Jill Hennessy….OK, didn’t hurt nor help, since they were both cut from the same privileged Ivy-League character.
Anyway, episodes in this season started to “borrow” from earlier episodes: Briscoe is accused of corruption and needs to wear a wire (“The Blue Wall” season one.) Criminal investigations are again stalled by technicalities (Causa Mortis…the tape is inadmissible.) A sequel to the Season 3 (or 4) “Malcolm X”-type shooting…with an equally unsatisfying ending.
I noticed this season, the writers were happy to allow murderers to go free and endings to lack finality or completeness…they spun it as realistic…I took it as lazy.
The show also broke out of its “city” mold with stories about suburban Soccer Moms and a 3-PARTER in LOS ANGELES !!!
There are some great episodes: Matrimony, from the Anna Nicole Smith case, Karen Allen as a basket-case survivor, “Barter” an interesting spin on the loan business, Burt Young as a paroled serial-rapist, a race against time bargain with a cop shooter…etc.
The best episode of the season (i.e. where the plot gets more and more twisted thought the entire hour) is “Past Imperfect” about a murdered actress…well, it’s about that for 10 minutes.
Anyway, my point is, in Season 7 confirmed that Season 6 was not a fluke…the varying quality of the episodes had slipped further and that the “street” feel to the show was gone: Curtis is a family man, Lenny tries to be a better father, Cary Lowell fixed up McCoy with a date instead of sleeping with him….political correctness had crept in and flawed characters had less flaws.
The show never really recovered…subsequent seasons saw the loss of the intricate plotting where the whodunnit, followed by the “whydunnit” was replaced with polemics and weak endings.
Season 8 was about the same (no cast changes) and the ratio of good to bad was the same…but with Season 9…watch out.
June 10, 2008
#3
I am a long time fan of this show and I enjoy all the old episodes with Jerry Orbach
June 10, 2008
#4
One of my favorite seasons, Law and Order Season 7 has a little bit of everything. While one of the previous reviewers complains about what they call the predictable “body found-investigation-arrest-trial” pattern of Law and Order, what they fail to recognize is the case variety and the myriad issues involved that make each episode unique. While it’s true that the show seems to follow a certain pattern, the underlying causes and the secondary issues at play in each episode makes the show relevant after all these years. While “Good Girl” and “Entrapment” return to the familiar Law and Order territory of racial conflict and and police misconduct rears its head in “Corruption”, “I.D.” deals with identity theft and sexual harrassment (from a judge), and “Mad Dog” deals with the controversial issue of dealing with rapists/sex offenders post-incarceration, to cite just two examples.