The NBC procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has captivated television
audiences with hard-hitting stories of murder and sexual assault "ripped from the headlines."
With that many installments in the can, there are sure to be some interesting
facts about the massively popular show's history, cast, and crew.
"These are their stories." Back in 1999, Dick Wolf, creator of the
original Law & Order, initially planned for his new series to be called Law & Order: Sex Crimes.
"I don't like the sound of that."
And neither did the production studio head at the time, who didn't want "sex" in the title.
So Wolf went with the actual NYPD sex crimes unit's official name — Special
Victims Unit — honoring the real-life officers who
investigate sexually-based offenses in all of New York City's five boroughs.
Rapper and actor Ice-T has played Detective Fin Tutuola for more than 16 seasons,
becoming a fan favorite for his portrayal of the streetsmart, no-nonsense detective …
"First, spit that lollipop out before I smack it out your mouth."
… but Fin's long-term presence on the show almost never happened. The rapper only
agreed to four episodes at first because he was concerned about the "brutal" shooting schedule,
saying in his memoir "I'd rather have less money and more freedom."
But Ice-T signed on for the long haul after he was reassured that, as part of an ensemble cast,
the hours wouldn't be grueling and the residuals he'd earn as a series
regular on a potentially long-running show would earn him a steady post-show income.
Just like — to quote Ice — a "little money machine."
The addition of actor Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch made SVU the only primetime television
drama ever to technically be spun off from two separate shows. The Munch character was previously
in Homicide: Life on the Street and also had a four-episode run on the original Law & Order.
Munch has appeared in ten different television programs across five different networks,
including appearances in The Wire, Arrested Development, and even The X-Files …
"Why is a detective from another network tracking down extra-terrestrials on FOX?"
"What I'm looking at here is an FBI agent who likes to talk about space aliens."
Shortly after being cast in the series as Olivia Benson in 1999,
actress Mariska Hargitay actually became a trained rape-victim advocate. She made the
decision after her fan mail switched from autograph requests to real life victims
sharing their stories with the woman behind the fictional detective ...
"You survived the abuse, Gia.
You're gonna survive the recovery."
Her dedication to victims of sexual assault didn't stop there — Hargitay established the non-profit
Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004. The charity provides support to survivors of sexual assault,
domestic violence, and child abuse. The foundation even brought experts in the
field together with the writers and producers of SVU to help craft storylines for the show.
A "ripped from the headlines" 2016 SVU episode about a presidential candidate
accused of sexual misconduct was set to air on October 12th …
"I'm a handsome, charming millionaire. Women throw themselves at me."
… but the episode was ripped from the schedule and postponed for undisclosed reasons,
and may never air at all. Some speculate it may be shelved permanently because,
a few days prior to the episode's original airdate, the infamous bombshell Access
Hollywood tape featuring then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was leaked to the press.
"And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything."
"Whatever you want."
Meanwhile, Ice-T says the lost episode wasn't one of the show's best,
and he thinks they got rid of it because it was too on-the-nose. But he also adds,
"They paid me for it. I don't give a f---, really. I got my money!"
For the first 11 seasons of SVU, the vast majority of episode titles were just one word long.
But beginning in Season 13, keen-eyed viewers began to notice a pattern …
"Police work." Starting in the 13th season,
episode titles were all two words, always with the same number of letters as the number of the
current season. So "Acceptable Loss" from season 14 is 14 letters long and "Manhattan
Transfer" from season 17 is 17 letters long, and so forth. That's pretty cool, right?
"Don't look at me. I just know stuff."
But when Season 18 premiered in late 2016,
the titles stopped following a specific pattern ... or did they?
"Tell me we have a lead." "Stone cold 'No.”
Now that we're up to season 23, eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the episode titles
so far have been 23 letters long, so the SVU pattern continues...
Thanks for watching! Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our
YouTube channel. Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!