Summary of "The 4th Year - Longest running crime drama": This season seems light on the guest stars, but there are still a bunch of big names. Look for Gareth Williams (Dawson's Creek), Sebastian Roche (Odyssey 5), James Earl Jones, Hudson Leick (Xena: Warrior Princess), Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Zeljko Ivanek (Oz), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Enrico Colantoni (Just Shoot Me), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), Malik Yoba (New York Undercover), J.K. Simmons (Oz), John Heard and Allison Janney (The West Wing).
This is one of the finest dramas on television. The show is in its 16th year; it's the longest-running crime drama series. (read entire review)
The 3rd Year/1992-93 Season - So long Det. Lennie Briscoe (6/16/2005)
Summary of "The 3rd Year/1992-93 Season - So long Det. Lennie Briscoe": The third season got off to a great start with guest actors! The first episode features a few known faces now, which weren't so known at the time; Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Claire Danes (My So-Called Life), Gina Torres (Firefly, Angel) and Alberta Watson (La Femme Nikita). The guest stars don't stop with the first episode though, so keep your eyes open for Michael Jace (The Shield), Suzanne Cryer (Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place), John Ortiz (The Job), Patti D'Arbanville (New York Undercover), Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager), Ron Rifkin (Alias), Gary Basaraba (Boomtown), Seth Gilliam (The Wire, Oz), Gail Strickland (Melrose Place), Edie Falco (Oz, The Sopranos), Dan Hedaya (Lucky), Julianna Margulies (E.R.), Dana Elcar (MacGyver), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Oz, Lost), Jorja Fox (C.S.I.), Morgan Weisser (Space: Above and Beyond), Sam Rockwell (Galaxy Quest) and Camryn Manheim (The Practice).
Everything said in the tribute to Jerry Orbach is true; he was this show. I've never really watched it on TV, but when I think of the show I always picture Orbach as one of the cops. He died far too young, and he'll be sadly missed.
Summary of "The 14th Year/2004 Season - Don't judge a set by its package": While I love this show, and the stories it tells, the set is marred by the 4:3 picture, and the poor chapters. Maybe it sounds like I'm moaning about minor issues, but Universal was doing such a good job with their TV products. I feel as though they took 10 steps forward, but the past few steps have been taken backwards. Now that I have the negative things out of the way, I was happy to see there were more extras on this set, and the packaging is extremely slick. If they could correct the issue with the chapters, and possibly explain why they're going with 4:3 video instead of 16:9 then my reviews of the sets would be much shorter, and more positive. Please Universal, let me write reviews filled with praise. (read entire review)
Summary of "The 2nd Year - Still Great!": Guest stars
Season two continued to have some great guest stars, some of whom were just getting their starts in show business. Look for:
Daniel von Bargen (Malcolm in the Middle), Vyto Ruginis (The Glass House), Geoffrey Nauffts (The Commish), Jerry Orbach (Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial By Jury), Maura Tierney (Newsradio, ER), Frank Vincent (The Sopranos), Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer), Yancy Butler (Witchblade, Brooklyn South), Reed Diamond (Homicide: Life on the Street), David Burke (Party of Five), Isaiah Washington (Soul Food), Luis Guzmán (I>Oz), Alberta Watson (La Femme Nikita), Allison Janney (The West Wing), Frank John Hughes (Band of Brothers), Jude Ciccolella (24), Nancy Marchand (The Sopranos), Nicholas Turturro (NYPD Blue), Will Friedle (Boy Meets World), William H. Macy (ER), Kelli Williams (The Practice), Jerry Stiller (The King of Queens), Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders) and Sam Rockwell (Galaxy Quest).
I was happy to see that Universal correctly placed chapters, but some of the other changes bothered me a bit. I'm not a fan of forced trailers, and while there's a screen telling us we can fast-forward past them, why not enable the "menu" or "chapter" buttons? We paid for these discs and we shouldn't be forced to watch commercials on them. At least the trailers (Monk, Northern Exposure and Quantum Leap) were interesting, although they were a bit premature because they said "now available" when those sets haven't been released yet. Another big change is in the DVD themselves - jumping from 6 DVD-9s to 3 DVD-18s. Now I don't mind DVD-18s at all, but I've heard from more than a few people who dislike these discs. There seems to be this idea that they're fragile, but I've never experienced problems with them. Sure, the discs don't contain any artwork, but I usually take the discs out of the packaging and place it in my player; I don't look at the artwork. I can see how someone with a 5 disc player would be annoyed since they would have to flip the discs over while they wouldn't have to do that with season 1.
This set kicks off Universal's latest TV-on-DVD push and will be followed up by a lot more products in the coming months. (read entire review)
Summary of "The 1st Year - Season 1": Wow, wow, wow! Look at all the amazing guest stars that appeared in the first season of this series! Almost every episode contains one guest star that will make you sit up, snap your fingers and point at the TV (or maybe it's just me). Here are the people I picked out: Daniel Benzali (Murder One, The Agency), Ron Rifkin (Alias), Lee Tergesen (Oz), John Spencer (The West Wing), Cynthia Nixon (Sex & The City), Jake Webber (American Gothic), William H. Macy (ER, Out of Order, Magnolia), Vanessa Williams (Soul Food), Aida Turturro (The Sopranos), Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Oz), Camryn Manheim (The Practice), Christine Baranski (Cybill), Joe Lisi (Third Watch), James McDaniel (NYPD Blue), Anthony Heald (Boston Public) and Dominic Chianese (Sopranos). Special attention should be given to episode 14, "The Violence of Summer" which features Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal), Megan Gallagher (Millennium), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Red Dragon) and Samuel L. Jackson (too many to list). From what I can tell this was the first time Gil Bellows and Philip Seymour Hoffman appeared on screen, and since there was another Philip Hoffman in the same episode, this episode of Law & Order might have caused the now-famous Hoffman to include his middle name when he's credited. Wouldn't that be an interesting piece of trivia!
I've watched episodes of the series here and there, but I never really got into it; this DVD set has changed that. The quality of the audio and video surprised me, and the stories were riveting. I enjoy the split between the cops and the lawyers, and the problems that both sides face.
After a wait of almost a year and a half, Law & Order: Season 2 will be released in early May. With the Univeral/NBC joining almost complete, Universal has been announcing titles steadily. (read entire review)
DVDs Formally Announced for The 7th Year: Date and Early Details ***UPDATE: BOX ART***
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... (read entire news item)
4/08/2009
7th Season DVD Set for the Original L&O is Available for Early Pre-order from Amazon
Universal hasn't scheduled the title yet, but online retailer Amazon.com has added a pre-announcement listing where you can pre-order Law & Order - The 7th Year on DVD right away. Since no street date... (read entire news item)
9/10/2008
Studio Sends Out Package Art for Law & Order - The 6th Year
Yesterday we showed you a menu screen from Universal's December 2nd release of Law & Order - The 6th Year on DVD. Late today the studio sent out the package art to go along with it, and we've got a look... (read entire news item)
9/09/2008
Take a Look at this Menu Screen from Law & Order - The 6th Year DVDs
Last week Universal announced that Law & Order - The 6th Year will make it out on DVD this December 2nd. The 5-disc set includes all 23 episodes, including Benjamin Bratt ("Detective Rey Curtis") joining... (read entire news item)
9/01/2008
Release Date, Details & Extras for Law & Order - The 6th Year DVDs
We've learned that Universal Studios Home Entertainment is preparing a December 2nd release for Law & Order - The 6th Year on DVD. The 5-disc set will run 1090 minutes long, and include the bonus crossover... (read entire news item)
1/08/2007
Artwork for season 5
Last week we posted news that the fifth season of Law & Order would be released on April 3, and now we have artwork: (read entire news item)
1/02/2007
Season 5 coming in April
Universal has announced the fifth season of the original Law & Order for release on April 3. The 5 disc set will include all 23 episodes, with episodes presented in Full Frame (1.33:1):
Second Opinion
Coma
Blue... (read entire news item)
9/15/2005
Season 4 box art
Universal has started running ads for the fourth season of Law & Order in trade publications; reader Nathan Arms sent us a scan of the ad and we pulled out the box art:
You can see menu shots in our... (read entire news item)
9/13/2005
4th Year DVD Menus Reveal Lots of Deleted Scenes
Universal will deliver a ton of deleted scenes on the fourth season DVD set; 43 scenes from 10 episodes. Here are the menus from the set, including the bonus menu which lists the episodes: (read entire news item)
9/12/2005
All Rise! The 4th Season Comes To Order In December!
Dann Florek ("Captain Cragen") leaves the show, heralding the arrival of S. Epatha Merkerson as new Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) boss "Lt. Anita Van Buren" in the 4th Season of Law &... (read entire news item)
3/21/2005
S3 Extras announced, featuring Jerry Orbach. Plus $10-off deal.
Last Monday saw the announcement of Law & Order - The 3rd Year/1992-93 Season, finally coming to DVD on May 24th. At the time we didn't have a list of bonus material for this compilation, but now Universal... (read entire news item)
3/18/2005
Full-Size Cover Art for 3rd Season, plus a word about more SVU and CI
At the beginning of this week Universal announced the long-awaited release of Law & Order - The 3rd Year/1992-93 Season, and in our story about the May 24th release, we had a thumbnail look at the front... (read entire news item)
3/14/2005
Briscoe arrives: Official 3rd Season Announcement
In late January we posted a story relaying info from Universal Studios press release that mentioned a May 17th release of the 3rd Season of Law & Order. That date has since slipped by a week, but fans... (read entire news item)
1/21/2005
3rd Season comes to DVD in May!
Ron Epstein, co-owner of The Home Theater Forum website (recently written up by Forbes as being among "The Best of the Web", a well-deserved honor), has posted a press release there from Universal Studios... (read entire news item)
6/24/2004
Crowded release date eases up just a bit with delay of 3 Law & Order releases
September 7th is a day that's VERY crowded with TV-on-DVD releases, as we mentioned in our Will & Grace news yesterday. There are over 2 DOZEN titles scheduled for release on that day, many of them high-priced... (read entire news item)
6/16/2004
Full-Size Cover Art for Briscoe, Green, McCoy, & Southerlyn
Following up on our story the other day, we now have full-sized artwork for the Sept. 7th release of Law & Order - The 14th Year/2004 Season. Enjoy! (read entire news item)
Recently we reported that Sept. 7th would see the DVD releases of Law & Order - The 14th Year/2004 Season, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The 5th Year/2004 Season, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent... (read entire news item)
6/01/2004
Season 14 release confirmed; official announcement today
Last week we gave you the heads-up about this, and quite frankly some of our readers didn't believe it. But it's true, and not just for the original series, either.
September 7th will see a wave of... (read entire news item)
5/25/2004
Season 1, Season 2...Season 14?!?!
Universal Studios Home Video dropped a bombshell today, skipping a dozen seasons of Law & Order and announcing Season 14 for release on Sept. 7th!
After releasing Law & Order - The 1st Year in Oct.... (read entire news item)
2/20/2004
More on S2: Extras, New Art, Save $
After the news earlier in the week that Law & Order - The 2nd Year is coming out on May 4th, and giving you the specs and price, you didn't think there would be more for us to tell you. Right?
Wrong.... (read entire news item)
2/17/2004
The 2nd Year is Here! *Updated*
After what must have felt like an eternity to fans of the show, Law & Order - The 2nd Year has been announced today for DVD release by Universal Home Video. This second season consists of 22 episodes... (read entire news item)
9/30/2003
A Barnes & Noble Exclusive!!
Law & Order fans may be highly interested in this. The Barnes & Noble book chain is selling an exclusive Law & Order DVD set. It even has the Barnes & Noble logo on the back of the box!
Streeting... (read entire news item)
6/05/2003
Easy Come, Easy Go
We titled our very recent (5/20) news item "Disappointing news for Law & Order fans...", where we noted that Universal was releasing more DVDs, but "not the season sets that are clearly desired by the... (read entire news item)
5/20/2003
Disappointing news for Law & Order fans...
For release on 8/26, at an SRP of $29.98 each, Universal is planning to
release these titles, each containing 2 discs:
Law & Order: Badge of Dishonor
Law & Order: Organized & Unsolved Crimes
While... (read entire news item)
8/19/2002
Season One Cover art
Here's the cover art for the upcoming Law & Order: The First Year set due October 15th. (read entire news item)
