| Law & Order | |
|---|---|
| Season 18 | |
 Season 18 U.S. DVD cover | |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | January 2 – May 21, 2008 |
| Season chronology | |
The 18th season of Law & Order premiered with a two part episode on NBC on January 2, 2008, and concluded on May 21, 2008. This was the final season to feature Jesse L. Martin, as he departs the series when Anthony Anderson joins the cast in episode 14.
On May 13, 2007, NBC renewed Law & Order for an 18th season of 22 episodes as part of a deal made by series creator Dick Wolf and NBC. [1] Though the series was originally scheduled to air on Sundays as a midseason replacement for NBC Sunday Night Football , [2] TV Guide reported on December 4, 2007, that Law & Order would debut instead on Wednesday, January 2, 2008. [3]
René Balcer, who had developed and produced spinoff Law & Order: Criminal Intent , returned to Law & Order as executive producer. [4] Production of season 18 was interrupted by the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. When Balcer and the rest of the writing staff participated in the work stoppage, the mid-season delay meant that the season only had 18 episodes instead of the scheduled 22.
In May 2007, cast member Fred Thompson departed the series to return to politics, with reports saying he would seek the Republican nomination for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. [5] His character, District Attorney Arthur Branch, was replaced in that function by Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy, with McCoy being promoted to Branch's vacant seat after serving as Executive Assistant District Attorney since the resignation of his predecessor Benjamin Stone. [6] Since this move required that a new character be added to the series, the writers created the role of EADA Michael Cutter and British actor Linus Roache was brought in to portray him. [7]
Because of the equal-time rule, which requires that broadcasters treat legally qualified political candidates equally in regard to air time, NBC announced in July 2007 that it would not broadcast any episode of Law & Order in which Thompson appeared after September 1. [8] Thompson officially declared his intention to seek nomination on September 5, 2007, when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno . [9]
Milena Govich, who played Detective Nina Cassady, also did not return to the series after joining the cast one year earlier following the departure of Dennis Farina (Joe Fontana). [10] She was replaced by Jeremy Sisto, who had guest starred as a defense attorney in the 17th season finale, as Detective Ed Green's new partner Cyrus Lupo. [11]
Rounding out the list of departures was Jesse L. Martin, who announced he was leaving the series after portraying Det. Ed Green since 1999. [12] Martin, who was scheduled to appear in only 13 episodes this season, announced the move in February 2008 and made his final appearance in "Burn Card". Anthony Anderson, who made his debut as Detective Kevin Bernard in the same episode, was then added to the cast. [13]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 394 | 1 | "Called Home" | Allen Coulter | René Balcer | January 2, 2008 | 18001 | 13.46 [14] |
Det. Cyrus Lupo returns to New York after serving four years abroad in the Intelligence division after learning his brother Thomas Lupo committed suicide. Lupo and Green reluctantly partner up to investigate another suicide committed the same way and soon find a suspect in a parolee known as "Dr. Death".
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| 395 | 2 | "Darkness" | Michael Dinner | William N. Fordes & David Slack | January 2, 2008 | 18006 | 13.46 [14] |
Green and Lupo's first official case together is a kidnapping that happened during a citywide blackout; a housekeeper is slain and a mother and daughter are kidnapped. The evidence that links all the kidnappers is the father and husband of the kidnap victims. When they search the kidnappers' hideout, they find preparations which implies that the kidnappers knew that the blackout was coming. Cutter must convince the man to testify after he has lied about a search warrant to save the man's daughter, or else the kidnappers will all go free. Issues of a warrantless search arise.
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| 396 | 3 | "Misbegotten" | Michael Watkins | David Wilcox & Stephanie Sengupta | January 9, 2008 | 18002 | 11.02 [15] |
Green and Lupo investigate after a package explodes at a scientific research lab, resulting in the injury of Lori Emerson a pregnant security guard. The investigation soon turns to the scientist's latest experiments.
| |||||||
| 397 | 4 | "Bottomless" | Alex Chapple | Ed Zuckerman | January 16, 2008 | 18004 | 11.59 [16] |
The investigation into a pair of missing pants leads to the murder of Lily Yee a young lawyer. Green and Lupo soon turn their suspicions to a businessman who works for a shady multinational corporation called SavingsMart.
| |||||||
| 398 | 5 | "Driven" | Alan Taylor | Richard Sweren & Gina Gionfriddo | January 23, 2008 | 18009 | 10.35 [18] |
| Lupo and Green investigate after David Kendall a white teenager and a Tanya Anderson young black girl are shot and killed in a local neighborhood. The investigation stalls when no one is willing to talk, but the detectives later learn that the victim had earlier had an altercation with someone in the neighborhood that led to a surprising altercation later that evening. | |||||||
| 399 | 6 | "Political Animal" | Jean de Segonzac | Ed Zuckerman & David Slack | January 30, 2008 | 18011 | 11.10 [19] |
| A triple homicide has ties to a politician, but he may be just the first step toward the truth and a killer who will take desperate measures to keep his freedom. | |||||||
| 400 | 7 | "Quit Claim" | Jim McKay | William N. Fordes & David Wilcox | February 6, 2008 | 18010 | 10.06 [20] |
| A hit-and-run investigation leads back to a title company, but Green, Rubirosa and Lupo's undercover work takes a surprising twist that pits McCoy against the U.S. Attorney's office. | |||||||
| 401 | 8 | "Illegal" | Constantine Makris | William N. Fordes & David Slack | February 13, 2008 | 18003 | 10.23 [21] |
| A riot at an immigration rally ends in murder, and the political climate causes McCoy to assign a special prosecutor increasing tensions at the office. | |||||||
| 402 | 9 | "Executioner" | Constantine Makris | Richard Sweren & Gina Gionfriddo | February 20, 2008 | 18012 | 10.86 [22] |
| A case of mistaken identity leads Green and Lupo to suspect that a murdered doctor may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. | |||||||
| 403 | 10 | "Tango" | Dean White | Stephanie Sengupta | February 27, 2008 | 18013 | 11.42 [23] |
| A high school party turns tragic when a teenager Ann-Marie Liscombe is found dead, and the detectives end up playing games with the two leading suspects to find out the real story. Unfortunately, unwanted attention from a juror for A.D.A. Rubirosa may disrupt the trial. | |||||||
| 404 | 11 | "Betrayal" | Marc Levin | Richard Sweren & Gina Gionfriddo | March 5, 2008 | 18005 | 9.63 [24] |
| The murder of Isaac Waxman, a psychiatrist, focuses the suspect list to his clients and wife, and the defense of the murderer will challenge the D.A.'s office to somehow show the jury that a bad childhood is not a justification for crime. | |||||||
| 405 | 12 | "Submission" | Constantine Makris | Ed Zuckerman | March 12, 2008 | 18007 | 11.85 [25] |
| When the police shut down a dog-fighting ring, the investigation becomes a murder case after a woman's finger is found inside one of the dogs; things get more complicated as the case deepens, and the interest of a pushy reporter is sparked. | |||||||
| 406 | 13 | "Angelgrove" | Darnell Martin | David Wilcox & Stephanie Sengupta | March 19, 2008 | 18008 | 10.49 [26] |
| A recorded conversation has Lupo and Green delving into the personal and family life of Audrey Lortell, a murdered art dealer, and suspected of connections to terrorist activity. | |||||||
| 407 | 14 | "Burn Card" | Mario Van Peebles | Ed Zuckerman & David Wilcox | April 23, 2008 | 18014 | 12.75 [27] |
Internal Affairs takes a special interest in Ed after he shoots a gambler that may be connected to a current case. The investigation turns up a part of his past he's taken pains to conceal. At the end, Green leaves the 27th Precinct even though all charges against him are dropped and he is cleared.
| |||||||
| 408 | 15 | "Bogeyman" | Tim Hunter | S : Gina Gionfriddo; S/T : Richard Sweren | April 30, 2008 | 18015 | 9.65 [28] |
| A novelist's apparent suicide changes to a murder investigation. The suspects include a cult and her husband. Cutter's case is jeopardized by the defense attorney's indirect juror tampering tactics of scaring the jurors. | |||||||
| 409 | 16 | "Strike" | Marisol Torres | William N. Fordes & David Slack | May 7, 2008 | 18016 | 8.85 [29] |
| A legal aid strike ends in the death of a paralegal, and the investigation leads to a golf pro who proclaims his innocence, again. Then the case takes an even stranger twist when Rubirosa is pitted against Cutter because of the strike that started it all. | |||||||
| 410 | 17 | "Personae Non Gratae" | John Coles | Stephanie Sengupta & Matthew McGough | May 14, 2008 | 18017 | 8.46 [30] |
| An online romance may be at the heart of a mechanic's murder, but Detectives Lupo and Bernard must unravel some truly bizarre developments before the full story is known. | |||||||
| 411 | 18 | "Excalibur" | Jim McKay | René Balcer & Ed Zuckerman | May 21, 2008 | 18018 | 8.57 [31] |
| A jeweler's murder may have ties to a prostitution ring. Once the case goes to trial, D.A. McCoy's job is on the line as favors are called in. | |||||||
 | This section contains a list of miscellaneous information.(May 2022) |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. The first spin-off of Law & Order, it starred Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler until Meloni left the series in 2011 after 12 seasons, and Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, now the commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit after originally having been Stabler's partner in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department. Meloni has since reprised his role as Stabler in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021–present). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the style of the original Law & Order in that some episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention.
The 14th season of Law & Order premiered on September 24, 2003 and concluded on May 19, 2004 on NBC which remained unchanged. The season consists of 24 episodes. This is the final season to feature Jerry Orbach as Det. Lennie Briscoe. The character was transferred to the spin-off Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Orbach appeared in only two episodes of the show, dying of prostate cancer on December 28, 2004. In May 2004, it was announced that Dennis Farina would be replacing Jerry Orbach as Detective Joe Fontana. Having moved over to the third Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Orbach only filmed two episodes of the series before his death in December 2004 Season 14 was released on DVD, September 14, 2004 & the slimline reissue set was released on February 25, 2014.
The 15th season of Law & Order premiered on NBC with a two-hour premiere on September 22, 2004, and concluded on May 18, 2005. This is the last season to feature Elisabeth Rohm before she was replaced by Annie Parisse.
The 16th season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on September 21, 2005, and concluded on May 17, 2006. This is the second season that remained unchanged from the 15th season, where Elisabeth Rohm departed the series as Serena Southerlyn departs from the series after the episode "Ain't No Love", although Annie Parisse as Alexandra Borgia joins the semi regular, starting with "Fluency".
The 17th season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on September 22, 2006, and concluded on May 18, 2007. This is the last season to feature Fred Thompson the only season to feature Milena Govich and the first season to feature Assistant District Attorney Connie Rubirosa.
The eighth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 19, 2006 and ended May 22, 2007 on NBC. The series remained in its 10pm/9c Tuesday timeslot. With the introduction of a new partner for Detective Stabler, early episodes of season 8 took on a significantly different focus when compared to those of previous seasons.
The seventh season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 20, 2005 and ended May 16, 2006 on NBC. It aired on Tuesday nights at 10pm/9c. Critically the show's most successful season, both lead actors received nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards with a win by Mariska Hargitay.
The sixth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 21, 2004 and ended May 24, 2005 on NBC. It aired on Tuesday nights at 10pm/9c. In January 2005, when the season was halfway through airing, Mariska Hargitay won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama becoming the first regular cast member of any Law & Order series to win a Golden Globe.
The 19th season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on November 5, 2008, and concluded on June 3, 2009. This was the third time in the series where there were no changes in the cast from the previous season and the last season to air on Wednesday nights at 10PM/9c, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has claimed the slot off-and-on from Fall 2009 to present.
The sixth season of the American comedy television series Scrubs premiered on NBC on November 30, 2006 and concluded on May 17, 2007 and consists of 22 episodes. The series moved to Thursdays at 9:00 pm as a part of NBC's Comedy Night Done Right. Guest stars in the sixth season included Keri Russell and Michael Weston. This season featured the series' musical episode, "My Musical".
The seventh season of the American comedy television series Scrubs premiered on NBC on October 25, 2007 and concluded on May 8, 2008 and consists of 11 episodes. This was the final season to air on NBC after it was picked up by ABC.
The sixth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent premiered on NBC September 19, 2006, and ended May 21, 2007; this was the last season to air original episodes on NBC.
The fifth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent premiered on NBC on September 25, 2005, and ended on May 14, 2006.
The fourth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent premiered on NBC on September 26, 2004, and ended May 25, 2005. The series remained in its time slot of Sundays at 9 PM/8c, but the season finale episode "False-Hearted Judges" aired on Wednesday, May 25, 2005, at 10 PM ET/9 CT.
| Preceded by Season Seventeen (2006-2007) | List of Law & Order seasons (1990-2010) | Succeeded by Season Nineteen (2008-2009) |