Law & Order (TV series)

Law & Order
The series title card. The font, Friz Quadrata, is used in the identifying sign of One Police Plaza, headquarters of the NYPD.
Genre	Police procedural Legal drama
Created by	Dick Wolf
Starring	George Dzundza Chris Noth Dann Florek Michael Moriarty Richard Brooks Steven Hill Paul Sorvino Carolyn McCormick Jerry Orbach S. Epatha Merkerson Jill Hennessy Sam Waterston Benjamin Bratt Carey Lowell Angie Harmon Jesse L. Martin Dianne Wiest Elisabeth Röhm Fred Dalton Thompson Dennis Farina Annie Parisse Michael Imperioli Milena Govich Alana de la Garza Jeremy Sisto Linus Roache Anthony Anderson
Theme music composer	Mike Post
Opening theme	Theme of Law & Order
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	20
No. of episodes	456 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Dick Wolf Joseph Stern
Location(s)	New York City, New York
Running time	40–48 minutes
Production company(s)	Wolf Films Universal Television (1990–98, 2002–04) Studios USA (1998–2002) NBC Universal Television Studio (2004–07) Universal Media Studios (2007–10)
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	September 13, 1990 (1990-09-13) – May 24, 2010 (2010-05-24)
Chronology
Related shows	Law & Order franchise

Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It originally aired on NBC and, in syndication, on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24, 2010. At the time of its cancellation, Law & Order was the longest-running crime drama on American primetime television. Its record of 20 seasons is a tie with Gunsmoke (1955–1975) for the longest-running live-action scripted American prime-time series with ongoing characters. Although it has fewer episodes than Gunsmoke, Law & Order ranks as the longest-running hour-long primetime TV series. Gunsmoke, for its first six seasons, was originally a half-hour program.

Set and filmed in New York City, the series follows a two-part approach: the first half-hour is the investigation of a crime (usually murder) and apprehension of a suspect by New York City Police Department detectives; the second half is the prosecution of the defendant by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Plots are often based on real cases that recently made headlines, although the motivation for the crime and the perpetrator may be different.

The show has been noted for its revolving cast over the years. Among the longest-running main cast members were Steven Hill as District Attorney Adam Schiff (seasons 1–10), Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe (seasons 3–14), S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (seasons 4–20), Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy (seasons 5–20; later District Attorney) and Jesse L. Martin as Detective Ed Green (seasons 10–18).