Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 1

The first season of the crime drama television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, premiered on September 20, 1999 on NBC and concluded on May 19, 2000. Created by Dick Wolf, it is the first spin-off of Law & Order and follows the detectives of a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department's Special Victims Unit, which investigates sexually based offenses. SVU originally aired on Monday nights at 9pm/8c EST, but it was moved to Friday nights at 10pm/9c after the ninth episode. Showrunner Robert Palm felt too disturbed by the subject matter and left after the season's conclusion.

The season has been well-received, with critics praising its captivating narratives and memorable characters. The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit first season DVD box set was released on October 21, 2003, in Region 1 format.

Main cast

 * Christopher Meloni as Senior Detective Elliot Stabler
 * Mariska Hargitay as Junior Detective Olivia Benson
 * Richard Belzer as Senior Detective John Munch
 * Dann Florek as Captain Donald "Don" Cragen
 * Michelle Hurd as Junior Detective Monique Jeffries (Episodes 14-22)

Crossover stars

 * Jerry Orbach as Senior Homicide Detective Lennie Briscoe (crossing over with Law & Order)
 * Jesse L. Martin as Junior Homicide Detective Ed Green (crossing over with Law & Order)
 * Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy (crossing over with Law & Order)
 * Angie Harmon as Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael (crossing over with Law & Order)
 * Steven Hill as Manhattan, District Attorney Adam Schiff (crossing over with Law & Order)
 * Leslie Hendrix as Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers (crossing over with Law & Order)

Recurring cast

 * Dean Winters as Junior Detective Brian Cassidy
 * Chris Orbach as Junior Detective Ken Briscoe
 * Isabel Gillies as Kathy Stabler
 * Erin Broderick as Maureen Stabler
 * Patricia Cook as Elizabeth Stabler
 * Jeffrey Scaperrotta as Dickie Stabler
 * Holiday Segal as Kathleen Stabler
 * Reiko Aylesworth as Assistant District Attorney Erica Alden


 * Peter Francis James as Judge Kevin Beck
 * Lance Reddick as Medical Examiner Dr. Taylor
 * Jenna Stern as Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Eastman
 * Audra McDonald as Dr. Audrey Jackson
 * Judy Del Giudice as Judge Elizabeth Masullo
 * Frank Deal as Defense Attorney Don Newvine
 * Harvey Atkin as Judge Alan Ridenour

Guest stars
The first season featured the highest number of crossover appearances in SVU. Angie Harmon portrayed her Law & Order character ADA Abbie Carmichael for six episodes. Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe) and his new partner Jesse L. Martin (Det. Ed Green) were shown working together in the third episode. Almost the entire cast of the original series appeared in the crossover episode "Entitled." Another character establishing ties to the original was Detective Ken Briscoe, the nephew of Lennie Briscoe. He was played by Chris Orbach, the son of Jerry Orbach. The younger Orbach later said that he had mixed feelings about his role on the show, as he felt he "only got the gig because of [his] old man." Years after that, he'd admit to friends that he was simply very nervous on set about living up to his dad, and felt out of his depth.

Family members of both lead detectives appeared in the opening episode. Kathy Stabler, Elliot Stabler's wife, was played by Isabel Gillies. Gillies continued to play Kathy Stabler over the course of the next 11 years either as a guest star or a recurring actress. She recalled that she was in the middle of buying a wedding dress when she got the call to be on SVU. Elizabeth Ashley was cast to play Serena Benson, Olivia's mother. Serena Benson did not appear in SVU again but was mentioned several times. Her character's history of being a rape victim who never got justice—and whose attacker was Olivia's biological father—figures in many later episodes.

Some of the earliest revelations about Detective Benson's personal life are found in "Stalked." In this episode, Bruce Kirkpatrick played a rapist who decides to intimidate the detectives once he learns that he is under investigation. An episode dealing with mental illness, "The Third Guy," featured a guest performance by Denis O'Hare. He played an intellectually disabled rapist who elicits differing opinions in the SVU.

The episode "Closure" aired shortly before Detective Brian Cassidy left the Special Victims Unit. However, because of its nonlinear storytelling, it portrayed Cassidy as still working for the unit months later. Despite the continuity error, the producers decided to revisit this episode in the second season owing to the cliffhanger ending and Tracy Pollan's well-received performance as Harper Anderson, a rape victim who becomes obsessed with taking revenge on her attacker. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

Reiko Aylesworth was one of the actresses who originally auditioned for the role of Olivia Benson. Instead, she was cast as Assistant District Attorney Erica Alden, whom she played in the last three episodes of the season. In the season's penultimate episode, "Nocturne," Kent Broadhurst played Lawrence Holt, a piano teacher who molests his students. Wilson Jermaine Heredia played Evan, Holt's student and victim, who knows more about Holt's crimes than he lets on.

Development
Inspiration for the series came from a 1986 murder in Central Park committed by Robert Emmet Chambers whose strategy in court was to sexualize the victim. The season one episode of Law & Order, "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is based on this case. Dick Wolf wanted to continue exploring similar themes in a dedicated legal drama and hired Ted Kotcheff and Robert Palm as executive producers of the new series, as well as Jean de Segonzac, the franchise director for Law & Order. Robert Palm was previously an executive producer on Law & Order and was the first person to use the term "mothership" to distinguish the original from its spin-offs. This phrase has become popular with fans of the franchise.

Unlike the original Law & Order, filming for SVU began in North Bergen, New Jersey since there was not enough real estate available to get a studio in Manhattan. The production staff were still told to think of the area as being Manhattan. As with Law & Order, writers for the series primarily worked in Los Angeles. However, SVU featured more female writers with the series aiming to bring a "strong woman's perspective" to the screen. Writer Dawn DeNoon has mentioned that many of the writing staff were fired during the first season because their scripts were not up to par.

Casting
For the lead roles, Christopher Meloni was cast as Detective Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay was cast as Detective Olivia Benson after they auditioned together. Hargitay, who had to move from Los Angeles to New York when she got the role, said she was able to do this on short notice because she was already planning on moving to New York to pursue a Broadway career. The squad commander role was filled by Dann Florek, who had portrayed Captain Don Cragen for the first three seasons on the original Law & Order and later reprised his role in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie. He joined the cast on the condition that he not be asked to audition. Richard Belzer was cast as Detective John Munch, continuing his role from the series Homicide: Life on the Street. In Belzer's words, he was cast because "Dick Wolf and Tom Fontana got drunk at a party". Halfway through the season, Richard Belzer reprised his role of Munch in Homicide: The Movie, which briefly shows his character out on a case in his SVU context in New York. At Belzer's insistence, his character was partnered with Brian Cassidy, who was portrayed by Dean Winters. However, Winters' contractual obligation to the HBO series Oz forced him to leave halfway through the season. Michelle Hurd, who portrayed Detective Monique Jeffries, filled Winters' void for the remainder of the season, and was at that point added to the main credits.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 84% with an average score of 7.5 out of 10 based on 43 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, “Special Victims Unit often blurs the line between socially conscious and exploitative, but Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni's terse chemistry adds a dimension of personality to the absorbing Law & Order formula. Metacritic gave the season a score a weighted average based on the impression of 22 critical reviews—of 68 signifying generally favorable reviews. The pilot episode was generally well received however, Caryn James of The New York Times said that "the show swiftly finds its balance. Not every series lends itself to cloning, but the essential qualities of Law and Order seem made for it: headline-generated stories resolved in self-contained episodes; a no-nonsense tone; a cast large enough to vary the focus." but after a few episodes, "the show swiftly finds its balance. Not every series lends itself to cloning, but the essential qualities of Law and Order seem made for it: headline-generated stories resolved in self-contained episodes; a no-nonsense tone; a cast large enough to vary the focus."

Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly said that season one was "refreshingly dark-hearted alternative" and that it was "top-heavy with lightweight dramedies". Joyce Millman of Salon.com said the season "melodramatic and manipulative, splattered with awkward attempts at comedy", then she criticized the season progression, proclaiming "simultaneously soggy and crisp not an appealing combination however you slice it".

Ratings
The first season's ratings were consistently medium, ranking #33 in its time-slot and leading its closest competition by 12.8 million viewers per episode, making it one of NBC's top-rated shows of the year. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a rating of 75% based on critic reviews, praising the performances and the series's bold approach to sensitive topics.

DVD release
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The First Year was released as a widescreen 2-disc Region 1 DVD box set in the USA on October 21, 2003. It was distributed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.