Balcer served as the show's executive producer, showrunner, and head writer for its first five seasons.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent was created by René Balcer and Dick Wolf in 2001. ADAs have not played a regular role in the show since. After Vance's departure, Theresa Randle took over as Patricia Kent, but only appeared in two episodes at the beginning of season six. Vance) worked with the detectives on their cases. Unlike other Law & Order series, most Criminal Intent episodes end in confessions rather than plea bargains or verdicts.įor the first five seasons, Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver (played by Courtney B. Criminal Intent episodes do not usually contain trials. Clues to the crime's eventual solution can often be found in this teaser sequence.
#Law and order criminal intent series#
A feature of each Criminal Intent episode is that the cold open always involves a series of cut-scenes that show events from the suspects' and victims' lives, leading up to the crime. The series also gives significant attention to the actions and motives of the criminals, rather than focusing exclusively on the police and prosecution, and the information they have, as in the other Law & Order series.
Originally, team B followed Mike Logan and his partners, Carolyn Barek, Megan Wheeler, and Nola Falacci. Unlike the other shows in the Law & Order franchise, as of Season 5 Criminal Intent episodes typically alternate between two teams of detectives: Team A episodes chronicle the cases of Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames, while team B episodes follow the exploits of Zach Nichols and Megan Wheeler. The Major Case Squad investigates high-profile cases (in most cases murder, just like the regular Law & Order in this sense), such as those involving VIPs, local government officials and employees, the financial industry, and the art world though sometimes the cases are similar to the cases from the original Law & Order show as well. In the style of the original Law & Order, episodes are often "ripped from the headlines" or loosely based on a real crime that received media attention.Ĭriminal Intent follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the "Major Case Squad". Law & Order: Criminal Intent focuses on the investigations of the Major Case Squad in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department set in New York City's One Police Plaza. As of the eighth season, which concluded on August 9, 2009, the series produced 171 episodes. The series aired on NBC for the first six seasons but was moved to the NBC Universal-owned USA Network starting with the seventh season due to low ratings. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and airs on NBC, the series premiered on Septemas the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama Law & Order. Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced.