Trivia for
"Law & Order" (1990)

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• All three of the series' longest-serving cast members lasted far longer than those they replaced: Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe) (1992-2004) lasted twelve years while Paul Sorvino (Sgt. Phil Ceretta) lasted only a year and a half (1991-1992); S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Anita Van Buren) (1993-), who will have been with the series for fifteen seasons as of September 2007, replaced Dann Florek (Captain Don Cragen), who lasted three years (1990-1993); Sam Waterston (Executive District Attorney Jack McCoy) (1994-), who will have been with the series for Fourteen seasons as of September 2007, replaced Michael Moriarty (Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone), who lasted four years (1990-1994).
  
  
• Michael Moriarty resigned at the end of the fourth season after a long, vocal battle of words with Attorney General Janet Reno, who was making efforts to censor television violence. He felt that NBC was trying to silence him when two talk show appearances on the network were pulled at the last moment and his role was reduced considerably in the fourth season episode "Mayhem." Dick Wolf claims this was entirely coincidental. Moriarty claims he was forced into a situation where he had to resign. His character, EADA Ben Stone, also resigned on the show. After quitting the series, Moriarty moved to Canada, where he considered forming a political party.
  
  
• Both Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks) and Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell) played assistant district attorneys and, after leaving the show, returned and played defense attorneys.
  
  

• Towards the end of the fifth season, Executive Producer Dick Wolf decided not to renew Chris Noth's contract, citing that the interaction between Logan and the similarly jaded Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) lacked enough dramatic contrast. Viewers and critics were shocked at the dismissal of the most popular and only original remaining cast member at that time. Years later, Noth convinced Wolf to produce Exiled (1998) (TV) to wrap up the story of Mike Logan, which Noth felt had been prematurely extinguished on the show.
  
  
• The series was originally set to film in Los Angeles, but Dick Wolf fought NBC to film it in New York City and won.
  
  
• Dann Florek was let go after the third season because producers felt the show needed female characters. He was replaced by S. Epatha Merkerson. His character was brought back for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).
  
  
• Detective Mike Logan's brown leather coat was not supplied by the wardrobe department. Actor Chris Noth actually bought that coat from a second-hand clothing store.
  
  
• The distinctive typeface used for all titles, credits, and on-screen "scene change" cards, for "Law & Order" and all of its spin-offs, is named "Friz Quadrata." The typeface used for "Starring" and "Created By" in the opening credits, the lone exception, is Eurostile.
  
  
• Richard Brooks was let go after the third season because producers decided a female presence was needed on the show. He was replaced by Jill Hennessy.
  
  
• After her departure from the series, Jill Hennessy wrote and directed the film The Acting Class (2000) using Law & Order's sets. Many L&O cast members such as Jerry Orbach and Angie Harmon volunteered to appear in her film, which was a mock-documentary.
  
  
• The distinctive "thunk-thunk" sound effect used in between scenes was created by combining close to a dozen sounds, including that of a group of monks stamping on a floor.
  
  
• Jesse L. Martin was absent from the last four episodes of the fifteenth season. He left the show temporarily to work on Rent (2005). His character, Det. Green, was shot in the line of duty. For those four episodes, Martin was replaced by Michael Imperioli as Det. Falco.
  
  
• Jill Hennessy's twin sister, Jacqueline Hennessy, once played her sister's character during courtroom scenes filmed while Jill was unavailable due to filming an appearance on "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993).
  
  
• J.K. Simmons' character, Dr. Emil Skoda, was named after the founder of the Czech engineering and manufacturing firm, Skoda, after which the car company of the same name was eventually renamed.
  
  
• At the time of the show's creation, one-hour dramas were going through a slump, with sitcoms being more popular and much more likely to get strong syndication deals for re-runs. Dick Wolf thought that it might be easier to sell the show in 30-minute segments and came up with the concept of the first half of the show being the police investigation and the second half the legal procedure. Dramas started rebounding in popularity shortly after Law & Order debuted, so this never ended up becoming an issue with re-run deals.
  
  
• In 2001, creator Dick Wolf announced plans for a special Law & Order mini-series featuring the casts of all three L&O series ("Law & Order", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001)). The mini-series was to have been broadcast in the spring of 2002 and deal with a terrorist attack on New York. After the real-life attack on New York on September 11, the mini-series was canceled.
  
  
• The show's format was in part inspired by the earlier TV series "Arrest and Trial" (1963).
  
  
• The last of the original cast members was Chris Noth (Mike Logan). Although often touted as an original cast member, Steven Hill (Adam Schiff) joined the show after the first episode.
  
  
• Steven Hill plays the Manhattan District Attorney, a role he played in the movie Legal Eagles (1986) in which Robert Redford plays the ADA (Assistant District Attorney), and is fired by Hill.
  
  
• When the show began airing in re-runs on TNT, new digital technology was used to insert "product placements" (paid appearances of name-brand products) into the show. The easiest to spot is for Coca-Cola; any time you see a Coke can sitting on a desk, it has been added digitally.
  
  
• S. Epatha Merkerson wears her hair in dreadlocks. Although she has played police officers in other shows with her own hairstyle, notably Captain Margaret Claghorn in the futuristic crime series "Mann & Machine" (1992), she felt it would be unrealistic for an ambitious New York Police Lieutenant to adopt such a hairstyle so she wears a wig as Lt. Van Buren.
  
  
• As of May 2005, it is the longest-running crime drama TV series in American television history.
  
  
• Steven Zirnkilton, who narrates the opening credit sequences, only appeared on screen once. He played a detective in the pilot episode ("Everybody's Favorite Bagman"). He had one line of dialogue: "Look at that. Do you believe these guys?"
  
  
• Sam Waterston's character, Jack McCoy's full name is John Jay McCoy. He was presumably named after John Jay, who, among other things was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
  
  
• Det. Green's shield number is 3472.
  
  
• Law & Order episodes are often advertised as being "ripped from the headlines." Many people mistake this to mean that they are based on real events. In reality, the slogan is referring to the show's practice of coming up with stories that are partially inspired by recent headlines. However, with almost no exceptions, only a fairly small portion of the episode will resemble the real incident or incidents that it is inspired by. There might be a few scenes that resemble a well-known headline while the majority of the episode goes in a different direction, or there could be one character that is based on a famous individual but the circumstances the person encounters are largely made up.
  
  
• The show was known for underplaying the background stories of its characters. During the 1995-96 season, hints were dropped that the characters of Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid were lovers (a fact confirmed in a later episode). Many fans enjoy spotting where and when these subtle hints occur in each episode.
  
  
• Along the years many guest stars have appeared as different characters. Edward D. Murphy portrayed 12 different characters in 12 episodes during the first 10 seasons. Lee Shepherd portrayed 7 different characters in 9 episodes in 9 seasons.
  
  
• Jerry Orbach left the show after 12 years to star in the spin-off "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005). He died after filming only two episodes.
  
  
• Many regulars on the show made one time guest appearances before becoming regulars including S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Annie Parisse, Milena Govich, and Jeremy Sisto.
  
  

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