Law & Order: Criminal Intent - TV-14
TV Rating: TV-14
Network: NBC, USA Cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Courtney B. Vance, Jamey Sheridan
Genre: Drama
Available on: 
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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the show digs deeply into the motives behind criminal acts -- all of which are violent. Younger kids will find the pacing slow but the content very disturbing. From a role model point of view, this is not a show kids should see since each episode dwells on aberrant behaviors.
Families who do watch should talk about how the detectives follow the clues and ask their kids how realistic they think the show is. They can also reassure their kids that these crimes are not likely to occur to them.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Liz Perle
LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, now in its fifth season, is the most cerebral of the three Law & Order shows. It purports to take viewers into the minds of the criminals who perform a range of dastardly and often gruesome crimes. This makes it a bit more or a police procedural than a courtroom drama.
This season, the veteran stars Vincent D'Onofrio (who plays the eerily intelligent Detective Robert Goren) and Kathryn Erbe (who is Goren's partner, Detective Alexandra Eames) are joined by two new detectives. The shows alternate each week between starring casts. The new detectives are Mike Logan, played by the sly Chris Noth, fresh out of his Sex and the City portrayal of Mr. Big. He's joined by the cast's other know-it-all, Carolyn Barek (played in a delightful deadpan by Annabella Sciorra).
In the show's own "Six Degrees of Separation" moment, Detective Logan returns from his exile to Staten Island, which he received after punching a city councilman 10 years ago on the original Law & Order. Detective Barek (who received an Emmy Award nomination for her role in The Sopranos) also has a back-story. She rose from Brooklyn's Cobble Hill streets to the highest ranks of the NYPD and spent two post-9/11 years with the FBI.
Fans of the show may also want to check out CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its pair of spin-offs, CSI: Miami and CSI: New York.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSome crimes are sexually based. |
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ViolencePost-mortems are often quite grisly. Dead bodies abound. Guns go off all the time. |
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LanguageOf the three Law & Orders, this show has the mildest language. |
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Social BehaviorSince this show deals with the criminal mind, the viewer gets a close-up of social derangement. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoOccasionally a cigarette is smoked or a drink or drug consumed. |
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