Law & Order: The Sixth Year

US DVD Release Date: December 2, 2008

Movie: 4 out of 5
Currently in its 19th season, “Law & Order” is tied with “Gunsmoke” as the longest running hour-long drama series on broadcast television. Created in 1990 by Dick Wolf, a veteran wrier from “Hill Street Blues” and “Miami Vice,” a typical episode begins just after a crime has been committed. The first half of the show is spent with the detectives investigating the crime, the last half with the district attorney’s office preparing for trial, and usually concluding with the verdict.

This sixth season’s cast consists of Jerry Orbach as Detective Lenny Briscoe, Sam Waterston as ADA Jack McCoy, S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Van Buren, and Steven Hill as DA Adam Schiff. This is also the first season for Benjamin Bratt as Detective Rey Curtis, and the final season for Jill Hennessy as ADA Claire Kincaid. This season also includes a “crossover” with Barry Levinson’s under-appreciated series “Homicide: Life On The Streets.”

What has made “Law & Order” such a successful and long-running drama series is the level of writing (some of the best on television), the ensemble cast, and viewers to “drop in” without having to know the backstory of prior episodes, something that shows like “24” and “ER” lack (hence the “Previously On” synopsis these series have to tag on).

Video: 2.5 out of 5
Although originally broadcast on NBC in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, Universal has remastered and reframed “Law & Order” for HD broadcast in 1.78:1 (and thankfully so, otherwise reruns on TNT-HD would be subjected to the network’s dreaded Stretch-o-vision). The composition appears the episodes may have been filmed with a widescreen safety zone in mind. Although occasionally the headroom appears tight, the tops of heads are never annoyingly cut off.

Unfortunately, Universal has placed five episodes per disc on four of the five discs in this set. This has resulted in low video bitrates being used on these episodes. Although the series always had a gritty look with muted colors, the low bitrates provide additional noise and compression artifacts. The set should have been stretched out to six discs, rather than five, allowing more breathing room with four episodes per disc.

Audio: 3 out of 5
The original stereo soundtracks have been encoded at 192 kbps. Pro Logic processing places the dialogue nicely in the center channel, with music and ambient effects present in the left, right, and surrounds. This is a dialogue-heavy show, so the stereo mix works well.

Special Features: 0 out of 5
There are no special features provided on this DVD release, although Universal claims the included crossover episode from “Homicide: Life On The Street” as a bonus feature.

Overall: 3 out of 5 (not an average)
Top level writing, a great ensemble cast, recognizable but interesting stories have made “Law & Order” an extremely popular and long-running series and franchise. The sub-par video, plus the fact that series reruns can be seen on TNT, make this a set for die-hard fans only.