Product Description

Honored with over 50 Emmy nominations since its groundbreaking first season, Law & Order continues to excel at bringing powerful stories to a devoted television audience. Now, all 22 captivating episodes of Season 4 are on DVD for the first time ever. Relive each gripping moment as New York's toughest detectives and prosecutors take on the hard-hitting cases that make the news - from blackmail to mail bombs to murder. It was during the fourth season that Emmy nominee S. Epatha Merkerson and Jill Hennessy joined New York's toughest team of prosecutors and investigators: Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, Michael Moriarty and Steven Hill. Loaded with 43 never-before-viewed deleted and extended scenes, this dynamic three-disc set is a must-have for fans everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6912 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2005-12-06
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, Live, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 1030 minutes

Customer Reviews

Law & Order - Always a winner!
Well, the advertisement here is a little confusing. It's listed as the 4th year, but also lists Dennis Farina as the star, and Farina didn't come aboard the series until the 15th year, after Jerry Orbach's departure from the series.

The fourth year of Law & Order brought about some major changes to the series, with the departures of Captain Cragen and Paul Robinette from the series, replaced with Lt. Anita Van Buren and Claire Kincaid, bringing the first lead female characters into the series.

There were several great episodes in this season, including one of my favorites where the detectives and lawyers were trying to track down a shooter in Buddy Holly glasses. This story was left somewhat unresolved, which led to a 2-part crossover with Special Victims Unit in its first year, and this show's 10th season. That's just one of many great stories from this season that I'm looking forward to having in my collection!

The season finale also led to the departure of Michael Moriarty from the series as Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone. The following year, his character was replaced with Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy, who has been on the show ever since.

All in all, I am anxious to add this set to my collection, and I hope you'll enjoy it too. After all, with all these reality shows flooding the airways these days, DVD sets are becoming more and more appealing. I prefer to spend my TV time watching something worthwhile like Law & Order, rather than trash like The Bachelor or Temptation Island. Do you prefer quality to trash?

Landmark season
The fourth season of the long running original Law & Order was a landmark season in the show's history. The revolving cast door was stil spinning; this time original stars Dann Florek (Captain Cragen) and Richard Brooks (Assistant DA Robinette) have left, and the cast would now feature it's first ever female leads. Detective's Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) get a new Lieutenant with Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), and DA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) would get a new assistant in Claire Kincaid (future Crossing Jordan star Jill Hennessy). The episodes packaged in this season set continue the "ripped from the headlines" style of crimes investigated by the detectives, and then the prsecution of the offenders, and it still manages to work out very well. This would be the last season for original cast member Michael Moriarty, as he would be replaced with long time vet Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy, who is still on the show to this day. All in all, the fourth season of Law & Order saw the innovative crime drama make a landmark in it's history, and this season set is a must own for die hard fans of the show.

The Fourth Year: Best Yet of L&O
The fourth year of Law & Order continued the tradition of cast changes that had become a hallmark of this series. Dan Florek and Richard Brooks were out at the request of NBC, who wanted more females in the cast. Enter S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Anita Van Buren, a tough-talking boss who could match snark with the best of them. Also, Jill Hennessy joined the legal side as ADA Claire Kincaid. Fans might have lamented the loss of Brooks and Florek, since their acting and characters were perfectly respectable, but the two new characters were well-written and well-played, so the quality does not suffer with their arrival. However, this would be the final season for Michael Moriarty as DA Ben Stone, who would exit in the season finale, "Old Friends." Many fans, myself included, were sad to see Stone go, though Moriarty's performance does seem tired in comparison to previous years.

The episodes, as usual, are familiar from real events, but they are compelling none the less. Racist serial killers, opportunistic talk show hosts, deadly cult leaders and racially-charged city riots are the basis for just a few of the gripping episodes. Other fine works include, "Discord," "Breeder," "Pride and Joy," and "Censure," One of the best is, "American Dream," in which Stone matches wits with a smart jailhouse lawyer who tries to overturn his own conviction. Also, the series departs from its usual format in, "Mayhem," when the episode is dominated by the police as they solve a series of crimes in the course of one stressful day.

Although this set contains no documentary extras, we are treated to more deleted scenes. Two of them explain the departures of Cragen and Robinette, which is a treat for long-time fans since their character exits went unexplained for years. I do have to knock Universal again for giving us so many previews on disc 1 without the skip option. Also, more chapter breaks would be nice. These nitpicks aside, this year is worth getting, even if you're a new fan.