Law & Order (1990 — 2010)

For most of Law & Order’s run, the cold open or lead-in of the show began with the discovery of a crime, usually a murder. The scene typically began with a slice of everyday life in New York City. Some civilians would then discover the crime victim, or sometimes the crime would occur in a public place and they would be witnesses or a victim of a crime. The key exception to this is the early seasons, mostly seasons 1 and 2, when the crime would usually be discovered by a pair of uniformed officers on patrol. In later seasons, the cold open was replaced with rapid cuts of the victim’s final moments, similar to Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

The police are represented in the show by the New York City Police Department 27th Precinct Homicide Department. In the show, it is common that the detectives also investigate other cases other than homicide or attempted homicides like kidnappings and rape, the latter especially in the first nine seasons of the show before Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered. However, in the real world, these cases are handled by other units and divisions. The viewers are introduced to two homicide detectives, a senior detective (usually a veteran cop) and a junior detective (usually a young but capable detective), who report directly to their boss at their precinct (either a Lieutenant or a Captain). When they first arrive at the crime scene they are met by the first responding officer or a Crime Scene Unit (CSU) forensic technician, who will inform the two lead detectives on everything known at that point. It’s during their preliminary crime scene examination that the featured detectives will make their first observations and come up with some theories followed by a witticism or two before the title sequence begins.