The Daily Beast: Libby Torres- 'SVU's Detective Olivia Benson Is The Mother of The Me Too Movement'

Source:Notey- The cast of Law & Order SVU. 

“Never have the opening lines of a TV show been met with such fervent enthusiasm as the introduction for Law & Order: SVU.

Die-hard fans (myself included) can easily recite it by heart: “In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories. Dun dun.”

From The Daily Beast

Source: Daily Mail- Mariska Hargitay and Brooke Shields, being very cute for a little boy. 

To say that NBC’s Law & Order SVU is ahead of it’s time, would be like saying that it gets hot in Texas especially in the summer or it rains in Seattle, well at any point during the year or it snows in Minnesota in January and hopefully you get the idea by now. ( God help you if you don’t )

They were talking about issues back in 1999-2000 ( the first season of SVU ) 17-18 years before the so-called Me Too movement emerged in 2017. They were dealing cases as a detective squad about women being raped and sexually abused in other ways. As well as little girls and boys who are sexually abused by their parents and other adults in their lives.

The original Law & Order which I still get to watch every week ( thanks to Sundance and TNT ) is still favorite now just show from this franchise, but one of my favorite shows ever, especially from the 1990s and 2000s, but SVU is right up there as one of the best cop dramas on TV.

Perhaps the best cop drama on TV right now, but I’m guessing fans of CSI Las Vegas would probably dispute that. Maybe they can get together on TV ( fans of both shows ) and debate on live national TV. I’m sure Bravo would be happy to broadcast that and it would be ultimate and perhaps even real reality TV show.

But on a less substantive note but still important the Olivia Benson character ( played by Mariska Hargitay ) is one of the first sexy female police detectives on TV. There’ve been beautiful, sexy, younger female law enforcement officers on TV before.

Angie Dickinson was the original with Police Woman from the 1970s, Heather Thomas from The Fall Guy in the 1980s, Kelly Hu from Nash Bridges from the late 1990s and perhaps there are more.

But Mariska is the first from a trend that started in the mid 2000s or so where you would have beautiful, sexy women playing tough cops who kick ass on a regular basis and even kick male ass.

They’re no longer playing secretary’s, receptionists or desk sergeants that just take calls and pass on information to the real detectives and their superiors, but working cases and getting into conflict and having to physically take on strong male suspects who could severely hurt them if not kill them if the female officer is not up to the task.

Mariska, is the first female TV law enforcement officer to where tight jeans and boots on the show on a regular basis while she’s working and not at home or having a rare day off, but working her cases in beautiful black leather jacket, black denims, and boots.

She was doing that back in 2007-08 if not earlier and now every cop show has at least one if not multiple female lead officers who are beautiful, sexy, physically able to take care of themselves who work their cases in boots and jeans on a regular basis. Just watch CSI Las Vegas with Elisabeth Shue, or watch Criminal Minds with the attractive detectives there, Chicago PD with Sophia Bush, NCIS LA with Daniela Ruah and I could go on.

Mariska Hargiatay ( who plays now Detective Lieutenant Olivia Benson ) is not the first beautiful, sexy, sharp, witty, great cop on TV, she’s just the best cop with those qualities and that includes Angie Dickinson who I love as well and they’re now in their 20th season with apparently no plans to ever wind the show down and plan for a final season and not just because of how popular the show is and that it’s lead to over great cop shows like Chicago PD, but also because of how great the show is. How great the cast, storylines and everything else that makes cop shows great. 

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