Thursday night’s ratings for the “Law & Order SVU” cross over were even better when they were all counted.
“SVU” actually reaped just over 8 million viewers. “Organized Crime” hit a 7.8 million.
The return of Chris Meloni to the “Law & Order” fold was such a huge hit that the shows will be repeated tonight on NBC.
Of course, the question now, is what next? They killed off Benson’s wife and doubled down on the long-simmering unconsummated romance between Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Meloni). If these two ever hook up they’ll be grandparents!
A number of viewers commented on the possible issues set up with the “Organized Crime” pilot. It seemed built for a movie not a TV series, with Stabler on a mission to avenge the death of his wife. Dylan McDermott seems like he’s playing Stabler’s nemesis in a long term arc. That’s not exactly how “Law & Order” has proceeded in the past. Instead of a continuing plot, the shows are usually self-contained with occasional references to old stories. We’ll see how this plays out.