Law & Order

Season 6

Bitter Fruit

1. Benjamin Bratt's first episode.

Rebels

1. When Briscoe & Curtis are looking at the laptop in the car, Curtis reads out "Another non-boring night at Strokers, boys and girls, when a wannabe got in front of more torque than he could handle". Then they skip down to the last paragraph. The full text of the laptop reads [With the same caps used]: "AH! 'ANOTHER NON-BORING EVENING AT BLOTTO'S, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE TOO BAD THERE'S NO REAL DIALOGUE THAT BELONGS HERE, OTHERWISE I WOULDN'T HAVE TO WRITE IN GARBAGE CHARACTERS LIKE 'ANOTHER NON-BORING NIGHT HERE AT BLOTTOS, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE AH! 'ANOTHER NON-BORING NIGHT AT BLOTTOS, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE PLEASE IGNORE THE PRECEDING TWO PARAGRAPHS AND THE FOLLOWING THREE. GEE, THIS ROP [Prop?] TRUCK IS REMARKABLY HOT, EVER THOUGHT ABOUT INSTALLING AN AIR CONDITIONER IN HERE, RON? SO TELL ME, IS THIS A SATISFYING BUNCH OF GARBAGE TO FILL UP THE SCREEN WITH, I THINK THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH STUFF SO THAT YOU HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN TO GET TO THE MEANINGFUL PASSAGE BY NOW. OH, HEY, I'VE GOT A GOOD IDEA, HERE'S HOW THIS WORKED OUT, RON. YOU TYPE IN THE STUFF YOU WANT TO APPEAR IN THE FAX SOFTWARE IN ANY WORD PROCESSOR. YOU THEN PRINT THIS DOCUMENT AS IF YOU WERE FAXING IT (THAT IS, WITH WINFAX PRO SELECTED AS THE PRINTER), THEN AT THE "WHERE TO FAX THE DOCUMENT" WINDOW, THERE IS A SMALL CHECKBOX IN THE LOWER RIGHT MARKED SOMETHING LIKE "SAVE FAX TO DISK". CHECK IT AND PRESS RETURN IN THE NEXT DIALOG BOX. EXIT THE WORD PROCESSOR AND RUN THE FAX VIEW PROGRAM. "OPEN" THE FILE LIKE YOU WOULD ANY OTHER. AND DADI FOUND OUT SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN HER EX-OLD MAN'S BITCH SEAT. SHE HAD TO DIVE FOR COVER WHEN THE OPENER JUICED HER NEW CAGER SQUEEZE.

Savages

1. Victor Garber and Lynne Thigpen previously costarred in the 1973 movie, Godspell (1973).
2. In this episode, the suspect's wife mentions having "voted for Gov. Pataki." The same year this episode aired (1995), Gov. George Pataki did reinstate the death penalty in New York state. No one was ever put to death under the ruling, however, and in 2004, the state Court of Appeal declared the statute unconstitutional. (In this episode, the Appeals Court declines to act until after someone is actually sentenced to death under the new ruling.)

Jeopardy

1. This is the first episode in the series' history in which DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) visits the 27th Precinct.

Hot Pursuit

1. This episode is based on Patty Hearst.

Paranoia

1. Lt. Anita Van Buren's story of her son (Stefan) watching a PBS show about a "... crazy woman who stabs this guy, spends the rest of the story trying to wash the blood of her hands ..." is a reference to Shakespeare's Lady Macbetch.
2. Two of Rey Curtis's daughters are named Olivia and Serena. Four years later Dick Wolf created Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) which stars Detective Olivia Benson, who had a mother named Serena.
3. Adam Schiff says, "Shelly' Kates could convince a jury that Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder." Dahmer was a notorious serial killer who, when finally discovered by the police, was keeping the body parts of his victims in his refrigerator.
4. When hearing "Shelly" Kates' motion to dismiss, the Judge mentions being one of the few jurists who "believes the bloody glove should have been excluded". This is a reference to the infamous "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit" glove from the O.J. Simpson trial.

Humiliation

Angel

1. This is based on a landmark legal case Brewer v Williams in which a police officer "mentions" that he hopes the child's body is found so she can have a "Christian burial." This statement invoked an impromptu confession from the child's mother. This became a US Supreme Court case about Miranda warnings (of right to counsel and right to not incriminate oneself) and the validity of confessions outside of formal interrogation proceedings. A later landmark Supreme Court case, Rhode Island v Innis addressed similar issues and shares key facts with this episode.

Blood Libel

1. Jack McCoy comments that "...Bill Kunstler is spinning in his grave". Kunstler was a noted lawyer who championed and represented many radical causes and clients. He died four months before this episode aired and had appeared, as himself, in Law & Order: White Rabbit (1994) representing a fugitive student radical whose actions had lead to the death of a police office.23 years earlier.

Remand

1. The plot of a woman beaten and raped while her neighbors watched is based on the real life Kitty Genovese case from 1964.

Corpus Delicti

1. In this episode, ADA Claire Kincaid was played by Jill Hennessey's twin sister Jacqueline for some courtroom shots which involved her sitting at the prosecutors table. She had no lines in these scenes. This was necessary because Jill was in Baltimore filming a crossover episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street" and did not have time to be in New York at the time this part of the episode was being filmed.
2. The episode is inspired by the Helen Brach case. Many elements from her disappearance (and presumed murder) in February 1977 were used in the episode. The investigation into Brach's disappearance uncovered a conspiracy to murder her to prevent her from cooperating with federal officials in Chicago investigating the horse-breeding trade.Richard Bailey, with whom Brach was romantically involved and from whom the character of Lyle Christopher is based, was the only one of the alleged conspirators to face any charges- 29 counts, including fraud and murder. He was convicted on the fraud charges and has been serving a 30-year sentence since 1995.The investigation into Brach's disappearance subsequently led to the conviction of over 50 individuals involved in the fraudulent horse trade: with charges ranging from murder, fraud, arson, and obstruction of justice. However, and unlike the episode plot, Brach's body was never found and she was legally declared dead in 1984.
3. "Corpus delicti" is Latin for "body of the crime", and refers to the legal principle that a crime must be proven to have occurred before someone can be convicted of committing the crime.

Trophy

1. Isiah Whitlock Jr.'s character had a store named Gotham Market. In 2015 Whitlock appeared in Rogues' Gallery of the Gotham series.

Charm City

1. This is the first crossover storyline for "Law & Order" (1990)_ and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). The crossover was a unique circumstance in that while both shows appeared on NBC, neither program shared a common production company, producer, or writing staff, and the styles of the programs were diametrically opposed. Nonetheless, the experiment was successful enough that two more crossover stories were done in later seasons. Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), Andre Braugher (Detective Frank Pembleton) and Kyle Secor (Detective Tim Bayliss) all play their Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) characters in this episode.
2. Richard Belzer plays Detective John Munch in four crossover episodes of Law & Order (1990). He is the only actor to play the same character in crossovers from two different series. For his first three appearances on Law & Order (1990), Munch was crossing over from Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). During his fourth and final Law & Order (1990) appearance, Munch was crossing over Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
3. The storyline of this episode continues on Homicide: Life on the Street: For God and Country (1996). Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe), Benjamin Bratt (Detective Rey Curtis) and Jill Hennessy (ADA Claire Kincaid) all play their Law & Order (1990) characters in that episode.

Custody

Encore

1. This is the first episode in which a suspect in a previous episode returns and is charged with a new crime. The first time that Michael Dobson (Larry Miller) appeared was Law & Order: Coma (1994).

Savior

1. Brooke Smith plays a friend of Jill Hennessy's character Claire, and both are lawyers. The two would later work together as doctors in Hennessy's show Crossing Jordan (2001).
2. The actress Ellen Pompeo who plays Jenna Weber played a character named Laura Kendrick 4 years later in the Law and Order episode "Fools For Love."
3. Based on the Bradford Bishop case, one of the most famous family annihilation cases in American history. State Department official Bradford Bishop killed his entire family in 1976 when he didn't receive a promotion, then vanished. He is still on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives list and has been featured on America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988) and Unsolved Mysteries (1987). As late as 2010, the FBI believed he is still alive, likely in Europe, and fled the U.S. shortly after the murders using his diplomatic passport.
4. In this episode, Ellen Pompeo plays Jenna Weber, and Brooke Smith plays Margot Bell, Jenna's father's lawyer. They both have worked together in Grey's Anatomy (2005) as well.

Deceit

1. This is a reunion of sorts for Sam Waterston (ADA Jack McCoy) and Mary Beth Hurt (Sela Dixon) who played husband and wife in Woody Allen's "Interiors" (1978)

Atonement

1. Michael Imperioli appears as Limo Driver Johnny Stivers. He later appears in a 5 episode run as Detective Nick Falco.

Slave

Girlfriends

1. When Lennie and Rey are questioning the second john in his pizza restaurant, Tom's Restaurant is visible across the street. Tom's Restaurant is the inspiration for Suzanne Vega's song "Tom's Diner," and its exterior was also used for the restaurant the characters frequent in Seinfeld.

Pro Se

1. One of two episodes where Denis O'Hare plays a defendant who represents himself in court. The other is the eighth season episode Law & Order: Nullification (1997)
2. This episode was remade for Law & Order UK with the title "Defence".
3. 'Denis O'Hare (I)' and ' Ann Dowd' play brother and sister in this episode; the pair later appeared together in 'Garden State (2004)' though they did not share any screen time.
4. This is the second time Denis O'Hare appears. First was in season 4 episode 2 Volunteers as Harold Morrisey

Homesick

Aftershock

1. Every episode of Law & Order opens with the investigation of a crime, usually a murder. This is the only episode that does not open with a crime, or feature a criminal investigation and prosecution. This episode opens with four of the main characters witnessing the lethal injection of a prisoner and it revolves around the characters reactions to the execution.
2. This is Jill Hennessy's final appearance on the show.
3. One of Jennifer Garner's first roles. She filmed the series during her first year in New York City, and at the time she was making ends meet by working as a babysitter. One of the people she babysat for was Stephen Colbert, whom she met while they both had small roles on another show.
4. Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza), Assistant District Attorneys Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), and Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse) are the only regular characters who were killed off. All the others either resigned or were transferred from their respective positions.