xerxes xerxes:
I totally agree. I love the older episodes and and didn't care so much for the last few seasons. To me, apart from the poor character development, I found the writers were relying too much on real world crime stories and not enough on fictional ones like they used to.
I'd partially agree. I think they became lazy not by basing plots on real crimes, but rather how they made said plot distinct from said real crime. A crime wasn't just a crime, it was a grand cover up by the military or some corporation. The older episodes, to me, anyway, just had a more human touch to the murders. Season 4 is my favorite, so far. Sanctuary, Pride and Joy, Volunteers, etc etc all were done by people in the heat of passion, not because of some grand cover up or scheme.
$1:
And of course, everything changed after Jerry Orbach left. He's still my favourite TV cop of all time.
I agree. I enjoyed Trial by Jury too, when he was on, but it's too bad he had cancer. That being said, I enjoyed some of the others after Orbach too. Fontana was hilarious, in my opinion.