Since the original series launched in 1990, the Law and Order franchise has racked up six spin-off series for a whopping total of 62 seasons of television and 1316 episodes so far. In January, the Special Victims Unit will return for a mind-boggling 25th season. Organized Crime will notch its fourth season, and the original series, after having been revived in 2021, will be telling its 23rd season.
Law and Order is so ubiquitous that at any point during the day, you’re likely to find a rerun while you’re flipping through the channels. Well, I mean, if you have a cable subscription, the people who have those are generally the same ones who own a house they bought for a bushel of boysenberries back in the 70s.
My point is Law and Order is an American institution right up there with football, unaffordable healthcare, and the US’s pension for invading Middle Eastern countries for oil.
For many viewers, one order is their primary contact point with the criminal legal system, and the show isn’t exactly honest or unbiased when it comes to its representation. Well, think it should be controversial to say that Law and Order is a TV Show whose express purpose is to honor and celebrate the police.
Review
Before diving into Law & Order Season 23 Episode 1, let’s quickly recap and review the previous episode. Last year, some British nerd named Oliver took aim at the show and its Copaganda in an episode that I think 90% of the audience has already seen. Johnny O did a great job of breaking down how the show was specifically made to promote the NYPD by creator Dick Wolf and the way it whitewashes police brutality.
So why am I talking about it today, especially when I’ve already thanked John Oliver for tackling such a large franchise so that I didn’t have to? While Law and Order has come under a decent amount of scrutiny since 2020 for its police promotion, I think that we’re still glossing over one of the most insidious aspects of the franchise.
Quick trivia question: In the Law and Order universe, which cop has gotten most of the bad guys off the street Is it Olivia Benson? Elliot Stabler? Ray Curtis? It’s none of the above, and it’s the prosecutor, Jack McCoy. We often focus on Copaganda as it pertains to the police, but Law and Order is so nice to remind us that it is two separate, equally important groups, the police, and the district attorneys.
Throughout the course of law and order, McCoy has been found in contempt of court over 80 times. He’s argued passionately for the death penalty while admitting that innocent people will die. A lot more happened in previous episodes, but now let’s discuss when Episode 1 of Law & Order Season 23 will be released and what will happen in it.
Release Date & Where to Watch
Law & Order Season 23 Episode 1 will be released on 18 January 2024 on NBC. This Episode is titled “Freedom of Expression”. At the time of writing, 13 episodes are scheduled for this 23rd season, and we think there will be only 20 episodes like the previous seasons.
The Synopsis of Episode 1 is as follows: “Following a murder on campus, a university examines the boundary between hate speech and free speech.”
Episode 1 of Law & Order Season 23 will air at 8:00 PM PT in the US. New episodes of Law & Order Season 23 are released every Thursday. The episode 1 release timings for the rest of the world are as follows:
- Pacific Time (New York) 8:00 PM on Thursday, 18 January 2024
- Eastern Time (Canada) 11:00 PM on Thursday, 18 January 2024
- Greenwich Mean Time (London) 4:00 AM on Friday, 19 January 2024
- Central European Time (Germany) 5:00 AM on Friday, 19 January 2024
- Australian Standard Time (Australia) 1:00 PM on Friday, 19 January 2024
If you have NBC on your TV, you could just tune in at the time mentioned above. But, if you missed the episode while it was airing live or prefer Streaming Law & Order Season 23, then you can stream the show on NBC’s streaming site, nbc.com.
You can also catch Law & Order S23 E1 on DirectTV STREAM. Alternatively, you can also watch all of Law & Order Season 23 episodes through CityTV if you have a CityTV Subscription. Spectrum is another way or place where you can stream all of Law & Order Season 23 episodes and seasons whenever you want.
