Law & Order, Season 1

When Law & Order premiered in its first season, it represented a conscious shift away from many of the conventional one-hour dramatic series of the era. Each powerful episode follows one case through the criminal justice system by telling the story with two separate sets of stars. Each hour-long episode consists of two halves. As season one begins, EMMY-Award winner Michael Moriarty and the critically acclaimed George Dzundza head the cast of this unique crime-drama series shot entirely on location in New York. The first half is set on the remorseless New York City streets and in the chaos of the police precinct where we get to know the team of Detective Sergeant Max Greevey and his young partner, Detective Mike Logan, as they investigate a crime and make an arrest. In the second half, the focus shifts to the criminal courts where Assistant District Attorneys Ben Stone and Paul Robinette, the two prosecutors, work within a complicated justice system. Sometimes cases are clear cut, easy to break and easy to prosecute. But most are the type in which the investigation is difficult, the prosecution is complicated, and the decisions involved in how to proceed legally and what to plea bargain "in the name of justice" are even tougher. In the often-arduous and complex procedure of determining innocence or guilt, lives hang in the balance.