SVU used to be one of my favourite shows. There's been some incredible, edge-of-your-seat episodes like "911", but now it's mostly he-said she-said's and statutory rapes between two willing participants (i.e. 15 year old girl and 16 year old guy). Yes, it's more realistic and true to life, but that's not why I watch TV like this. If I wanted realistic crime shows I'd watch Highway Cops or something - not Law & Order.
The political agenda pushing that's become central to the show is beyond aggravating. As the most liberal, feminist, pro-immigration, anti-racist, anti-fascist person around, having the views I already believe in forced down my throat every time I'm trying to chill out and watch TV is frustrating. It's also even more frustrating knowing how pointless it is - SVU is a crime show, it's not going to make anyone reconsider their politics, and it's dumb to isolate people from a show they've enjoyed for decades just because their politics differ to yours. The way it's all approached feels really patronising and tacky too - and the "my way is the right way" attitude is unhelpful in creating any positive political discussion.
Season 19 has been better than the past few seasons - there's been a few more engaging plot lines. It's still not even close to how it used to be though, where virtually every episode was an 8/10 with 9's being a common occurrence. Now it's more like every episode is a 5/10, and we're lucky if we get a 7.
I don't watch the show regularly anymore; I just resort to it when there's literally nothing else I can think of to watch. It sucks because it was so good, and I don't even think the new cast is too bad (yeah, they're not the OG's, but I can deal with it if the plots are good). It seemed to get a lot worse when Mariska Hargitay took over as Executive Producer.
Bring back engaging plots please and stop the political tripe. :(
