The Real Reason These Law & Order Actors Left The Franchise 

Which of these actors do you wish would've stayed longer with the franchise?

The real reason Richard Belzer left the show was because he in declining health and then he died. I miss Munch!😢

John Munch was my favorite character. RIP Richard Belzer 🙏🏻

I miss Richard Belzer. Munch was my favorite character 😢

Dean Winters is very underrated. His Mayhem character should be developed into a super hero character.

My favorite is Dean Winters as Cassidy. He had such a great connection with Olivia!

Bd wong was amazing. Was sad to see him go.

munch is a legend, richard belzer gave his all and he will forever be immortalized for it. rip

Fave L&O was Criminal Intent. Vincent D’Onofrio was acting genius on that show.

I figured Christopher Meloni would be number 1. He left SVU for a long tim till he came back for Organized crime

You also forgot, Stephanie March who was DA and Diane Neal also DA

Man, I felt every one of these mentioned from SVU.😔 But nothing about Stabler/Meloni? Cragen/Florek? Barba/Esparza? Warner/Tuni? I watched CI when D’Onofrio was on it, disappointed there’s barely a mention here.🤦🏻‍♀️ Thank you Belzer for the memories. John Munch was a legend.❤️

No mention of Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti)? Also, before playing Lenny Briscoe, Jerry Orbach played a sleezy defense attorney in an episode of the og Law & Order

Favorite from each franchise who left Law & Order Jessie L Martin, Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Orbach, Sam Waterson who just left replaced by Tony Goldwyn SVU - Richard Belzer, Adam Beach,Christopher Meloni, B D Wong and Mayhem a.k.a Dean Winters Kelly will be back as a guest Criminal Intent Courtney Vance and Vincent

I loved all of Law&Orders❤❤❤!!

No mention that Noth returned as Logan in a Law and Order Movie and in Law and Order: Criminal Intent?

Richard Belzer originally portrayed Detective Munch on "Homicide: Life On The Street", set in Baltimore!

Winters or "Mr. MAYHAM" is and always my fav

I loved Michael Moriarty and Richard Brooks.

What about Richard Brooks. Like him.

Back Down Memory Lane ... THANKS! ❤

Always referred to Criminal Intent as the Bobby show😊

I think that SVU has gotten somewhat unbelievable. A detective all of a sudden becomes an ADA? Another becomes a professor? I'm not saying that it can't be, just that it was too fast. But this is a great show. I was shocked when that ADA turned up in the trunk of a car and when the other one died in that car accident. My favorite character was Lennie Briscoe; he made me laugh.

Annie Parisse had a big role on the soap As the World Turns. She played Julia who kept breaking up Jack and Carly.

Miss John munch RIP

I watched Law & Order religiously for Jerry Orbach . He was a great actor and perfectly cast for the part . When he left I stopped watching it. I was a big fan of Law & Order SVU but stopped watching about five or six years ago . I just couldn’t understand letting Richard Belzer go and keeping Ice-T who apparently has a huge following but for God sake the guy is not an actor .

Ive had the HOTS for BARBA!!!! BRING HIM BACK!!!❤❤

What?! Chris Noth wasn't the first to leave. It was George Dzundza and was replaced by Paul Sorvino. Of the DAs, it was Richard Brooks replaced by Jill Hennessy.

Wow, I'm impressed. You've held me all the way through and I can only pedantically quibble. Thanks for your very good work. Subscribed.

Jerry Orbach and Richard Belzer were my faves.

Interesting how so many members of the cast of the HBO series OZ, also because cast members of Law and Order.

LOVED D'Onofrio and how his character was portrayed. Dean Winters was intense and likeable and Munch, always a punch line you didn't see coming! Long before Jerry Orbach was on Tv, he did stage work and pretty well, 😔 sadly some of the best have gone one to the best " White Way"😢

WTF???? Where is Dennis Farina???? More popular than some of those throw-aways you mentioned. Stupid mistake guys.

What about Richard Brooks as Paul Robinette or Stephanie March as Alexandra Cabot?

Barba? BARBA!

Chris Noth came back several times after 1995

Jerry....one of a kind..... Love his style. Sure do miss him......

and the Crazy Thing is This Show is still going on Today in 2024! I would find it Difficult to get into now!

Demore Barnes Molly Burnett Michelle Hurd Stephanie March Diane Neal Michaela McManus

I love Jesse L. Martin enough I was willing to try to watch Irrational despite knowing the professor it is based on has been committing fraud in his studies(many he said he did he didn’t but wrote papers and books about it)which has oddly not cost him much. I hope he does another show because Irrational isn’t that great even if I didn’t know someone that had made big money off of faking studies was making more money off of it and his bad science is quoted in the show frequently.

Thompson was also in Hunt for Red October.

I wouldn't be bragging about being in Madame Webb.

Adam...such a great actor! Miss his presence! Went on to even greater rolls!

Nice video 😀

Too many female actors ignored entirely! Why?😮

Excellent! Lots of research!

No mention of Dennis Farina?

I miss them

0:20 Chris Noth wasn't the first series regular to leave. Granted, he was maybe the first to have a career thrive after leaving. His first partner left after one season... didn't like the logistics. His 2nd parter, played by the late Paul Sorvino, left to preserve his signing voice after a year & a half. TV filming was straining his health. His original lieutenant & assistant district attorney were both moved on from to add women to what was originally an all-male cast. The actor that gave us DA Ben Stone... he had his reasons for abruptly quitting TV work too. Chis Noth was actually the last original cast member out... the DA for the original pilot was not retained for the series.

I miss John Munch and Cassidy

Diane Weiss was awesome

Noth then came back in L&O: CI as the logan character was "brought" back from Staten Island and promoted to Major Case Squad.....

Story I heard was that Dick Wolf is just too cheap .

Jill Hennessy..... My hearts desire... Reminds me of my wife, Flo... But, as beautiful as she is, she is still Hollywood. Sure do miss my soul mate ........

I love what you do

What are the name of the beats that use in the background? I like them a lot

Alana de la Garza - loved those sweaters.

Chris Noth will always be BIG to me.

Chris noth did law and order criminal intent too

There are just so many faces, great actors that we spent years watching that they seem like distant family. Lenny briscoe and munnch and bd wong and angie harmon, chris noth and so many more. It became such a successful franchise thanks to great actors and great writer. Thank you all.

My favorite was Elliot and Olivia I loved Amaro too

So many favorites! Lenny, Munch top 2!

Michael Moriarty never co starred with Fred Thompson. At the time Moriarity portrayed Assistant DA Ben Stone, Steven Hill played the role of District Attorney Adam Schiff.

Lenny Brisco, Jerry Orbach, who said why leave when you’ve got a good thing going. He left because he died and Munch, who turned up to guest star - and watch Noah for Olivia Benson. They are both missed.

Jesse l martin was first poc Detective on law and order

I just love Mayhem! 😎

love the way you glossed over Mike M, and the real reasons he left the show, and america..

Quite a lot of people missing here, for instance the various police captains on all the series. Also the ADAs on SVU & Criminal Intent. I think there were even some regular cast members who left L&O: LA mid season after a shakeup to try and save the series.

I love Chris Noth.

Dean Winters as Mayhem is the way things were meant to be. Best ad campaign EVER! He was good on everything else though too. But MAYHEM.......... Yeah, thats awesome.

I miss Richard on SVU

you guys missed a bunch of prominent departures.....???? 🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️

This video was half made!

Noth also appeared as Mike Logan on Law & Order:Criminal Intent. I didn't hear that show mentioned.

Arthur Branch was my Absolute Favorite actor on Law&Order for all franchise versions.

I really liked Jerry Orbachs character..

Michael Moriarity was a nut job. I was in Toronto for work in 2006 or so. One Sunday afternoon, I met with a coworker in the hotel bar. It was empty except for MM who was with a man and a woman across the room. He kept staring at us but every time we glanced at him, he’d quickly look away at the tv or out the window. At one point, I left for a couple minutes to go to the bathroom. When I came back, my coworker said that he could hear MM frantically telling the people he was with that I was probably there to kill him. They managed to calm him down but he kept staring at us. Deciding to have a little fun with him, when I had to make a phone call, I glared at him for a bit and then stood up and left the bar for another few minutes. My coworker said he heard MM tell the man he was with to follow me to see where I was going and to warn him when I returned. He refused. A few minutes after I returned, MM must have had enough and decided to leave the bar. Sadly for him, the only way out was right past where we were sitting. He slowly moved along, waiting for me to pounce or something. I looked up at him as he was just a foot or two away. When our eyes met, he looked away terrified and rushed out of the bar. In his rush to leave, he left his hat at his table. To this day, I regret not slipping a note into the hat saying something like “You can run but you can’t hide.”

I ADORED Elizabeth Rohm's final line: Is it because I'm a Lesbian?

Perhaps your Part II could include Andy Karl.

15:38 Your 2 faces of the OG Law & Order.

Michele Herd(?) is left out a lot. She was on SVU early on.

Loved Jesse L. Martin on the show. Nice to see him successful in other endeavours as well.

Is that Mayhem in the thumbnail???

When I used to watch TV, I liked Law and Order, especially Lennie Briscoe. He acted like he had seen everything and was tired of it, but, he was very clever in solving crimes.

I understand some wanted to leave.New projects,new experiences.Shame some didn't agree on money.And with producers.Law and Order is great show

I was expecting something about Elliot Stabler/Christopher Meloni why he left. Munch was my fav. I haven't really watched it after he was let go. I always wished, that we would see more of him in the show.

Jill Hennessy didn't actually know they killed Claire until way later. Even though she was going on to film movies and other things she had hoped to come back and make some guest appearances. That was when they were like "No sorry Claire didn't survive that accident." However, Dick Wolf did say in an interview one of his biggest regrets on the show was killing Claire. Jill Hennessy pushed for more character input when Sam Waterson joined the show. During her season with Michael Moriarty his Ben Stone character was more like a mentor character and Hennessy wanted Claire to have more equal footing.

I love Cold Case!

Fairly sure Jerry Orbach got the raise! Loved his character.

Dan Florek? S. Epatha Merkeson?

I loved Lenny, and enjoyed watching the many other actors over a long term. I liked Adam Beach as a Native American detective who stated his connection to New York's ironworking industry. When Sonny Carisi married Amanda Rollins, it was the icing on the cake! They were perfect for each other.

Uncle Paulie is my favorite

Loved Hill!

I loved Wiest, too!

I’m gonna get beat up for this… I’m not happy with Stabler returning. He seems worse than ever. He’s better angry all the time. I don’t know the character is not the same. I find him very annoying.

One of Dalton's least remembered roles was that of the factory boss in Rosanne.

Tipper Gore also has alot to do with Michael Morirarty leaving .

They have given a lot to their film

1:17 he didn’t REALLY leave the franchise… he was in 36 episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent 😁

Frank Thompson was my favorite DA or whatever they call them in NYC.