The Best Arrest From Law & Order Season 1
Nowadays, long-running cop drama "Law & Order" is perhaps best known not for its original run of more than 450 episodes (via IMDb) but as the progenitor of wildly successful spinoffs, chiefly including "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." In fact, "Law & Order: SVU" eclipsed its progenitor numbers-wise when it became the longest-running non-animated primetime drama in the US, besting a record held that entire time by none other than the original "Law & Order."
Knowing the TV juggernaut it went on to create, it's hard to view the first season of "Law & Order" today as anything other than the start of a massive franchise. Of course, during the earliest days of the series, its producers couldn't have had any idea that it would become not just insanely popular but historically huge.
With that in mind, many of the biggest moments from early "Law & Order" episodes simultaneously feel both of a simpler time and indicative of what was to come, including what is perhaps the most memorable arrest from the first season of the influential cop series.
The Law & Order crew arrests a criminal kingpin
In a compilation of the best Season 1 arrests shared to the official "Law & Order" YouTube channel, the most-viewed clip, at 7 minutes and 25 seconds in, is of a moment in Episode 14 where Sergeant Max Greevey (George Dzundza, who left after Season 1) arrests a man recently outed by his accomplices as a rapist. Of course, the subject matter in this moment is dark, and virtually no arrest is cause for celebration. That said, certain particulars of this scene, outside of the story, help make it the standout among the so-called best arrests from the first season of "Law & Order."
Chief among what makes the scene compelling is its setting. Criminal Tim Pruiting (Al Shannon) lives in a hip New York apartment, where he casually hides drug paraphernalia in his bedsheets, granting his character a much younger vibe than many of the criminals showcased throughout the season. Furthermore, his scantily clad girlfriend is portrayed by Erika Jayne in her second "Law & Order" Season 1 role. Jayne would go on to become a "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star, imbuing this character with much greater significance than she carried the episode's first time on the air.
This moment is memorable, then, for both its edgy apartment setting and the future career of one of its bit players, amounting to what is arguably the best arrest from the entirety of "Law & Order" Season 1.