5/5 Need a release date for this item?
  by torrid_wind™ (Brooklyn, NY, United States)
As soon as Amazon made "Law & Order - The Seventh Year" available for pre-order, I placed my order. After a month or two of waiting, I became restless. I needed to know the precise release date (so as to best budget my money for other purchases). Another reviewer stated that this DVD set would either available during the summer of 2009 or in the fall. Once fall arrived, Amazon inexplicably now has the product listed as "currently unavailable" (with no information about whether it will become available in the future). I did a quick search on Google last night to find out if this item was currently available for sale on another site. I found out on the Barnes & Noble website that "Law & Order - The Seventh Year" is currently "Available for Pre-Order. This item will be available on January 19, 2010." Hallelujah, the end is in sight!

5/5 One of the best seasons of Law and Order
  by calvinnme (Fredericksburg, Va)
I believe there have been at least 30 people playing the six basic roles of Law and Order over the years, so here's the lineup this season, 1996-1997:

Jerry Orbach - Detective Lennie Briscoe (1992-2004)
Benjamin Bratt - Detective Rey Curtis (1995-1999)
S. Epatha Merkerson - Lt. Anita Van Buren (1993 - present)
Sam Waterston - Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy (1994 - present)
Carey Lowell - A.D.A. Jamie Ross (1996 - 1998)
Steven Hill - D.A. Adam Schiff (1990 - 2000)

Thus the newest addition to the cast is Carey Lowell as Jamie Ross after Claire's sad and sudden departure at the end of season six after three seasons on the job.

This season has more personal information injected into the series than is normal. For Jerry Orbach's Lenny Briscoe there is the case of an old friend and fellow cop from his old drinking days who needs a favor. Add to that the fact that this fellow cop covered for Lenny in the past when he was drinking on duty or just plain missing. Later in the episode when Lenny gets pulled into the controversy of corruption that gets uncovered, the only person who can clear him is an old girlfriend who was married at the time of the affair and is still married.

Jamie Ross has an interesting background. She's the ex-wife of a wealthy trial lawyer who has one child from that marriage. She chooses to work in the D.A.'s office for less money and more job satisfaction rather than remain in private practice, a luxury that her handsome settlement from her ex-husband allows her to afford. However, having a wealthy powerful lawyer as an ex-spouse can cut both ways. In the three-parter where a murder occurs in New York where the suspect is a well-known L.A. celebrity, Jamie's ex - Neil Gorton - is retained as defense counsel. When things are not going his way Gorton decides to start shooting legal arrows in Jamie's direction in the form of trying to take custody of their child by claiming Jamie's long hours at work are keeping her from being an adequate mother.

Rey Curtis, introduced as a conservative family man with ironclad values in season six, has had an affair with a woman working in a music store at the conclusion of season six after witnessing the execution of someone he had arrested. During season seven, after being wracked with guilt, he confesses this to his wife, and the two separate for awhile.

None of this personal information ever becomes the center of attention that it was in NYPD Blue or even Homicide, as the focus still remains on the individual episodes which largely remain isolated from one another. The stories are still excellent, and about half of the episodes still remain based on actual criminal cases, although usually with a twist.

Probably the two best individual episodes of the season involve the killing of a deadbeat dad whose son has leukemia - that one really ends with a twist - and another episode in which McCoy doggedly pursues an ex-offender he is sure is guilty of the death of a little girl. McCoy is sure that the fellow is a repeat offender and will strike again. He follows him at work, has posters put up around where he lives notifying the neighbors of his past crimes, and promises to hound him indefinitely unless he voluntarily commits himself. The man does indeed attack again - this time literally stopped dead in his tracks by his biggest advocate up to that point. The question is left open, however, - did the man actually kill the little girl, or did he attack this final time because McCoy's harrassment sent him over the edge?

Normally I recommend against buying individual seasons of a show because there is usually a "Complete Series" that comes out after the series ends that is much cheaper per disc than individual seasons that contains extras the individual seasons lack. However, in the case of Law & Order, which will last at least one more season, you are probably safe in buying seasons separately, mainly because of the shear number of seasons - in this case at least twenty.

5/5 Jamie Ross arrives on the Case!
  by D. DiRienzo (Bayonne, NJ USA)
Carey Lowell joins the cast as Jamie Ross in the Seventh Year of Law & Order, but departs in the Eighth Year.

Fans of Carey Lowell will be HAPPY to her in action when Law & Order The Seventh Year (1996-1997) arrives on DVD!

This could most likely be either an August release or sometime later in the fall.

Please continue releasing the Original Law & Order series on DVD, in the near future!

4/5 My Favorite Season
  by Movie Lover (Seoul, South Korea)
This season is not only my favorite, but also my dad's. Our favorite episode comes during the three-episode arc involving a Hollywood director accused of killing his ex-wife. When a judge in L.A. rules to block an extradition order, Jack tells him off--on live TV. We get a kick out of that one every time.