Law and Order SVU

For as long as I can remember I have been a Law and Order buff. When ever theres nothing to do and a TV is staring back at me from the couch I know that there is some form of Law and Order on. Whether its Law and Order, Law and Order CI or Law and Order SVU one is usually on for my crime investigating pleasure. But, what I have continued to wonder, especially through this class, is why SVU is seen as the primo Law and Order. I mean, yeah the CI guy is a creep but if you would ask most people which Law and Order they prefer it would be SVU. I find the attraction to this version strange since all the crimes commited are violent and brutal rapes and rape/murders. In trying to come up with a reasoning for why most people, men and women are drawn to this version is both for the preference of detectives: Benson the betty and Stabler the sexpot AND also due to the fact that the murders and rapes are so brutal and disturbing that the viewer is both drawn to find the mindset behind the bad guy and is probably more likely to relate to a rape than a serial killing spree. After thinking about the show and then Sharon Marcus’s article: Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention , I began to wonder if maybe the show acted as a fantastical outlet like violent pornography but in a shameless way for people too. They were able to see the before, play by play and catching of the bad guys so because its justafiably identified as wrong in the end it almost makes it ok to watch and think through what you would do as the rapist but then switch sides to the good guys… What are your opinions??