Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

not horrible nor great

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jamey Sheridan, and Courtney B. Vance shine as they give performances that supercede those given on "NYPD Blue." Like the cast on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," D'Onofrio, Erbe, Sheridan and Vance feed off each other as if they were veterans working together for a long time.One of the biggest reasons It is especially fun to watch D'Onofrio's character Bobby Goren at work as he uses deductive reasoning combined with his great intellect to pick out the perpetrator. D'Onofrio gives insightful performances with each episode he stars.Like their co-star, Erbe, Sheridan and Vance are welcome additions to an already wonderful series, who each bring their own unique brand of style and talent to their respective roles, a quality that sets them apart from other crime drama casts.Quality writing and riveting performances set "Law And Order: Criminal Intent" far apart from the other crime dramas on television. Each episode is riveting, written with intelligence, and contains characters with great depth. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is one of only a few crime dramas that contains all of these elements. I will always set aside one hour every week to watch "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" when the writing is this good.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent certainly had a ready made audience with the success of the two previous Law and Order series. Still when it came out the producers were treading on some thin ice by making the detectives as quirky as they were. The original Law and Order series had cops with personalities, but were generally all business.Vincent Donofrio's Robert Goren was all business, but he was totally consumed by the job. He certainly had a few issues as we later learned concerning his mother, Rita Moreno who was in a few episodes, but his lack of involvement with the rest of the human race may have made him more detached and able to ferret clues with the skill of Adrian Monk. Not even the remotest kind of pass was ever made at the beautiful Kathryn Erbe who partnered with him for the first half of the series run.Law And Order fans already knew Detective Mike Logan and all of his good and bad points that Chris Noth brought for the CI series. Still it was great to see a more mature Logan, doggedly honest work through his caseload on alternate weeks. His run in actual life years given a bit of time before the original Law and Order series debuted was about the working life of a police detective.One thing I didn't like was the dropping of Courtney B. Vance's character of ADA Ron Carver. We only got to see him on trial pitted against defendant Rob Knepper in one of my two favorite Criminal Intent episodes. He was outstanding in that one. I presume the producers and writers wanted to concentrate more on the cops than on him and he was dropped. But if I were the producers I'd work him into either of the other series somehow and pay him whatever he wants. Vance is worth it.Now we have Jeff Goldblum who has the unusual background of having a psychologist dad and he combines that training with police training. Goldblum seems to have found his own character and like Donofrio and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, you can see the little gray cells at work all the time.Not as factually based as the original series, but CI has a great set of writers to come up with some novel stories every week.

I have watched several episodes but every time I am totally amazed that they gave Vincent D'Onofrio a lead role. Watching him work a case is just painful, especially when he does the big reveal at the end. I have seen better acting in Jr. High School Plays.Otherwise this show leaves a lot to be desired, it's nothing special or different from any other cop show on today or in the last 30 years. Cop shows have all been the same, when one ends there's a new one in a season or two that does the same thing the same way with no imagination or originality.I find the more unlikely cop shows, like Castle and The Mentalist, more enjoyable simply because they are different. Maybe this show and the other L&O and CSI shows should pay attention and find something new.

Why because they are so good at what they do. Goren is like no other detective or TV with his brilliant mind. Give Goren, and well read detective with his brilliant is believable like no other detective on television. Give him one puzzle piece he can can put the whole picture of the crime scene. With Eames, Goen's often stabilizing force make them a dynamic duo of crime solving. You have a great show and don't be swayed by the numbers game, they can be swayed up and down by the decisions you make by some creative adjusting of the show.In short NBC (USA) whatever have made enough blunders. Some of the new shows look good now because they are a curiosity factor, but like a meteor most will they stay bright for a short period and burn up.L&O Ci, is a proved show with a long term audience. How many other shows can make that claim.If Eames and Goen want to leave, offer a creative incentive for them to stay. Those in the trenches usually know what the show needs better than the directors, producers and even the writers. Revamp the show not jettison the players that brought you the success.If you do the show is going to suffer big time because it or not Goen is the lynch pin to the show's success.Erbe is a great side kick and she's and she is as cute as a button as the cliché goes–good with the wise cracks.One improvement might be have a segment where Eames and Goren had a fallen out over Goren's suspension while working undercover and couldn't tell his partner Eames who took exception for being cut out of the loop. The follow up should be, and can still be, have a segment where talk it out on a park bench on the Hudson River Let them argue it out because Eames takes being left out of decisions personally and I'm surprised that you haven't dealt with that issue on the showBob Gurecki