Law & Order
Season 4
Season 4 U.S. DVD cover
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes22
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 15, 1993 (1993-09-15) –
May 25, 1994 (1994-05-25)
Season chronology

The fourth season of Law & Order aired on NBC between September 15, 1993, and May 25, 1994. This is the final season to feature Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone. It is also the first season to include a shorter opening sequence and theme (at 46 seconds), which would be used for the remainder of the series' run. Season four was released on DVD December 6, 2005.

Cast and characters

There were two cast changes from season 3:

This was the first time women played any of the Law & Order's six major characters: both roles would continue to be occupied by women, with Merkerson remaining in the role of Van Buren, throughout the remainder of the series. It was also the first time in Law & Order's history that two major cast changes were made simultaneously; the next such double change would not happen until the beginning of season 17.

Michael Moriarty, who played Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, left the series at the end of the 4th season and was replaced by Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy from 1994 until 2008, when he became District Attorney.

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

During this season, J. K. Simmons who would later have a recurring role as Dr. Emil Skoda, appeared in the episode "Sanctuary" as a TV cameraman, Jerry Luppin.

Episodes

Law & Order season 4 episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
671"Sweeps"James FrawleyCraig McNeer & Robert NathanSeptember 15, 1993 (1993-09-15)6900913.6[1]

Briscoe and Logan investigate after a convicted child molester, Dr. Joseph Vinton, is murdered on a controversial talk show hosted by Rick Mason (Robert Klein). The shooter is easily identified — he's Sid Fisher (Steve Ryan), the father of the dead man's victim from three years earlier. During the course of the investigation, however, the detectives find evidence that leads them to believe that Mason may have set up Vinton's murder so as to assure high ratings during sweeps period. Stone's case is made more difficult because Sid Fisher isn't willing to say anything that could put his son, Scotty (David Krumholtz), on the stand.

682"Volunteers"James QuinnRené BalcerSeptember 29, 1993 (1993-09-29)6901713.7[2]

A disruptive, unbalanced homeless man Roland Kirk is found severely beaten in an alley of the middle-class neighborhood he calls home, leading Stone to try and prosecute one of the residents for premeditated murder.

This episode was the basis for the Law & Order: UK episode "Community Service"
693"Discord"Ed SherinMichael S. ChernuchinOctober 6, 1993 (1993-10-06)6901215.3[3]
When college student Julia Wood charges an admittedly promiscuous rock star, C Square, (Sebastian Roché) with rape, he claims the act was consensual. Logan and Briscoe investigate the crime and soon learn that C Square isn't the nice guy he would have everyone believe.
704"Profile"E.W. SwackhamerT : Ed Zuckerman;
S/T : Gordon Rayfield		October 13, 1993 (1993-10-13)6901016.0[4]
After a number of neighborhood residents are murdered, the police follow the investigation to a local racist who is murdering people he doesn't feel belong in his neighborhood. Stone finds himself facing a prominent black attorney representing the murderer.
715"Black Tie"Arthur W. ForneyWalon Green & Michael S. ChernuchinOctober 20, 1993 (1993-10-20)6900416.3[5]
After Jonathan Keyes a wealthy man is found dead in his home, the police receive an anonymous tip that he was murdered. Logan and Briscoe encounter difficulties at the scene when the widow Danielle Keyes and her attorney Norman Rothenburg refuse to allow an autopsy, and by the time Rodgers is able to examine the body, it has already been embalmed. The medical examiner claims the death was natural causes, and even though the state finally gets the necessary proof that the death was murder, the methods used to obtain the needed evidence come under question when Stone tries the case in court.
726"Pride and Joy"Gilbert ShiltonEdward Pomerantz & Robert NathanOctober 27, 1993 (1993-10-27)6900616.2[6]
When building superintendent Frank McKinnon is found murdered in the basement of the building he works and lives in, Logan and Briscoe initially investigate the crime as a potential break-in until forensics discovers that the "break-in" was staged. The state's attention soon turns to Sean, Frank's 17-year-old son. Dr. Olivet determines the son is an abusive sociopath after interviewing him. But when the victim's wife claims that Frank beat his family on a regular basis, Stone and Kincaid try to determine who is telling the truth.
737"Apocrypha"Gabrielle BeaumontMichael S. ChernuchinNovember 3, 1993 (1993-11-03)6901314.9[7]
Stone and Kincaid try to prove that Wendy Berman the young woman believed to have planted a bomb in a parking garage had been brainwashed and was acting under the direct orders of Daniel Hendricks, the charismatic leader of a local cult known as the Acherusian Temple.
748"American Dream"Constantine MakrisSibyl GardnerNovember 9, 1993 (1993-11-09)6901814.4[8]

A dig at a building site uncovers the body of Sid Cohen, who had gone missing and been presumed murdered years earlier. The identification of the body proves troublesome for Stone, who had initially prosecuted Phillip Swann fourteen years earlier and had obtained a conviction. Swann uses inconsistencies between the original trial and the location of the body to seek an appeal.

  • This episode was the basis for the Law & Order: UK episode "Unsafe".
759"Born Bad"Fred GerberMichael S. Chernuchin & Sally NemethNovember 16, 1993 (1993-11-16)6902115.6[9]

When teenager Chris Pollit (Wil Horneff) beats a fellow foster home resident Johnny Lasky to death, his lawyer Helen Brolin seeks a not guilty verdict by reason of genetic defect, claiming that Pollit is genetically predisposed to violence because he has an extra Y chromosome.

  • This episode was the basis for the Law & Order: UK episode "Unloved".
7610"The Pursuit of Happiness"Dann FlorekMorgan Gendel & Robert NathanDecember 1, 1993 (1993-12-01)6900517.0[10]
When Billy Cooper is found murdered at the meat-packing plant where he works, Logan and Briscoe turn their eye to his wife Irina, a green card bride from Russia who had married Cooper in the hopes of a better life but had fallen in love with a co-worker and lost favor with her husband, who repeatedly threatened to send her back.
7711"Golden Years"Helaine HeadT : Ed Zuckerman;
S/T : Doug Palau		January 5, 1994 (1994-01-05)6900815.2[11]

After 82-year-old Mildred Bauer is found dead in her apartment, suspicion immediately turns to her at-home caregiver and her boyfriend until the medical examiner reveals that the elderly woman had been starved to death. Feeding instructions given to Maria by Laura, the deceased woman's granddaughter, turn Stone's eye on the young woman, and she is charged with neglect and grave indifference to human life.

  • This episode was the basis for the Law & Order: UK episode "Mortal".
7812"Snatched"Constantine MakrisWalon Green & René BalcerJanuary 12, 1994 (1994-01-12)6902415.3[12]
After Sol Bregman (Theodore Bikel) is arrested while trying to exchange a ransom payoff for his kidnapped son, Logan and Briscoe find themselves trying to find Jason Bregman while trying to stop the father, a millionaire and a close friend of Adam Schiff, from interfering in the investigation. Once Jason Bregman is found, suspicion turns to the victim himself.
7913"Breeder"Arthur W. ForneyMichael S. Chernuchin & René BalcerJanuary 19, 1994 (1994-01-19)6902319.3[13]
Debra Elkins claims to have passed out in a cab after giving birth only to wake up and discover her baby is missing, but it isn't long before Briscoe and Logan follow the trail of evidence to her boyfriend, Steven Shaw, who is keeping the baby in a hotel at Debra's request. As the investigation continues, Stone and Kincaid find three separate couples who had been led to believe that they would be the baby's adoptive parents, but it appears that Debra has no intention of giving her baby to any of them.
8014"Censure"Ed SherinWilliam N. FordesFebruary 2, 1994 (1994-02-02)6902619.0[14]
When the investigation into threats on a 5-year-old girl leads to a judge that Kincaid had been romantically involved with when she clerked under him, she asks Ben to take her off the case. When Thayer is brought to trial, he insinuates that Kincaid deliberately pointed the witness in his direction, claiming that she had approached him in an inappropriate manner while she worked with him.
8115"Kids"Don ScardinoMichael Harbert & Robert NathanFebruary 9, 1994 (1994-02-09)6902816.3[15]
When 14-year-old Angel Ramirez is shot dead while out with two friends, the investigation leads to a local gun dealer, Juan Domingo. While investigating Domingo, Briscoe and Logan learn that he was a recent suspect in a shooting that paralyzed a teenage boy, and Briscoe finds himself in an awkward position when Kevin Parker, the son of Ted Parker an old friend of Briscoe's, ends up being the prime suspect in young Angel's homicide.
8216"Big Bang"Dann FlorekEd ZuckermanMarch 2, 1994 (1994-03-02)6902715.7[16]
A nuclear physicist Edward Manning (Harris Yulin) becomes the chief suspect when his estranged wife Florence, who has been delaying divorce proceedings, is the victim of a mail bomb.
8317"Mayhem"James QuinnS : Walon Green;
T : René Balcer;
S/T : Michael S. Chernuchin		March 9, 1994 (1994-03-09)6902916.6[17]

During a 24-hour period, Briscoe and Logan have to deal with three unrelated homicides: an aspiring actor shot in the head, a woman maiming her cheating husband, and a store owner killed in a robbery.

8418"Wager"Ed SherinS : Michael S. Chernuchin;
T : Kevin Arkadie;
S/T : Harvey Solomon		March 30, 1994 (1994-03-30)6900216.3[18]

Briscoe and Logan bet that the killing of Ben Williams a star athlete's father is linked to gambling debts and threats to the baseball player's family, but it turns out the son Pat's alibi does not hold up and he ends up under suspicion himself.

Note: Keith Hernandez makes an appearance.
8519"Sanctuary"Arthur W. ForneyMichael S. Chernuchin & William N. FordesApril 13, 1994 (1994-04-13)6903017.1[19]

A black minister fans the flames of racial intolerance after a Jewish man Joshua Berger is not indicted for a hit-and-run which resulted in the death of black 12-year-old Damon Fox. The result is a riot which ends in a black teenager beating an Italian man to death after he mistook him for Jewish.

  • In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #79 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[20]
8620"Nurture"Jace AlexanderParis Qualles & Ed ZuckermanMay 4, 1994 (1994-05-04)6901115.3[21]
Briscoe and Logan investigate the disappearance of Wendy Sylvester a child from her abusive foster home and find her being held by Arnette Fenady a loving but disturbed woman who insists she has acted only for the child's own good.
8721"Doubles"Ed SherinMichael S. Chernuchin & René BalcerMay 18, 1994 (1994-05-18)6900115.7[22]
An assailant breaks the wrist of a tennis player Korey Burke prior to a tournament, and a competitor is among the suspects.
8822"Old Friends"James QuinnS : Robert Nathan;
S/T : Joshua Stern		May 25, 1994 (1994-05-25)6903115.3[23]

A truck hits a pedestrian and the investigation reveals Steven Green the victim's link to a baby-food company in which a new partner has connections to the Russian mob.

References

  1. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. September 22, 1993. p. 3D.
  2. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. October 6, 1993. p. 3D.
  3. ↑ Gable, Donna (October 13, 1993). "New shows pick up steam in ABC win". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  4. ↑ Graham, Jefferson; Gable, Donna (October 20, 1993). "'Home Improvement' powers to No. 1". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  5. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (October 27, 1993). "World Series earns CBS a win". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  6. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (November 3, 1993). "ABC usurps CBS as No. 1". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  7. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. November 10, 1993. p. 3D.
  8. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (November 17, 1993). "Walters gives ABC a special boost". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  9. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (November 24, 1993). "CBS sweeps back to top". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  10. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (December 8, 1993). "'White Dog' has its day; CBS, its week". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  11. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (January 12, 1994). "'Improvement' leads ABC charge". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  12. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (January 19, 1994). "'Columbo' on the case for ABC". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  13. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. January 26, 1994. p. 3D.
  14. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (February 9, 1994). "Lilith brings ratings to 'Frasier'". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  15. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. February 16, 1994. p. 3D.
  16. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. March 9, 1994. p. 3D.
  17. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (March 16, 1994). "Premieres give ABC pull". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  18. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (April 6, 1994). "ABC gets help from 'These Friends'". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  19. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. April 20, 1994. p. 3D.
  20. ↑ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28–July 4). 1997.
  21. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (May 11, 1994). "ABC keeps hammering away". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
  22. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. May 25, 1994. p. 3D.
  23. ↑ DeRosa, Robin (June 1, 1994). "ABC's clean sweeps". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
Preceded by
Season Three
(1992–1993)		 List of Law & Order seasons
(1990–2010)		 Succeeded by
Season Five
(1994–1995)
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