Full of provocative plot lines — a gay cop dies in a suspicious shoot-out, a sadistic gynecologist sedates and rapes his patients — Law & Order: The Third Yearwill forever rank as one of the best seasons in the show's 15-year history. It was also the season Jerry Orbach joined the cast as world-weary Det. Lennie Briscoe. Coincidence? We think not.
EXTRAS A handful of (rightly) deleted scenes, plus a mini making-of narrated by Orbach — in which he likens L&O to a Tennessee Williams play! — and a too-short tribute to the actor, who died of prostate cancer in December 2004. Chris Noth remembers ''turbulence, chaos, and animosity'' before Orbach's arrival. Recalls Dann Florek (a.k.a. Captain Cragen): ''[George] Dzundza and Noth were banging heads, [Paul] Sorvino and Noth were banging heads, everybody was banging heads with [ADA] Michael Moriarty, but when Jerry came, it was like the seas calmed down.'' Now that seasons 1, 2, 3, and 14 exist on DVD, would 4-13 be too much to hope for?
