If you noticed his recent appearance on “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,”
Richard Belzer has now played the same character, Detective John Munch, on six different series, granting that half of those are of the Law & Order franchise – he’s also been a regular character on L&0-SVU and Homicide, as well as appearing on the original L&O, The Beat, and The X-Files, the last being perhaps the most improbable because it was on another network.
3 thoughts on “Muncha Buncha”
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Sigh. “Homicide” was the best cop show ever in my opinion… Every time I see Munch on L&O:SVU (a show I enjoy) I miss the showcase “Homicide” offered the unorthodox character that is John Munch.
It’s funny how many of the actors on the various L&O’s are recycled through the various NBC cop dramas and beyond. Many of the lawyers, etc on L&O were regulars on Homicide and many of the actors from both have been on Oz. Christopher Meloni on SVU played a bounty hunter on Homicide and a character on Oz. J.K. Simmons plays a court psychologist on L&O, a crazed mass murderer on Homicide, and white supremisist on OZ…
Too bad HBO never let Munch come down for an investigation involving one of those characters…
Vincent D’Onofrio also had a high-profile guest appearance on Homicide as a guy who got stuck between a train and a platform.
Besides Belzer, probably the most extreme example of someone who used the ability to shuttle between one network’s shows to build a career is Lauren Graham, who went from a complete unknown to guest appearances on NBC on Law & Order, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, and (ugh) Caroline in the City in short succession, and used that visibility to get a lead in her own show.
I always wondered what would happen in an “Arcane Facts” debate between L&O:Criminal Intent’s (the most wildly unrealistic cop show on TV) lead character (cannot recall his name) and Gil Grisham from the original CSI.