Homicide Munch vs. Law + Order SVU Munch
I was a big fan of Homicide during its run, and still thinks it ranks as one of the best broadcast network dramas of all time.
Recently, my wife has been on a Law & Order:SVU bent....our DVR literally has dozens of those things in the queue right now.
Occassionaly, I'll happen in on some of the episodes and I have to say it really pales in comparision to Homicide.....lots of overacting, bad acting, implausible overly dramatic storylines, bad writing, etc.
Which is a shame, because after Homicide ended and Richard Belzer announced he was taking the Munch role to SVU, I had some hope for it. But sadly, whatever effort Belzer is able to put into his beloved character is futile against the inferior writing and directing that he is given on SVU.
First of all, the Munch character is rarely front and center. He's essentially window dressing to the Meloni and Hargatay characters, and is overshadowed by the Ice T characters as well. Out of dozens of SVU episodes that I've sampled, very few have Munch front and center.
But even worse, all the soul and persona and character that Munch had in Homicide is conspiciously absent in SVU. Yes, sometimes the SVU writers will attempt to replicate Homicide Munch's sarcasm or acerbic wit, but more often he'll just sound like the rest of the cast, going off on some obviously scripted preachy monologue.
It's not to knock Richard Belzer's acting ability, which is fine. But it does go to show the superior skills behind the Homicide teams that made Munch such an interesting character on that show when he remains bland, generic and underutilized on others.