Law & Order Trio or CSI Trio?

Of these 2 mega crime franchises, which one do you prefer? They both have a horde of loyal fans and are both successful, but which franchise reigns supreme?

Generally I'm of the mind that CSI is too Hollywood. The stories are ridiculous, the characters are ludicrous (Horatio anyone?), the personal relationships of the characters are paper thin, and the "realism" factor is practically non-existant. In each CSI, their police precinct has the budget of a DoD project. The CSI Miami precinct alone has better funding than all the precincts in NY. Then it irks me how all the characters in CSI, play multiple roles. They switch from IT technician, to CSI, to Detective, to assisting in autopsies. Unless there is a secrect police force out there consisting of Savants only, I don't see how that works. These jobs are usually handled by multiple people who specialize in each trade. In the case of CSI, all the characters are Jacks of all trades, and masters of all.

As for Law & Order, I generally think it's a bit more realistic. My favorite one is the original because it shows you both sides. You start of with the Detectives doing their work, and then we move into criminal court. The stories are rarely overdone or absurd, and the characters are all believable. Jack McCoy is considered a legal genius of sorts, but still he feels believable. As for Criminal Intent, it moves a little bit more out of the "realism" area, and almost completely drops the legal aspect of the show. It's still entertaining though to see Detective Goren's "Sherlock Holmes" like intelligence at work. It's a bit more "Fictiony" but still very enjoyable. Then comes SVU. Personally, I don't like SVU all that much. I put it just slightly above the CSI shows. SVU is too melodramatic, and spends too much time on their characters rather than the crimes. Don't get me wrong, good characters are great, but in Law and Order, the main character is the crime. This is prevalent in the original were, except for 2 characters (McCoy and Van Buren) the cast gets cycled frequently. SVU just tends to get bogged down by all the melodrama and personal demons, that it ends up feeling more like soap opera rather than a criminal show.

So with all that in mind, I think Law & Order is the far superior series!

I definitely love Law shows more than detective ones. With that said I love NCIS or Bones out of most. Law and Order is definitely better than CSI though.

I only currently really watch SVU. I love it because of benson, she's such a great character. She makes me want to become an investigator.XilePrincess

Neither is really realistic, but Law and Order is by far more realistic than CSI is.

I really hate the aesthetics in CSI. I mean, why is everything so dark, lit only with a very dim blue light?

And the cahracters in Law and Order are a lot more likeable. They really have deep back stories and great relationships with each other. They come accross as real people. The characters in CSI really do seem like characters.

The original CSI is one of my favorite shows ever, so I guess you could guess my answer. Though, I will say that CSI Miami is easily the worst out of the three. It's like a bad soap opera now.LZ71

I'll take "Both Suck" for $500 Alex.

The original CSI is one of my favorite shows ever, so I guess you could guess my answer. Though, I will say that CSI Miami is easily the worst out of the three. It's like a bad soap opera now.LZ71

:P

I like them both the same. I've seen more CSI episodes and I do like their gadgetry and all, but I find Law and Order more interesting sometimes. CSI's characters can get on my nerves.