It would be very fitting, but a little bit too straightforward.
It’s hard to imagine the Law & Order universe without one of its most successful series, Special Victims Unit. However, back in 1999 the show was pitched under a completely different name and completely unrelated to the franchise.
It’s not surprising that the show, which focuses mainly on the criminal forces working on sex crimes, was pitched under the title… Sex Crimes.
Moreover, it was not supposed to be connected to Law & Order at all, but was created as another stand-alone situational drama.
But NBC did not want it. Maybe the title was a little too daring for the network and they decided to play it safe.
Besides, tying the show to Dick Wolf’s hugely popular Law & Order universe, which at the time had been winning over audiences for 9 years, was a great business move to ensure success.
However, there is another, even more interesting story to this change.
As star Mariska Hargitay, who portrays the protagonist Olivia Benson in the show, admitted in an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, the title was changed after a single phone call from the mother of her co-star, Christopher Meloni.
Of course, like any loving mother, she was excited for her son to get the part in something so promising and ambitious, but she was not a fan of the name.
Which is totally understandable: to hear that your child is the star of Sex Crimes cannot be the best feeling in the world.
What no one expected was that she would actually call Dick Wolf and voice her concerns, which contributed to the title change.
Little did anyone know just how much this decision would affect the show, as it gained an insane amount of recognition and became one of the most popular shows of all time.
