Law & Order
The Serpent's Tooth
TV Flash files “The Serpent's Tooth” as hour 19 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 1, episode 19, aired 1991-03-19, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E19: listed hour 19 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 19 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1991-03-19 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Secret Sharers” (S01E18). Next is “The Troubles” (S01E20). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A businessman and his wife are murdered; initially, the couple's two sons are treated as suspects. As the investigation develops, detectives discover that, in order to obtain financing for his business, the man took on a partner who was connected to Russian organized crime.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Serpent's Tooth sit in the Law & Order guide?
S01E19 is listed hour 19 of 545 — hour 19 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 19.
When did Law & Order S01E19 air?
The Serpent's Tooth aired 1991-03-19 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I watch in order, or is it modular?
Modular is the point. Cases close. Casts change. Start anywhere in the original 1990–2010 run and you will understand the clang within twenty minutes. Order matters only if you care which partner is standing next to whom.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the walnut that became a city: street then courtroom, a clang as civic punctuation, and two decades of interchangeable parts that taught TV how to clone a night. Comfort is the feature. The original 1990–2010 cathedral still teaches the form; the revival is the machine refusing to clock out.
Picture a Tuesday when the nation still had a cop show that split like a walnut: first the street, then the courtroom, a clang on the soundtrack that became civic punctuation. Law & Order premiered September 13, 1990, on NBC, created by Dick Wolf, and it did not invent the procedural so much as industrialize it. Prescription for Death is the template in miniature — a hospital night, a dead patient, cops then lawyers, no hug required. On the palate: newsprint, a New York that looks like a location budget with a…
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