All episodes Season 17 S17E12 2007-01-12 60 min 1990s NBC

Law & Order

Charity Case

TV Flash files “Charity Case” as hour 383 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 17, episode 12, aired 2007-01-12, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S17E12: listed hour 383 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 12 of 22 in season 17. It aired 2007-01-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Remains of the Day” (S17E11). Next is “Talking Points” (S17E13). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Law & Order — Charity Case (S17E12)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

Green and Cassady investigate after Sean Archer, a producer who had recently adopted a child from Africa with his wife, well-known actress Sofia (Jennifer Beals), is gunned down outside an ice cream shop while holding baby Christopher. The shooting is soon linked to the recent adoption of Christopher, which had received international scrutiny because it appeared to have been pushed through based on the couple's celebrity status. McCoy and Rubirosa initially investigate the murder of Sean Archer, which soon turns into an investigation of a child's death when the identity of baby Christopher comes under question.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Charity Case sit in the Law & Order guide?

S17E12 is listed hour 383 of 545 — hour 12 of 22 in season 17, season 17 episode 12.

When did Law & Order S17E12 air?

Charity Case aired 2007-01-12 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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Filed against

Also in season 17

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