Two years ago NBC threatened to replace Law & Order: Special Victims Unit stars Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay when the two were at a stand still during contract negotiations. Over the last few months the same threat was issued. But unlike two years ago where an agreement was eventually reached, it has been reported by Deadline that Meloni has walked out of negotiations and he will indeed not be returning next season. The exit certainly comes as a shock considering Meloni’s twelve year run on the show. The exit was also reportedly one of a personal decision for Meloni who’s reps have stated “he is ready for the next chapter of his life.”

With the ubiquity of crime scene investigation on television these days, odds are you’ve watched a few either out of interest, boredom, or just giving up on finding something on air that didn’t involve super smart, super attractive lab geeks. Whether you’re talking about Law & Order, CSI: Insert City, Dexter, or any number of others, the game remains the same: pretty people touching ugly things. When one touches ugly things, be it SVU styled semen-stained sheets or a room soaked in blood, you’ve got to protect your manicured hands: enter the rubber glove. Meant to keep all that nasty goo off of your hands for many reasons: cleanliness, sanitary reasons, disease protection, fetishism. From the Coroner in Castle to Dexter on Dexter, in any hour of television you’ll probably see someone slip on the glove. Then you’ll probably see them contaminate all sorts of shit.

Before the days of LOST, 24, Battlestar Galactica, It’s Always Sunny and Mad Men, there was one thing everyone could agree on. The cop was king. Dragnet, JAG, Magnum, P.I., Miami Vice. These are shows that defined their generations and set the bar of quality programming. Maybe it was the fact that the characters were witty jerks who just can’t get enough out of pissing each other off. Maybe it was the fact that characters in the genre were always in search of that one defining moment in their lives. Maybe it was just the eternal battle between good versus evil. Whatever it was, cop shows held a special place in many people’s hearts. With the exception of a select few, the genre as a whole went down hill in the last two decades, but after seeing what the last two years had to offer, I think that the once beloved genre is getting ready for a second coming.

On any given day at any given time, you can probably find an episode or three scattered on any of the three syndicated network pickups. That being said, why would you ever need to own them on DVD?