"Law & Order" Trilogy Quiz (Doink Doink)

Answer: provide voice over narrations for franchise series

In addition to his brief appearance on the 1990 pilot episode of "Law & Order",
Zirnkilton has provided the voice-over narrations heard at the beginning of each episode of "Law & Order", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent".
At the start of episodes of "Law & Order", the voiced narration is:
"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

Each episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" starts with the narration:
"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."

For the series "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", the opening narration is:
"In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenses are pursued by detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories."

Following the opening narration and often during the episodes when there is a transition of location (indicated by a black screen with a card giving the new location and time of day), the familiar "doink doink" (franchise signature trademark) sound is heard.
There has been much speculation over the seasons as to what the "doink doink" sound represented. During the 2008 television season, a series of promotional 30 second TV spots were broadcast featuring various cast members of the franchise explaining what they thought the "doink doink" sound meant. The "doink doink" was created by Mike Post, who also composed the theme songs used for the series. According to Post, the "doink doink" sound represented the distinctive sound made by the closing of a jail cell door.
A different arrangement of the same theme song is used for each of the three franchise series.

Answer: Joe Fontana

On "Law & Order", Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina) was a senior homicide detective, partnered first with Ed Green, and later with Nick Falco. Det. Fontana first appeared in the first episode of the 15th season of the show.
Max Greevey (George Dzundza) and Phil Cerreta (Paul Sorvino) were both sergeants on the 27th Detective Squad in season one and season two, respectively. On "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) was promoted to the grade of Detective Sergeant during the eighth season of the series.
Dennis Farina was one of the few actors playing the role of a TV cop who actually had a past history in law enforcement. Prior to starting his acting career, Farina served for 18 years as a member of the Chicago Police Department.

Answer: Ed Green

The character of Detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) joined the cast of "Law & Order" as a junior detective during the 10th season of the show, and worked as partner to Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach). During the 17th season while partnered with Joe Fontana, Green was advanced to the position of senior detective.
Detectives Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Mike Logan (Chris Noth) both remained as junior detectives during their tenures on the series.
Lennie Briscoe always held the position of senior detective.

Answer: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

The 16th precinct was the base of operations that housed the Manhattan Special Victims Unit of the New York Police Department. As was mentioned in the episode "Folly" during the second season of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", the precinct house was one of the few in the city specifically equipped and outfitted to deal with children and the elderly as victims, witnesses, and suspects.

The 16th precinct and the Special Victims Unit was under the command of Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek).

Answer: location of her mother's death

In the season two episode "Taken" on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", Detective Olivia Benson is summoned to the office of Captain Donald Cragen on December 10, 2000, where she was informed by her empathetic supervisor that her mother, Serena Benson, was the victim of a fall down a flight of stairs by the subway entrance near the corners of 110th and Broadway, and that she did not survive the accident.

It was no surprise to Olivia that the stairs were outside the entrance of the Velvet Bar. Serena Benson was known to be a troubled and sometimes abusive alcoholic, and was intoxicated at the time of her fatal fall. Throughout the series, Serena Benson was played by actress Elizabeth Ashley.

Answer: Olivia Benson

The personality and attitudes of Olivia Benson often reflects her past life encounters. Numerous episodes have featured Olivia's conflicted feelings about her mother's alcoholism, which eventually lead to her death, and her search to find the man, who through the rape of her mother, became her biological father. Olivia learned through an unauthorized DNA test that she had a brother, a man who was also suspected of being a rapist. Her past failed romantic involvements included a teenage engagement, a brief affair with Brian Casey, who was another SVU detective, and a relationship with journalist Kurt Moss.
Mariska Hargitay plays the role of the dedicated, usually focused, and passionate SVU detective Olivia Benson.
Mariska Hargitay was the recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award in 2006, winning in the category "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series". Consistent in her stellar portrayal of Benson on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", Hargitay was nominated for the same award for six consecutive years, starting in 2004.
Prior to being cast in the role of Olivia Benson, Hargitay was featured in several movies, and played roles in over 25 television series, including a recurring role on the hit series "ER" (1994).
Many of the hairstyles worn by Mariska Hargitay on the series are fashioned to cover the small scar on the right side of her forehead. She received the scar at the age of three and a half, when she was injured in a car crash, which claimed the life of her mother, blonde screen actress Jayne Mansfield.

Answer: ADA Alexandra Cabot

While involved in a heated case involving Colombian drug dealers, Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) received death threats because of determination in seeing that justice was done in the case, despite the fact that a key witness and an undercover DEA agent had been murdered.

As there were no surviving witnesses, she was urged by both the detectives of the Special Victims Unit and her boss, District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson) to abandon the case, for her own safety.

At the conclusion of the episode "Lost", Alexandra Cabot was gunned down in a drive-by shooting just moments after leaving a pub where she had drinks with friends Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson. The following day, it was reported in the press that Cabot did not survive the shooting and members if the SVU openly grieved the loss of a colleague.

The final scene of the episode showed Stabler and Benson meeting federal agents in a secluded location. There, Alexandra Cabot emerged from a black van surrounded by the federal marshals to say goodbye to the detectives.

It is then that she informs the two shocked detectives that her death was staged and that she would be relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program. Stabler and Benson were the only ones to know the truth.

Answer: Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson was the name of the actor who played the role of Arthur Branch.
Thompson was never a character name during the series.
Steven Hill played the role of Adam Schiff who was the District Attorney from 1990 until 2000.
Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) was the District Attorney from 2002 through 2007.
Sam Waterston played Jack McCoy, who took over as the District Attorney in 2006, during the 17th season of the series.

Answer: Anita Van Buren

The character of Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) held the police rank of lieutenant and was the commanding officer of the NYPD 27th Detective Squad. On the job, she was highly respected by her detectives who often addressed her as either "Lieu" or "L.T." in acknowledgment of her rank.
Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) held the rank of Captain, and first commanded the 27th Detective Squad on "Law & Order", and later he commanded the officers of the SVU on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit".
James Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) and Zoe Callas (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) both held the rank of Captain. Brooks succeeded Deakins as the commanding officer of the Major Case Squad on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent".

Answer: Robert Goren

While interviewing death row inmate and serial killer Mark Ford Brady regarding unsolved homicide cases, Detective Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) uncovered information that indicated that the condemned man was once a part of his childhood, and that the killer may have once had a relationship with his mother. An old picture of Brady obtained by Goren was shown to his older brother Frank, who recognized the man as being their distant "Uncle Mark", a man who was around before Robert was born. When confronting his elderly and dying mother, who was confined to a mental hospital, after showing her the photo, she tearfully admitted to having had a brief relationship with the man and that she did not know whether or not if Brady was Robert's biological father. Through a DNA blood test on evidence obtained from one of Brady's past crime scenes, Goren was able to confirm that he was the biological son of the serial killer.