JOHN MUNCH

'Det. John Munch' is a fictional police detective played by actor Richard Belzer. First appearing in '', when that show ended the character was transplanted into '', the first spin-off of the popular ''Law & Order'' franchise. As well as these two series, Munch has also made numerous crossover appearances in a number of different television series' fictional universes, and is one of the longest running characters in television history.

Contents

Character progression

Biography

Characteristics

Appearances & crossovers

Trivia

References

Character progression

Det. Munch first appeared as a central character in the TV series '', as a homicide detective in the Baltimore Police Department's fictionalized homicide unit, which debuted January 30, 1993. The character was based on real-life Jay Landsman, a central figure in David Simon's true-crime novel '', a documentary account of the homicide unit's operation over one year. ^[1] Munch appeared as a regular character in every season, and in almost every episode, of ''Homicide''.
After ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' concluded its seventh season in May of 1999, the character was transferred into the ''Law & Order'' universe as a regular character in '' (Both ''Homicide'' and the original ''Law & Order'' had crossed-over numerous times before, and Munch had featured centrally in each crossover). In the fictional universe, it was explained that Munch had retired from the Baltimore Police Department, took his pension, and moved to New York to join a sex crimes investigation unit.
Although Munch was established as an interesting, three-dimensional central character in the ensemble ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' (in which he was depicted as a cynical conspiracy theorist), it has been argued that his move to ''SVU'' has stripped him of some of the character's defining characteristics; the size of his role has largely decreased over the years, eventually relegated from serving as an on-the-street information gatherer to a desk detective who mostly remains in the precinct. Despite this, he is occasionally involved in undercover operations. His main talent seems to be picking up on minutiae that no one else notices, and being more well versed in literature, politics, and popular culture than his fellow detectives.

Biography

Though his age was never directly stated on ''Homicide'', a few clues were presented pointing to it. In the season five episode "Kaddish," Munch talks about his high school years and looks at a yearbook from 1961. In "Full Court Press," Munch said "Going to high school was no day at the beach for a teenage Jew in the '50s." Because first grade began at age five and high school ended in eleventh grade in Maryland during this time, it is likely Munch was born in 1944, the same year as Belzer. Munch was described, however, as being 48 years old in the season the ''SVU'' episode "Chat Room." In order to be 48 at the time which this episode took place, Munch would have been born within a year of 1952, depending on when his birthday falls. Also noteworthy is a 7th season episode of ''Homicide'' in which the ongoing conflict between Munch and Det. Stuart Gharty (Peter Gerety) culminates. After a confrontation inside the Waterfront bar, Gharty asks Munch how old he was during that period of the war (1968), to which Munch responds "eighteen", putting the year of his birth circa 1950.
''SVU'' and ''Homicide'' also have Munch growing up in different places. He is a native of Maryland on ''Homicide'' and attended high school in Pikesville, which has a large Jewish community. Also, Munch said in "A Many Splendored Thing" that he took many field trips to Ft. McHenry as a kid, which would likely only happen were he to live in the area. In the season two ''SVU'' episode "Legacy," Munch tells Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) that he grew up on the "lower east side." Munch said to Det. Fin Tutuola (Ice-T) in that same season that he "came back from Baltimore" after his marriage broke up, suggesting that he is originally from New York. One possible scenario has Munch being born and raised in New York (''SVU'': "Legacy", "Manhunt") and moving to Baltimore where he attended Pikesville High School for four years. (''Homicide'': "Kaddish")
According to the season five episode "Painless", Munch's father committed suicide, and Munch still regrets that he told his father he "hated his guts" just before the tragedy occurred; for years afterward, he believed that it was his fault. (Coincidentally, Belzer's father also killed himself.) The season 8 episode "" reveals that Munch also has an uncle, Andrew (Jerry Lewis), who had been diagnosed with Depressive pseudodementia. The elder Munch was found by Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) living as a transient in Manhattan, and was subsequently reunited with his nephew. Andrew, however, reacted badly to his antidepressant medication, which triggered a mania that resulted in him taking a personal vendetta against a suspected rapist/murderer SVU was investigating, eventually killing the man by pushing him in front of a subway train. Andrew refused to plead insanity and take further medication, and said goodbye to his nephew one last time before being sent to prison. Munch was also affected by the death of a young girl who lived near him when he was younger — he blamed himself, at least partially, for not noticing that she was being abused by her mother, despite seeing her every day when he came home from school.
Munch has admitted to using drugs prior to becoming a cop, and has said that he disagrees with drug prohibition.
In the first episode of ''Homicide: Life on the Street'', Munch becomes frustrated while attempting to interview a suspect and mentions that he has been a 'murder police' for 10 years. His partner at the start of the series was Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty), an experienced police detective with more than twenty years under his belt. The two were partners through the show's first three seasons until Bolander was first suspended and then retired. Despite the tremendous amount of grief the two gave each other, Munch always respected him and counted him as a dear friend.
In ''SVU'', he was first partnered with Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), whom he thought of as a kind of younger brother, alternately poking fun at him and imparting (often questionable) advice on life and women. When Cassidy left the precinct in 2000, Munch was briefly partnered with Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), and then with Tutuola. He and the gruff, uncompromising Tutuola got off to a rough start, but gradually came to like and respect each other.
In ''Homicide'', along with Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), Munch was co-owner of "The Waterfront," a bar located across the street from their Baltimore police station.
Up until the 7th season of ''SVU'', Munch had never been seriously injured on the job (despite a few close scrapes in Baltimore). In the episode "Raw," Munch was shot in the buttocks by a white supremacist while a trial was taking place.

Characteristics

Munch is Jewish, but once commented that the only thing he and Judaism had in common was that he "didn't like to work on Saturdays;" his comments on the show seem to indicate that he is a Reform Jew. Nevertheless, he sometimes is sensitive to antisemitic jokes.
He has a brother named Bernie who owns a funeral parlor; he once joked that he occasionally "throws him some business."
Munch's investigative style is based around a meticulous attention to detail, which is similar to that of his partner Odafin Tutuola. During one investigation, he was watching a security video tape, where he noticed that part of the evidence had been cut. In another, he noticed that two suspects had nodded at each other, and another looked as though "he had just had sex."
Munch has been described as a stubborn man who can "smell a conspiracy at a five-year-old's lemonade stand."
At the onset of ''Homicide'', he had been divorced twice, but by the seventh season he had had a grand total of three wives, until marrying his fourth, Billie Lou, during the final ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' episode; each one of the previous three was "beautiful, spoiled, and none of them matched John Munch intellectually." Billie Lou had been hired as a bartender at the Waterfront and thus became part owner by marrying Munch. We learn during the early seasons of ''SVU'' that Munch has divorced his fourth wife as well, and never shies away from cracking sarcastic divorce jokes. A psychiatrist, however, has noted (correctly, it seems) that despite his romantic troubles, Munch still believes in true love, and is crushed by the fact he has not found it. He apparently still cares for Gwen, his first wife. He once stated that they had sex once after their divorce. He arranged for the funeral of Gwen's mother despite the fact that his ex-mother-in-law loathed him and did everything in her power to disrupt her daughter's marriage to him. While working with Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) on a case, Munch lost badly to Briscoe in a pool game, partly because he couldn't get over the fact that Briscoe had briefly dated (and slept with) Gwen. He went on to get quite drunk and proclaimed that he forgave Gwen and still loved her. Despite this, it appears that he and Briscoe became quite good friends - their interaction in the two following crossovers between ''Homicide'' and ''Law & Order'' is generally quite warm and friendly.
While Munch could never be accused of being sentimental, his cynical façade has occasionally slipped, revealing a deep compassion borne from his unhappy childhood. He is particularly good with children and female victims.
Munch is a staunch believer in individual rights and occasionally finds that something he has to do in the line of duty goes against his sense of morality. His dedication to his job usually wins out, however.

Appearances & crossovers

The character has spanned over 14 years and 15 seasons. Along with 119 episodes of ''Homicide'' and 158+ episodes of ''SVU'', Munch has also appeared as a character in eight episodes of six other series:

★ ''Law & Order'' - 4 episodes: "Charm City", "Baby, It's You (Part 1)", "Sideshow (Part 1)" and "Entitled (Part 2)".

★ ''The X-Files'' - 1 episode: "Unusual Suspects"

★ ''The Beat'' - 1 episode: "They Say It's Your Birthday"

★ '' - 1 episode: "Skeleton (Part 2)"

★ ''Arrested Development'' - 1 episode: "Exit Strategy" (Belzer also appeared in episode "S.O.B.s", but as himself.)

★ The character is also slated to appear in an episode of a new, yet to be titled French equivalent of ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.''

★ According to this article, Munch will appear in one episode of ''The Wire's'' fifth and final season.

★ Munch also appeared in the 2000 made-for-TV-movie ''Homicide: Life Everlasting''.

★ A Muppet caricature of Munch appeared on ''Sesame Street'', voiced by Belzer, in an episode which aired August 14, 2006. The skit was called "Law & Order: Special Letters Unit".[1]
Munch has been the only fictional character played by a single actor to appear on seven different television shows. These shows were on three different networks: NBC (''Homicide: Life on the Street'', the ''Law & Order'' shows), FOX (''The X-Files'', ''Arrested Development''), and UPN (''The Beat''). Munch has also been one of the only television characters to cross genres, appearing not only in crime drama series, but also the genres of sitcom (''Arrested Development'') and science fiction (''The X-Files''). Another example of a character shifting genres is Lou Grant.

Trivia

★ Munch speaks Russian, Yiddish, Greek, and of course, English.

★ He was a straight A student in everything but the sciences and Spanish.

★ Munch is a conscientious objector. During the draft in the Vietnam War, he and a close friend researched all the necessary materials to ensure they would not have to serve. Munch gained CO status, but his friend was shamed into accepting the draft and was sent over as a medic. His friend died in Vietnam.

★ During his high school years he lived on Cherokee St. in Pikesville, and delivered the newspaper on his bike.

★ According to the ''SVU'' episode "Uncle", Munch lives at 806 West 183rd Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. This address lies at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue in the upscale Hudson Heights section of Washington Heights.

★ Since moving to New York, Munch does not drive a car (usually he has Tutuola drive him to and from work).

★ According to the ''SVU'' episode "Shaken", Munch has a pet bird.

References

1. Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets, , David, Simon, Owl Books, 1991, 2006,