Vincent D'Onofrio is undoubtedly the best actor in the U.S. today and very popular in Europe also. His and Kathryn Erbe's "departure" has let loose a barrage of emails/letters/etc from their fans. It seems that NBC/USA only wants "lighter stuff" these days even though Law & Order-CI had a huge and devoted following. This used to be the "thinking person's crime drama; disappointing that the executives wanted this "dumbing down" of the series! Or, was it simply a matter of money and now they get what they pay for? Less in money = less in quality. Very bad decision for the intelligent viewer.