Tomorrow (December 28th) marks the 6 year anniversary of Jerry Orbach's death. When he passed away, was the original 'Law & Order' seriesever the same?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Jorbach.jpg

The show died when he left. He was the heart and soul of the show. I watched it for a few more years with Dennis Farina whom I always liked but even he couldn't fill the void. After Farina left, I gradually stopped watching. I would watch it once in a while but it was a shadow of what it was before.

I second that. The show survived the departures of wonderful actors like Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth, and Steven Hill - but Jerry Orbach was (and still IS) THE heart and soul of L&O. The show was never the same without him.