Crime procedurals have been consistent hits on network TV for decades, with NBC's Law & Order: SVU still going strong with Mariska Hargitay as leading lady Olivia Benson since 1999 and FBI expanding that Dick Wolf TV universe to CBS in 2018 with Missy Peregrym as Agent Maggie Bell. Both shows are still going strong in the 2025 TV schedule, and fans are still rooting for Benson and Stabler to hook up on SVU. As for Maggie on FBI, Peregrym spoke with CinemaBlend with her take on romances in a procedural like hers.
To start with SVU, the power of fans rooting for a "Bensler" romance is such that even Stabler leaving the franchise for over a decade wasn't enough to quash the flames. Ice-T, who has actually starred on the show with Mariska Hargitay for the past 26 seasons, has addressed a potential Benson/Stabler romance, and Christopher Meloni's ad-libbed "Love you" in a recent SVU cameo prompted Hargitay to address it on TODAY. I'm on the record as being a fan of Benson and Stabler as just friends, but... even I also kind of wanted Stabler back on NBC full-time after that cameo.
