John Munch

Detective John Munch, a fictional character played by actor Richard Belzer, is now the longest running character in a dramatic series currently on TV. Munch is notable for his crossover appearances in a number of different television series' fictional universes.

Detective Munch first appeared as a homicide detective in a fictional police department in Baltimore as a central character in the TV series Homicide: Life on the Street, which debuted January 30, 1993. After Homicide: Life on the Street concluded its seventh season in May of 1999. John Munch retired from the Baltimore Police Department, took his pension and moved to New York to join a sex crimes investigation unit. He appeared in the premiere of the first of Wolf Films spinoffs, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Although Munch was established as an interesting, three-dimensional character in the ensemble Homicide (in which he was depicted as a cynical conspiracy theorist), his move to SVU has stripped him of some of the character's defining characteristics; the size of his role has decreased over the years. On SVU, Munch is now mostly an information gatherer, but 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 and politics than his younger colleagues. In addition to downsizing his role, SVU has made several changes to Munch's biography.

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 Richard Belzer. Munch was described, however, as being 48 years old in the season one SVU episode "Chat Room." In order to be 48 at the time which this episode took place, Munch has to have been born in 1952.

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 Detective Olivia Benson that he grew up on the "lower east side." Munch said to Detective Odafin Tutuola in that same season that he "came back from Baltimore" after his marriage broke up, suggesting that he is originally from New York.

His father committed suicide after Munch told him he "hated his guts." For years afterward, he believed that it was his fault. (Coincidentally, Belzer's father also killed himself.) Munch was also affected by the death of a young girl that 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.

His first partner as a homicide detective was Stanley Bolander, an experienced older detective. The two were partners through Homicide'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, who 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, 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 and Meldrick Lewis, 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. He asked his partner, Tutuola, if he'd like to "kiss it and make it feel better."

Characteristics

Munch is Jewish (his comments on the show seem to indicate that he is a "Blueberry Bagel" (Reform Jew), but once commented that the only thing he and Judaism had in common was that "he didn't like to work on Saturdays." 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. 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 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 New York detective Lennie Briscoe 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.

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.

Crossovers

Munch has also appeared as a character in episodes of five other series:

• Law & Order - 4 episodes: "Charm City Part 1", "Baby, It's You", "Sideshow" and "Entitled Part 2".
• The X-Files - 1 episode: "Unusual Suspects"
• The Beat - 1 episode: "They Say It's Your Birthday"
• Law & Order: Trial by Jury - 1 episode: "Skeleton (2)"
• Arrested Development - 1 episode: "Exit Strategy" (Belzer also appeared in episode "S.O.B.s", but as himself.)

Munch's appearance on Trial by Jury, which aired April 15, 2005, made him the third fictional character played by a single actor to appear on six different television shows. These shows were on three different networks: NBC (Homicide: Life on the Street, the Law & Order shows), FOX (The X-Files), and UPN (The Beat). His subsequent appearance on Arrested Development makes him the only fictional character to appear on seven different series.

Munch also made an appearance in the TV movie Homicide: The Movie. It is debated among fans of the character as to whether the appearance on the science fiction X-Files series is part of the character's regular continuity (which would place Law & Order, Homicide and the other series in a world facing alien invasion), or in an "alternate universe." Since X-Files continuity allows for the existence of parallel worlds, the latter explanation is most likely, as he referenced the X-Files on SVU.

John Munch is one of the most prolific characters on television; his appearances on so many different TV series is a record in television. Some fans believe that, via his Homicide appearances, the Law & Order/Homicide universe becomes part of the Tommy Westphall universe (named for a character on the show St. Elsewhere), although the connection already existed because of the appearance of Dr. Roxanne Turner (played by Alfre Woodard) as a regular character on St. Elsewhere and as a guest appearance on Homicide.

An unnamed detective portrayed by Belzer also briefly appeared in A Very Brady Sequel. It is disputable whether this detective was Munch or not; casting Belzer as a detective would certainly imply this, but his listing in the film's credits was as "LAPD detective", which would not conform with his Homicide/Law & Order continuity. This could, however, be another parallel universe incarnation, or simply another in a number of continuity errors between different series.

Trivia

• Munch speaks Russian, Yiddish, and Greek.

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

• His mother was over-protective.

• 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.

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