Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 5

The fifth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent premiered on NBC on September 25, 2005, and ended on May 14, 2006.
This season featured the series's first two-part episode and "Cruise to Nowhere" was referenced later for an eighth season episode titled "All In".
This season of Law & Order: CI remained in its time slot of NBC Sunday's at 9PM/8c, its final season in this slot on NBC; its move to Tuesdays in the sixth season caused a ratings decline. During the 2005–2006 network TV season episodes were up against episodes of Desperate Housewives on ABC and episodes of Family Guy and American Dad! on Fox. The show "roller coasted" in the ratings with the competition, but NBC executives were impressed with the 11 million viewers per week it was able to retain.
Veteran stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jamey Sheridan, and Courtney B. Vance returned for the fifth season of Law & Order: CI. This season, long-time Law & Order franchise actor, Chris Noth reprises his role of Detective Mike Logan partnered with Annabella Sciorra as Detective Carolyn Barek, alternating episodes with D'Onofrio and Erbe (all four work together in the two-part episode "In The Wee Small Hours"). This stemmed from star Vincent D'Onofrio fainting twice from exhaustion, once on set and again at his home, during the fourth season.
In February 2005 it was announced Noth would be joining the cast, reprising his Law & Order character after a ten-year absence. "The hardest job in show business is being a single lead on an hour drama series", creator and executive producer Dick Wolf explained. "Vincent has done an unbelievable job for the last four seasons, but after 3 years, the grueling pace finally took its toll. This is an ideal solution so that Vincent can continue to do the incredible work that has become the hallmark of the role. I've worked with Chris over the past 17 years, and bringing him on to reprise one of the most popular characters in the history of the brand, is a win-win situation."
Executive producer and show runner at the time René Balcer added, "Having written for Chris during the five years he was on Law & Order, this is a unique opportunity for me to revisit an old friend and take Detective Mike Logan into uncharted territory. We like trying new things at Criminal Intent, whether it's asking our fans to decide a character's fate or using rotating leads. As Vincent said, cool counts, and we think this idea's pretty cool. Adding Chris and a new partner to the mix allows us to create a fresh dynamic while remaining true to what's made 'Criminal Intent' a success."
Star Vincent D'Onofrio noted about the changes, "I love this show, and I hope to stay with it as long as it is on the air", D'Onofrio added. "After recently working with Chris on an episode, I am excited about what he will bring to the show creatively, and my reduced workload will be very welcome." Noth stated, "It's great to be back working with Dick and Rene and to be in the Law & Order family again, I felt very much at home when I did the guest shot and realized how terrific the cast and crew are, it was an offer that I couldn't refuse." During an interview with TV Guide, Courtney B. Vance noted how grueling the episodes were for stars D'Onofrio and Erbe, because they were in just about every scene, with Noth and Sciorra joining the cast Vance says D'Onofrio and Erbe got a break, "Chris has a wonderful energy. He likes to have fun and joke around. He and Annabella love each other, too. The seamlessness of the transition [between the two sets of leads] speaks right to the genius of Dick Wolf."
In May 2005, it was announced movie actress Annabella Sciorra would be joining the cast of L&O: CI as Detective Barek, partnered with Chris Noth's Detective Mike Logan. Dick Wolf commented, "Annabella is an extremely talented and versatile actress, who has that rare combination of beauty, sex appeal, power and humor. I also anticipate she will have terrific chemistry with Chris."
At the end of the season, Sciorra and Courtney B. Vance decided not to renew their contracts another season, in the sixth season, Sciorra was replaced by Julianne Nicholson who portrayed Detective Megan Wheeler; after this season, if an episode needed an assistant district attorney character, it would be portrayed by a guest star; in season 6 for two episodes each, Theresa Randle and Bridget Regan portrayed ADA's Patricia Kent and Claudia Shankly respectively.
Jamey Sheridan announced he would be departing the cast of the show at the end of the season. Mostly because Sheridan's wife and children lived in Los Angeles at the time, he had to commute weekly to New York City to film episodes. Sheridan's character leaves the NYPD rather than face bogus charges set up by former Chief of Detectives Frank Adair (Michael Rispoli), whom Deakins refused to protect against charges of murdering a woman and her husband. In the sixth season, Sheridan was replaced by Eric Bogosian who played Captain Daniel Ross.
Co-creator and show runner René Balcer and executive producer Fred Berner departed the series at the end of the season; Balcer returned to the original Law & Order series with Burner for its eighteenth season, the episodes in the seventeenth season faltering. In the sixth season, Balcer was replaced by long-time Criminal Intent staffer, Warren Leight, Berner replaced by Norberto Barba.
note: for the first of only two times in the series (next in season 9), all the detectives work together in consecutive weeks, episodes 6 and 7 ("In The Wee Small Hours"), due to a particularly challenging case involving a judge.
Notable guest stars in the fifth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent include: