Is ‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 17, episode 20 new tonight? Episode scoop and a farewell

For the second straight week, we come bearing some not-so-great news if you are a fan of “Law & Order: SVU”: There is no new episode coming up on NBC tonight.

What’s the reasoning for that? The biggest reason tonight is that the network is planning to use the upcoming 9:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot to launch the new series “Strong” after “The Voice.” We do get it, mostly because this is a great platform for launching new shows, and “SVU” is being saved until Wednesday, May 4, and then there will be four episodes that air one week after the other until the finale comes on the air.

We do have a few news items to try to make up for the show being in hiatus. First and foremost, we’ve got a synopsis for this May 4 episode, which carries with it the title of “Fashionable Crimes.” If you had not heard previously, this installment is going to be the one featuring the return of Richard Belzer as Munch:

“A young model is raped by a renowned fashion house photographer, who looks to his successful brother to make the charges disappear.”

As for some other news, earlier this week the cast sat down for what was a teary final table read of the season, and also the last one with Warren Leight as showrunner. Leight will be developing other projects moving forward, and “SVU” will miss him dearly (and so will we). We give him a ton of credit for helping to navigate the show in the era following Christopher Meloni’s exit, and also keeping it particularly relevant in an era where so much has changed rather rapidly versus when the show began. Check out a photo of the final table read HERE.

(Photo: NBC.)