I think you'd enjoy L&O: Criminal Intent. The original jumped the shark years ago, and like I said, there's something about SVU and Hargitay that I can't quite pin down. But CI is good.
They get too politically liberal from time to time for me to really enjoy it. I like that they added "Big" though to give us a break from Lapaglia, who apparently has been overcome by the vapors since the Bush reelection.
I like SVU, although they went too political for about 4-5 episodes in November/December. They got back on track since the new year. My fave character on that show is ADA Novak. She's got a lot of spunk and a good sense of humor.