BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Speaking to a roomful of TV critics a few months ago, Dick Wolf was cranky, which is hardly news. If there's ever an occasion when the creator-executive producer of "Law & Order" encounters members of the media and he isn't cranky, that will be news.

In this particular case, Wolf was testy because he thinks the procedural nature of the "Law & Order" franchise has been overstated.

"One of the things that has been sort of a bur under the saddle for many years is the assumption that there is no character development on 'Law & Order,'" Wolf said. "And as I've said, we dole it out with coffee spoons, not soup ladles.

"And I think the regular watchers of the show — and, thankfully, there are many of them, both on network and on cable — seem to know a great deal about these characters because they are regular watchers, and they pick up the character insights in smaller doses and really seem to appreciate them. But I don't think there is a lack of knowledge about any of the regulars who have been on a show for more than a season. It's just done differently."

Never mind that, over the years, Wolf himself has frequently touted the procedural nature of all the "Law & Order" shows and the original — the "mother ship" — in particular.

And never mind that many of the actors who have cycled through "Law & Order" over the past 17 seasons have talked about the frustrations of playing characters in a show where characters are secondary to plot. (It's not like critics have complained about the way the shows are structured, it's been a number of the actors.)

At the same time, Wolf complains that the actors don't get enough credit for their work on the show. It's been a continuing theme for him over the years — he'd like them to win more Emmys, and he blames the lack of attention from TV critics for the lack of nominations (although critics don't have any input in the nominating or voting process).

"Both the actors and the writers have not been, in my mind, adequately recognized over the years for being able to pull this off on a year-in, year-out basis," he said. "And I think the reason they can pull it off is that they are not overly burdened by (character development that has) absolutely nothing to do with the case."

As the show's 18th season begins tonight with a pair of episodes (8 and 9 p.m., Ch. 5), there's a surprising amount of back story for the new detective, Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto). As a matter of fact, at the end of the first episode we know more about his personal past than we do about his professional past.

And after the first five episodes of the season, Lupo's rather interesting back story gets even more interesting.