Off the Beat

Gasp!

Det. Stabler has gone and quit the Special Victims Unit.

Well, I don’t know if that will hold truth, plot-wise, when Law & Order: SVU returns to the tube in the fall, but what is totally true is we won’t be seeing Christopher Meloni anymore: the actor has left the show, after refusing a reportedly generous offer to stay put, and will not be joining Mariska Hargitay on its 13th season.

Both actors had been in will-they-won’t-they talks with NBC about coming back for a while. Hargitay, who recently adopted a baby and was eyeing to scale back, signed a new deal to return earlier this month.

Talk about DUN Dun – one of TV’s most enduring pairings has been torn asunder.

But, since we live in a fast-paced world, may I suggest a couple of names as replacements?

The comedy pilot that Adrian Pasdar was working on for the new season, that was passed over, right? Hello!

And how about Mark Lutz? He’s beefy and easy on the eyes, much like Meloni, and he has a young-Meloni-esque quality to him....

I’m just sayin’.

Photo: AccessHollywood.com.