One of my favorite actors and comedians and best character of SVU. Who cares if he's not the lead actor on SVU. He brought the Homicide fans over to SVU (some 5-7 million fans) and without him, SVU wouldn't exist today because it had so much troubles taking off in the first two seasons.

Munch has so much potential and it's sad that he is reduced to running errands for the squad.

People are always for the looks, so I guess that's why we see Benson and Stabler all the time. John Munch/Richard Belzer maybe old, but he is still has a handsome mug in his own way and can carry a show of his own. He carried Homicide and SVU before Benson and Stabler took over. If Benson and Stabler were old and didn't look like themselves as they do now, would you still like them as the lead characters? I bet if you saw how Richard look in the old days, these silly demented E/O shippers would change their minds.

We judge so much by looks and never by inner characteristics anymore, like the heart, realizing full potential, the will to succeed, etc. I'm not saying Mariska Hargitay/Olivia Benson or Christopher Meloni/Elliot Stabler don't have these characteristics, I'm saying it's more apparent in Richard Belzer/John Munch because the writers have hardly explored his character unlike with Benson and Stabler.