April 26, 2007
Law & Order: Deathwatch Division
In the recent history of television, the people have been given three separate but still gritty police procedurals set in New York City: The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders in Law & Order, the dedicated Special Victims Unit detectives who investigate especially heinous sexually based offenses in Law & Order Special Victims Unit, and the Major Case Squad detectives who chew scenery as well as they suss out suspects in Law & Order Criminal Intent. But some of their stories may end, as producer Dick Wolf is in the midst of negotiations with NBC over the fate of Law & Order as well as L&O CI.
Wolf has wanted mothership L&O to run a few more seasons to best Gunsmoke's record of being on air, but NBC feels the show is too expensive to produce, given the sagging ratings, especially after relegating to the Friday night basement, aka where Homicide was left to languish. While Wolf refers to his relationship with NBC executives as a Catholic marriage ("There’s some stuff being thrown around in the kitchen, but everybody’s being rational."), we suspect NBC might want to look into an annulment.
Just the suggestion of a NYC film/TV landscape without Law & Order could spawn a million stories. The Post spoke to many actors who have appeared in L&O in guest roles - the L&O franchise has pretty much hired the majority of Broadway actors at one point or another! The actors give their thoughts, opinions and memories of working on the show. Khrystane Haje, who you may remember as Simone from Head of the Class, said:
"I was lucky enough to work with Jerry Orbach, which was very important to me, especially since his passing. He made such an effort to make me feel comfortable. He always went the extra mile with the guests, making sure that we knew where lunch was and that people were talking to us and that we felt included, basically. He was very cordial and friendly and, of course, a great actor."We wonder if the city will intervene - Law & Order is worth millions to the city's film/TV industry. And for your Mariska Hargitay fans, don't worry - L&O SVU is still a hit and isn't in any danger.
Photograph from a 2005 Law & Order exhibit at the Hudson River Museum by BigAppleOfMyEye on Flickr
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The shows are racist and deserve to be off the air.
Loved the show back in the Paul Sorvino, Chris Noth and Michael Moriarty years...but it has lived a bit too long. They play fast and loose with facts/laws/jurisdictions to try and come up with new episodes. It's boring. Very much in the "is that still on?" category, as is ER. Pull the plug already.
Why an annulment? After an annulment, it's like the marriage never happened. Perhaps you meant "divorce"? Oh, but annulment sounds so much more erudite.
NBC has been making some really stupid program choices of late, and I don't mean just their news division. No doubt some schmuck in Burbank has yet another fakeality show in the works to fill the gap.
Like we need another cheap stupid one of these shows that is based on some Latvian game show or somesuch.
I first knew there was trouble when the moved it into the Star Trek time slot of death, but still 44 minutes of colorbars around the ads in promos is better than most of the fakeality drivel NBC has been spewing forth in the name of cost savings.
The writer mentions '...friday nights, where Homicide was left...'
I miss that show, one of the best ever...
Homicide:Life on the Streets
I miss Lenny.
I'm blogging the negotiation fight in great gory detail at my blog. Obviously as a CI fan I care more about whether or not it continues (since I stopped watching the original L&O after Season 7). But what I care most about is having *good* TV shows to watch. CI has only been mediocre this year.
In fact I'm hot to see the French adaptation of CI (Paris Enquêtes Criminelles) which starts May 3rd.
Anyway why does NBC always schedule its 'smart people' shows against other network's news or 'smart people' shows. Homicide and L&O against 20/20? CI against The Sopranos or House? Wake up guys and either stop forcing smart people to choose between smart shows or better yet let TiVoing and watching the bounce reruns on USA count towards the ratings.
Oh and count me as one who misses Homicide so bad that I sprung for the big file drawer DVD box set. Seasons 4-6 of CI DVD will also be so mine
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I'm also blogging the renewal negotiations at my blog but as a fan of Vincent D'Onofrio's body of work, I care more about the fate of CI than of L&O. I stopped watching the mothership back after Season 7 or so. It's so painfully predicticable and boring, it hurts to watch it
What I care most about is *good* smart people TV. CI has only been mediocre this season thanks to the renewal negotiations fight last season that axed Rene Balcer and most of the creative team that made CI so good in Seasons 1-5. So if CI gets sacrificed to save L&O I won't get too upset so long as Seasons 4-6 make it to DVD (my Season 1-3 DVDs are lonesome for them :)
I say NBC's problem are the pinheads who do the scheduling...why do they always run their 'smart people' shows against other network's news or 'smart people' shows. Running L&O or Homicide against 20/20? Running CI against 'The Sopranos' or 'House'? What kind of idiocy is that?
Speaking of Homicide, I missed the show so bad that I forked over the big bucks for the big file drawer DVD box set that has *everything* Homicide on it. That at least pacifies my Homicide cravings and my lonely CI DVDs a little.
But I say if you're going to go from hamburger to tainted pet food with the quality of both shows just to save GE(NBC) some cash, then spare us and let them go already. You've already sacrificed our fillet mignon quality level shows.
Or how about Dick Wolf giving up some of his $70 million dollar salary and putting it into both shows? Until then I don't think either Wolf or GE(NBC) give a flaming one about the real fans.
Anyway I'm off to figure out how to get episodes of the new French CI spinoff series Paris Enquêtes Criminelles sent to me...from what I saw of its site at Paris Criminal Investigations,/a>, it looks pretty good to me.
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