Both ‘Law and Order’ and ‘Law and Order: Criminal Intent’ Live On!
Full-Season Reprieves Move Spinoff to USA, While Original Remains at Home on NBC
I will certainly take whatever I can get when it comes to my hometown franchise Law & Order. In a move not many expected—that is, if you consider the gloomy proliferation of cancellation rumors in recent months (not days or weeks, but months)—NBC took another chance on the longest-running crime drama in the history of television when it renewed the original Law & Order for a record-breaking 18th season on Sunday. And to think I’ve been watching from the very beginning, since the Greevey/Dzundza days (remember him, anyone?—he’s now George O’Malley’s dad Harold on Grey’s Anatomy), regardless of how exasperated I’ve become with the increasingly predictable and—yes—boring plots of late. If NBC hangs on for just two more years, Law & Order will finally catch up with Gunsmoke, the longest running television show ever in any genre. Given my exceedingly fond memories of the show’s earlier heyday, I’ve actually got my fingers crossed for that milestone, so Dick Wolf, let’s shape up those story lines, please.
Even better from my perspective is the news that the equally endangered second L&O spinoff Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which happens to be my favorite, received a full 22-episode seventh-season renewal yesterday, too (the first spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit performs well in the ratings and was renewed for a ninth season way back on January 17). In an unprecedented strategy, however, the series will relocate to NBC’s sister network USA, the highest rated basic-cable network and current home to frequent L&O repeats via syndication. New episodes of Criminal Intent will premiere there and then receive encore airings on NBC, the exact opposite of the present situation in which episodes premiere on NBC and repeat on USA.
While all of this maneuvering may sound complicated and potentially taxing or confusing for viewers, it really isn’t. Broadcast networks and their basic-cable counterparts have been swapping and sharing series successfully for a few years now, as evidenced, for example, by the boost that Kyle XY enjoyed last summer when ABC reaired episodes the same week they premiered on the show’s home network, basic cable’s ABC affiliate ABC Family. This new way of programming series only requires viewers to expand their conception of how many channels feature first-run episodes, something that shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve since basic-cable networks like FX and the aforementioned USA, as well as premium-cable networks like HBO and Showtime, regularly produce compelling and entertaining original series that rival, and often surpass, those on the traditional networks.
Related Post: If ‘Law and Order’ Ends, So Will a Boon for New York Actors
Law & Order‘s 17th-season finale airs Friday, May 18, at 10pm EST on NBC
Law & Order: Criminal Intent‘s 6th-season finale airs Monday, May 21, at 10:05pm EST on NBC
Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent photos courtesy of NBC
