I do agree that this series is obviously in its Swan Song, and my goodness there have been doggy seasons several years ago when it should have been axed. I do however think its wrong to boil television history down to a business decision. That's what the canceling of all these historic soaps were, too. All about business and ratings, no consideration of where a network's stock performers and crew will come from or if there will be a breeding ground for the industry-nevermind the presidence and influence shows like Guiding Light had. Is there a drama on tv right now that will run twenty years? Much less a network show that's been on that long-except The Simpsons? I can't think of one. Most can't seem to make 10. 5 or 7 and that's usually two seasons too long. It's sad that it's about business, not making a good show and honoring a quality program of tenure and class. Survivor is not my idea of a classy program.
This makes me a sad panda. Although, I suppose I'm not totally surprised. I had a sneaking suspicion that they might cancel the original Law & Order to make room for Law & Order: Los Angeles, especially if it's going to use the same format. Right now, I'm desperately crossing my fingers hoping for Michael Cutter to move to L.A. (and Connie Rubirosa to move to my bedroom). Also, when Rey Curtis came back for a cameo this season, he mentioned that he had moved to L.A. Perhaps he can be the new senior detective on the spin-off. My idea for a crazy, WTF, ending for the original series: George Dzundza wakes up in the drunk tank, looking at a snow globe while cops in the background say, "Crazy idiot. There is no 27th precinct!"
Trying to look on the bright side... Maybe now that the show is cancelled they'll actually step it way the fuck up on the DVD releases? Show's in season 20 and we only have, what, seven seasons on DVD? Meanwhile SVU is practically day-and-date. Oh, and just to be clear: the proper term is Doink-Doink.
First of all, it's more of a "duhng-duhnk!" There's nothing high pitched enough in there to justify an "oi." Secondly, there are 8 seasons on DVD; Seasons 1-7 plus Season 14 from that strange little experiment in 2004 when they released the most current seasons of all 3 shows. But you're right. Universal needs to speed the fuck up on the DVDs! I needs my Jack McCoy, dammit! I won't go quite as far as to say I'll never watch NBC ever again after this. Even in its death throes, I seem to watch it more than any other network. I never watch the CW. I only watch ABC when they have Wipeout on in the summer. (BTW, is Wipeout coming back?) I only watch CBS for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. FOX has interesting shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, and the late lamented Dollhouse & Sit Down Shut Up but I seem to only catch its shows in syndicated reruns. Meanwhile, NBC has alienated me somewhat by cancelling Law & Order and firing Conan O'Brien but Saturday Night Live is still solid appointment TV, even in its rough patches.
I'm no fan of Law and Order (I've never even seen an episode), but I can't believe they'd cancel the show when they're so close to breaking the record. All they need is one more season and they'd make television history. How is that not worth the expense of one more season? Making television history has got to result in good ratings.
Maybe NBC figured that it was enough just to tie, rather than break, the record. For number of seasons, not actual episodes in them (AFAIK, Gunsmoke has many more eps per season, and L&O would take a long time to break that). I know, it's silly, but any network that is boneheaded enough to cancel such an excellent show as L&O is clearly not playing with a full deck anyway.
Monday, 17th May - NBC and Fox Tuesday, 18th May - ABC Wednesday, 19th May - CBS Thursday, 20th May - CW NBC is also going to release their schedule on Sunday by press release, the day before their upfront presentation.
I disagree. I definitely hear an 'oi' in there. Besides, they ran an ad a few years ago where they flat out CALLED it a doink-doink. Oh yeah, right, I forgot about that bit. And since this is Universal we're talking about, I would probably not waste my time hoping for an actual Blu-Ray release. That being said: What about L&O:UK? What happened to it? Has it been renewed (or whatever they do with British shows )? I heard talk that Jamie Bamber is joining another show, does this mean that the UK L&O didn't pan out?
Yeah NBC canceled everything besides it's "comedies", Parenthood and Chuck because they THINK their new shows are strong. Heroes, Chuck and Parenthood are the only ones renewed. What is to make them think that their new shows won't be complete shit? As everyone else said, 13 episodes was too hard for them? Are they that fucking cheap?! When LA fails because no one gives a fuck about it and SVU ends in a season or so there will not be a single L&O on NBC. So fucking stupid!
I love the show and I hate that it has been canceled, but not only is it prohibitively expensive to produce, its ratings this year have been utterly abysmal (it just ticked a 1.7 this past week). It is a business decision.
Could you really call Heroes "renewed"? A six-episode mini-season is more like drawing out its agony than actually being renewed.
Heroes has been cancelled, although it may get a 2- to 4-hour wrap-up. Word of that will likely only come sometime after the upfront, though.
Why is L&O expensive to produce? They rarely have extended action sequences - hell, they rarely even have a chase of ANY kind. Although if you mean "expensive digital effects to simulate the kind of bullshit CSI-like stuff that never works in real life but which can, on the show, appear to do stuff like zoom in on a car's license plate from a thousand feet up", then yeah.
Three words: contractual salary escalators. That, and the fact that it's kinda expensive to film a show in NYC.
^Certainly I've heard that all of Law & Order's location filming can get expensive. But salary escalations don't have to be a problem. I think that Lupo & Cutter are strong enough to carry the series on their own. If they have to cut Van Buren & McCoy loose to keep the show on another year, so be it. Plus, I would like to see the show last long enough to do my idea for a proper finale; an epic 3-parter centering on the murder of Jack McCoy, which also brings back a bunch of former characters, including Logan, Ceretta, Green, & Fontana volunteering to help Lupo & Bernard canvas witnesses. Stone, Schiff, & Branch would provide Cutter with extra legal advice. Robinette & Southerlyn would defend the murderer. Ross & Carmichael would be the ones at the beginning who first discover the body. Just for the hell of it (because I'm a big Trial by Jury fan), Tracy Kibre would be the judge. In the final scene, as they all have a drink in Jack's office, toasting his memory, they make veiled comments about what a long, enjoyable journey it's been. Right before Adam Schiff turns out the lights for the last time, the camera zooms in on a photo on Jack's desk of him with Claire Kincaid. That doesn't necessarily mean anything in British TV terms. There are often long hiatuses between seasons in that country. Hell, there was a 4 year gap between the 6th & 7th seasons of Red Dwarf. And Red Dwarf actors such as Chris Barrie & Danny John-Jules were able to be regulars on both that show and another show simultaneously, like Brittas Empire or Maid Marian & Her Merry Men.