NBC cancels Law & Order
- Thread starter Out Of My Vulcan Mind
- Start date
Is this season over for L&O? Even if its not, surely the final eps are in the can. There is no way to do a proper conclusion to the series now. If the writing was on the wall with low ratings and bad blood between Wolf and NBC, then the network should have made the cancel decision mid season, in order to at least give a 20 year series time to wrap itself up. That's like canceling All My Children tomorrow in the middle of a Susan Lucci storyline. Respect people!
According to epguides it has three more episodes to air over the next two weeks, so the episodes would be in the can already.
Incidentally, CBS did the same thing to Gunsmoke at the end of its 20-season run. The cast and crew finished work on the 20th season, had their season wrap party and went home thinking the network was bringing the show back for another season. Then CBS cancelled the show, so it had no special finale episode and the cast and crew had no special final wrap party to say goodbye to each other.
I wonder if USA would be willing to pick up the 'mothership' like they did with CI. Anyone know how CI's doing in the ratings over there?
Um, you can say that on a TrekBBS forum? A forum dedicated to STAR TREK, that ratings flop that NBC cancelled about 41 years ago?
They didn't want to cancel it mid season because they needed filler for their failure (Jay Leno). Up until two days ago everyone thought it would get another 13 episodes and TNT would give a few bucks, then NBC acted like shit and thought their new shows will make them god again and canceled it.
Neat reunion / finale idea. Too bad Dick Wolf isn't the sentimental type.
Here's an idea for a "flashback" movie I can't resist: If they found actresses that looked like Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless and they did a L&O movie based on CAGNEY & LACEY in the 1980's, with C&L serving as the detectives investigating a homicide.
I can't tell you how bummed I am about L&O getting the boot. Life sucks today for some reason. And yes, I hop on the bandwagon and speculate the reason is spelled n-b-c.
1: In the 1960's, NBC cancelled STAR TREK due to poor ratings. Big mistake.
2: In the late '70's, NBC cancelled the ratings-successful EMERGENCY! in a greedy move to make it into movies. Dumb mistake.
3: In 1989, NBC allowed the creative team at L.A. LAW to slip away, and over the next three years the show's declining storylines ruined the show. Laughable mistake.
4: In the 1990's, NBC let Johnny Carson retire (never to resurface) and let Letterman slip away to CBS. Pathetic mistake.
5: In the 2000's, NBC kept that dreadfully airheaded fashion plate "sitcom" FRIENDS around long after Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle had seen its 15 minutes of fame, been imitated, and been forgotten. Silly mistake.
6: Now here we are at the dawn of a new decade and NBC has already made a humungous mistake: killing the acclaimed, respected and still somewhat popular LAW & ORDER after just reaching a tie with GUNSMOKE for longest running American TV drama.
2: In the late '70's, NBC cancelled the ratings-successful EMERGENCY! in a greedy move to make it into movies. Dumb mistake.
3: In 1989, NBC allowed the creative team at L.A. LAW to slip away, and over the next three years the show's declining storylines ruined the show. Laughable mistake.
4: In the 1990's, NBC let Johnny Carson retire (never to resurface) and let Letterman slip away to CBS. Pathetic mistake.
5: In the 2000's, NBC kept that dreadfully airheaded fashion plate "sitcom" FRIENDS around long after Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle had seen its 15 minutes of fame, been imitated, and been forgotten. Silly mistake.
6: Now here we are at the dawn of a new decade and NBC has already made a humungous mistake: killing the acclaimed, respected and still somewhat popular LAW & ORDER after just reaching a tie with GUNSMOKE for longest running American TV drama.
So there you have it, folks. Six decades of NBC blunders. Why ruin a perfect record?
^Wingsley I don't get what you mean? Yes NBC has made stupid mistakes before, especially re Star Trek. My point is yes they miss the boat a lot and this is another example.
Pity this show can't go out like it deserves. I'm telling you instead of a big ratings finale, there will be resverse negative boycott numbers for 'LOLA' stupidity. Why couldn't they have Jack McCoy semi retire transfer to LA for 12 eps on LO, then next season switch it to LA? There had to be better options than this cold cancel.
Pity this show can't go out like it deserves. I'm telling you instead of a big ratings finale, there will be resverse negative boycott numbers for 'LOLA' stupidity. Why couldn't they have Jack McCoy semi retire transfer to LA for 12 eps on LO, then next season switch it to LA? There had to be better options than this cold cancel.
Now that would be one hell of a end to the show...
Top it off with the funeral being covered at the end of CI and SVU that same week as well to tie it all together in.
Okay, so let's break the issue down:
First, the ratings. I was under the impression that L&O had remained fairly consistent in the ratings since its inception, but a quick glance at Wikipedia reveals that it has indeed faltered a little over the last couple of years. (Interestingly, this occurred around the same time that NBC first moved the show out of its long-standing Wednesday 10:00 pm timeslot.)
Second, the spin-offs. Here's where the issue gets a little murkier. Are SVU and CI really doing better in the ratings than L&O? If so, does anybody know why? Also, does anybody know why NBC thinks LOLA will do better in ratings than the current L&O, or why LOLA will be cheaper to produce than L&O? (And what are contractual salary escalators, anyway?)
Third, the ending. L&O has always been one of those shows that doesn't draw much on its long-standing history, and this is what makes the show so accessible for newcomers and casual viewers. L&O didn't begin with any kind of grand premiere (there was nothing special about the first episode), it doesn't do season-ending cliffhangers, and it doesn't maintain seasons-long story arcs. In the same spirit, I don't think the show needs any kind of grand retrospective to end it. At least we won't be left with any unresolved cliffhangers (*knock on wood*).
In any case, it sounds like the show is ending for reasons that are as political as they are financial, which is really too bad. But as frequent posters have pointed out, NBC's current execs seen to have trouble keeping the station afloat, so maybe this isn't too surprising.
I also second the motion that the end of the series might see faster releases to DVD. I always assumed that the slow pace was because reruns do so well on TNT, and nobody wanted to undercut rerun viewerships with DVD sales. However, does anybody know if there are other reasons the show has been so slow to DVD?
First, the ratings. I was under the impression that L&O had remained fairly consistent in the ratings since its inception, but a quick glance at Wikipedia reveals that it has indeed faltered a little over the last couple of years. (Interestingly, this occurred around the same time that NBC first moved the show out of its long-standing Wednesday 10:00 pm timeslot.)
Second, the spin-offs. Here's where the issue gets a little murkier. Are SVU and CI really doing better in the ratings than L&O? If so, does anybody know why? Also, does anybody know why NBC thinks LOLA will do better in ratings than the current L&O, or why LOLA will be cheaper to produce than L&O? (And what are contractual salary escalators, anyway?)
Third, the ending. L&O has always been one of those shows that doesn't draw much on its long-standing history, and this is what makes the show so accessible for newcomers and casual viewers. L&O didn't begin with any kind of grand premiere (there was nothing special about the first episode), it doesn't do season-ending cliffhangers, and it doesn't maintain seasons-long story arcs. In the same spirit, I don't think the show needs any kind of grand retrospective to end it. At least we won't be left with any unresolved cliffhangers (*knock on wood*).
In any case, it sounds like the show is ending for reasons that are as political as they are financial, which is really too bad. But as frequent posters have pointed out, NBC's current execs seen to have trouble keeping the station afloat, so maybe this isn't too surprising.
I also second the motion that the end of the series might see faster releases to DVD. I always assumed that the slow pace was because reruns do so well on TNT, and nobody wanted to undercut rerun viewerships with DVD sales. However, does anybody know if there are other reasons the show has been so slow to DVD?
The execs at the network (known in house as No Body Cares) make stupid decisions and the fans get s***d, again.
I agree, I wouldn't miss NBC if it went dark. 13 new eps for a proper send off (McCoy idea
)
I'm sorry Wolf didn't have a chance to pull a "Lost" and say, "give me X years and I'll give you a wrap worth it."
I agree, I wouldn't miss NBC if it went dark. 13 new eps for a proper send off (McCoy idea
)I'm sorry Wolf didn't have a chance to pull a "Lost" and say, "give me X years and I'll give you a wrap worth it."
A new LA show will be cheaper to make because it's new and in LA. But it's LA and what the hell is there to look at? I won't be watching.
L&O was on Fridays getting some of the best ratings NBC saw, sure the demo was horrid, but when 7+ million people are watching a show on a shit network.
So it was mainly NBC's stupidity that is the reason it got canceled. Really 12-13 episodes to end the show when several of the new drama's fail? Too much to ask? Even David E. Kelly blackmailed ABC to giving him 13 final episodes of Boston Legal. Dick Wolf should do the same.
Well it makes sense for L&O why wrap anything up. The series always got into trouble when they tried to add "character" arcs. Ray's wife, Lenny's daughter Van Buran's cancer. The show was about the case and handing it over to the DA. That will never end. Cops retire and a new generation steps forward to do the same thing over and over again.
Law & Order should end like it almost always ends with the epilogue after yet another trial. As we know the next day a body will be discovered and some homicide detectives will catch the next case.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
Carson retired of his own accord; he had been doing the Tonight Show since the early '60's, and wanted to stop and hand the reins over to Letterman. In fact, he'd almost quit in 1980, but was talked into staying on; the price for this was the ending of all of those Art Fern/Aunt Flabby/Floyd R. Turbo skits (which resulted in an indirect life spiral for his co-participant Carol Brady, who ended up dead in Mexico in 1985!) and a slight shortening of the show.
^ Carol Wayne, actually. Carol Brady was the wife from The Brady Bunch. 
"Now back to our feature film: Woody Harrelson, Woody Allen, Woody Woodpecker, Woody Herman, Herman Munster, and Dumpo the Wonder Pigeon, in Heidi Suffers an Estrogen Avalanche!"
"Now back to our feature film: Woody Harrelson, Woody Allen, Woody Woodpecker, Woody Herman, Herman Munster, and Dumpo the Wonder Pigeon, in Heidi Suffers an Estrogen Avalanche!"
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
^ Carol Wayne, actually. Carol Brady was the wife from The Brady Bunch.
"Now back to our feature film: Woody Harrelson, Woody Allen, Woody Woodpecker, Woody Herman, Herman Munster, and Dumpo the Wonder Pigeon, in Heidi Suffers an Estrogen Avalanche!"
Thanks for the corrections and the laughs!
