Thoughts on the end of Law & Order: Criminal Intent?

[Tom Hendricks]

I have always been a LO:CI fan and especially of Goren and VD'O. To me, CI was the best of the LO series. Most of that hanged on the acting of VD'O. I personally loved the addition of having Goren seeing the shrink. In fact I wish they introduced it sooner, think it would have added a lot to the show. Like many, I wish they didn't kill off Nicole Wallace but unlike most, they shouldn't have killed each other but ended up together.

 

[Christopher]

^You're kidding. Nicole Wallace was a multiple murderer and psychopath, and as I recall, she had a tendency to kill her mates. You wanted her and Bobby to end up together?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^You're kidding. Nicole Wallace was a multiple murderer and psychopath, and as I recall, she had a tendency to kill her mates. You wanted her and Bobby to end up together?

I admit, I stopped watching L&O: CI a few years ago, but when I was watching, I thought it was pretty clear that Nicole Wallace's murders were a kind of foreplay with Goran and that they had a mutual psychological and sexual attraction to one another. I wouldn't have expected them to "end up together," no, because that would be skeevy, but the idea of them having a night of rock-the-world sex wasn't unthinkable.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Nicole Wallace may have had a thing for Goren, but he did not return it. I always got the impression that he was fairly disgusted by her.

 

[JarodRussell]

However I doubt this is the end, the ratings are still rather great for being on a cable network.

Uh, no, they're not.

Season 9 averaged 3.6 million viewers (down from 5.4 million the year before and 7.46 million the year before that). That decline, combined with expenses, was enough to render the series comatose until Dick Wolf went to USA and said, "Look, if you give me the money for almost a full season, but I only have to do a half-season of episodes, I can get D'Onofrio and Erbe back." That happened. And while Season 10 premiered to 5.1 million viewers, more recent episodes have been back down to the 3.2 - 3.5 million number -- even less than the viewership that had the show effectively canceled in the first place.

CI is done.

Numbers liket that would have given us 10 more seasons of SGU.

 

[Joe Washington]

The finale was decent. But I would enjoyed it more if the show had ended with Season 8 because of its better portrayal of Goren's recovery after the crap he has been through and the Nichols/Wheeler duo, Season 5 with the first Captain's exit, or Season 4 before they started switching back-and-forth between two duos of detectives.

 

[Timby]

However I doubt this is the end, the ratings are still rather great for being on a cable network.

Uh, no, they're not.

Season 9 averaged 3.6 million viewers (down from 5.4 million the year before and 7.46 million the year before that). That decline, combined with expenses, was enough to render the series comatose until Dick Wolf went to USA and said, "Look, if you give me the money for almost a full season, but I only have to do a half-season of episodes, I can get D'Onofrio and Erbe back." That happened. And while Season 10 premiered to 5.1 million viewers, more recent episodes have been back down to the 3.2 - 3.5 million number -- even less than the viewership that had the show effectively canceled in the first place.

CI is done.

Numbers liket that would have given us 10 more seasons of SGU.

And this is a completely meaningless statement, given that you're comparing two shows on separate networks with thoroughly different budgets and audience expectations (not to mention that MGM provided a huge chunk of the financing for SGU, so SyFy wasn't on the hook for the whole thing), so your point is ... ?

 

[JarodRussell]

Uh, no, they're not.

Season 9 averaged 3.6 million viewers (down from 5.4 million the year before and 7.46 million the year before that). That decline, combined with expenses, was enough to render the series comatose until Dick Wolf went to USA and said, "Look, if you give me the money for almost a full season, but I only have to do a half-season of episodes, I can get D'Onofrio and Erbe back." That happened. And while Season 10 premiered to 5.1 million viewers, more recent episodes have been back down to the 3.2 - 3.5 million number -- even less than the viewership that had the show effectively canceled in the first place.

CI is done.

Numbers liket that would have given us 10 more seasons of SGU.

And this is a completely meaningless statement, given that you're comparing two shows on separate networks with thoroughly different budgets and audience expectations (not to mention that MGM provided a huge chunk of the financing for SGU, so SyFy wasn't on the hook for the whole thing), so your point is ... ?

My point right now would be that you need to relax a wee little bit.

 

[Aragorn]

Stephanie March and Diane Neal are both returning for the upcoming season of SVU.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ For how many episodes?

 

[bigdaddy]

That wasn't announced.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm almost hoping it won't be, since I'm rather sweet on the last ADA they had (Sherri West, played by the always lovely L&O veteran Francie Swift).