Law and Order (the original) canceled?

I feel like I have had a death in the family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/law-order-canceled-by-nbc_n_575657.html

I hope the network will reconsider.

I still like it.

the ratings tanked. No one could find it.

I like SVU better, though. Hopefully that one remains.

Dick Wolfe was negotiating to keep the show on the air so that it would be the longest drama in TV history--longer than "Gunsmoke".

I happened to catch an episode a few weeks back and I was appalled at the poor writing and acting. And it was painful to see Sam Waterston doing a Fred Thompson imitation as head DA. It was like watching a parody of L&O. Nothing like the Jerry Orbach/Michael Moriarty years; I still enjoy seeing the older episodes on TNT over the weekend.

I have to wonder, though, about something I read earlier. I guess NBC/Universal has been having some sort of dispute with TNT, which figured into its decision to end it. Why would TNT have any say, unless NBC was banking on having a built-in rerun venue, and TNT passed?

a re-run syndication deal that fell through? :shrug:

Not that I don't enjoy Law and Order, but Dragnet really was the template for Law and Order.

I love L&O but the formula is very similar to Dragnet, especially with those constant references to time, day, and place, and when the detectives are interviewing people who make quirky/snarky little comments.

Of course, L&O is grittier, lacks the cornball moralism that Dragnet had, and is more true-to-life, but I see a definite influence (maybe homage?).

and of course both shows have incredibly distinctive theme music.
Law and Order substitutes child molesters for filthy hippies, though

It always stressed plot over characters. It's fun to watch shows where a murderer in one episode is a victim in another, and then a defense attorney in yet one more.

I'll give Wolf credit in keeping something going on a clearly small production budget because the cast was truly interchangeable.

L&O did do some good episodes that were based on real-life incidents, like the Joel Steinberg case. It will never be camp in the way that Dragnet is.

"It will never be camp in the way that Dragnet is" :)

I always get a great deal of satisfaction seeing Joe Friday get his man. And Jack Webb and Harry Morgan are stellar.

The episodes with psychedelic-van-driving-long-haired-pot-smoking-hippies are always classic. Sort of like "Reefer Madness" for the 1960s.

cutter productions - there was no real emotion, no nuance, no real characterization or personality in either show. "Law and Order" dressed it up a little bit more, but it was basically "Dragnet" for the late 20th/early 21st century.

It was just starting to get good again!

It doesn't make sense for the original L&O to be canceled and succeeded by a (possibly inferior) spinoff that's set in Los Angeles.

Some people are saddened that one of the smarter shows on TV is gone, but some argue that the show jumped the shark after the cast changes (like Jerry Orbach leaving).

And then the show might be running out of creative energy.

The worst thing of all this is that NBC won't even provide a reason.

But then again, this is the network that brought Jay Leno back to the Tonight Show after Conan O'Brien served as host for just half a year. You never know what NBC could decide about the original L&O if L&O Los Angeles gets axed quickly (like the Tonight Show with Conan). After all, Fox did resurrect Family Guy, and Comedy Central did resurrect Futurama.

I thought they just played the original episodes in a syndication deal. If there are new ones, I want to check it out again (I've watched all the originals on Adult Swim many, many times).

She will have been on the series for 16 years, and she will leave as the only woman to work in a tv series for that length of time. She is making a documentary film and will continue her own projects.

Great job. Lt. Van Buren is a really remarkable character and Merkerson a remarkable talent.
I have been a fan since her small part in Terminator 2, and I will continue to watch for anything she has a hand in.

mark

Great movie, and she is, as always, fabulous in it.

Is the original the one without any letters after it?

:crazy:

I am sure I have seen all the old ones several times..but still. It is such an institution on TV

Its reruns and reruns of the offshoots are on three different channels..