"Law & Order" will return to NBC (GE) for its 18th season, putting in second-place all time for the longevity of a series on TV. The number one series of all time is "Gunsmoke," which ran from 1955 to 1975.
For the Law & Order franchise it was thought that one of them would be cut this year because of decreasing ratings. "Law & Order: SVU" had the highest ratings so was ensured of a return.
It seems that "Criminal Intent" was going to be the one to go, but in the end a deal was made to bring it to the USA cable network, a sister station of NBC. The station will now be able to air a full season of the series, which has been popular on reruns for the company.
Producer Dick Wolf seems to be the one pushing this the most as he said that his "ultimate dream" would be to break the record of "Gunsmoke."
"Creatively, the show is still firing on all cylinders and I have no doubt the show's quality can and will continue for years to come," he said.
In return for giving Wolf that opportunity, he has been pushed to cut costs and reach new financial goals.
While Wolf is showing forth a lot of optimism, if the show doesn't reach the benchmarks, I don't think it will be allowed to run for the sole purpose of gratifying his ego. NBC has struggled too much to allow that to be the determining factor to keep a show.
This year it's not as much of a risk as the company has nothing in the pipelines that they can count on to be a big hit, as the only decently performing show for them is "Heroes." With that being the case, it's probably worth trying it for one more year to see if it can rebound. If it doesn't, that should be the end of the series.
Comment Preview