I heard this story yesterday, and I totally didn’t believe it. It was heavily rumored that NBC was cancelling Law & Order, shockingly, after twenty godd-mn seasons. And now it’s been confirmed! Bye-bye, Jack McCoy. That one gets me. What will Sam Waterston do now? Those stupid AmeriTrade ads or whatever? Colonial Penn? What the f-ck ads does he do? Am too lazy to look it up.
NBC has officially canceled its cornerstone legal series ‘Law & Order,’ the network confirmed today in a press release.
“The full measure of the collective contributions made by Dick Wolf and his ‘Law & Order’ franchise over the last two decades to the success of NBC and Universal Media Studios cannot be overstated. The legacy of his original ‘Law & Order’ series will continue to make an impact like no other series before,” Jeff Gaspin, Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment said in a statement.
‘Law & Order’ will have its series finale on Mon., May 24 at 10PM ET. The show ends after 20 seasons on the air, which ties ‘Gunsmoke”s record as the longest-running drama in television history.
Although the mothership will be disappearing, fans of the legal franchise will be happy to learn that NBC has picked up the popular ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ for another season and will rev up a new series based in Los Angeles, nicknamed ‘LOLA.’
Deadline first reported the story on Thursday.
[From PopEater]
Well, I hate to say this, but Law & Order needed to be put out of its misery. Sad but true. I love Sam, and I love Jeremy Sisto too, but their talents are kind of wasted on a police procedural. So let’s go with the theory that Linus Roache and his blood-sucking earnestness killed the show. That’s my theory. Still, I’m sure it will be devastating for the New York City acting community. So many New York theatre actors come on the show at various stages of their careers, and it’s got to put a serious dent in a lot of people’s wallets. But… we still have SVU, right? Ugh. That show is going to hell in a hand basket too.
I love Sam, but the better question may be, what are his eyebrows going to do for work? Sam’s voice will get him jobs forever. Those bushy black beauties won’t always have their looks to get by on.
L&O – The Original, died for me actually when Claire either died or was just seriously injured and quit. Did they ever say? Lenny wasn’t the same, Jack wasn’t the same. It was all bleh. I hated the revolving door.
They killed Criminal Intent, it sounds like SVU isn’t that far behind if Meloni’s leaving and LOLA sounds as bad as CSI:Miami.
TV sucks. Thank god for cable.
L&O: SVU needs top be shot too. That show has sucked this season, worse than L&O, IMHO.
It’s a long time in coming but it’s legacy will live on indefinitely in syndication, for sure.
Bastards. They killed CI by abandoning Goren & Eames for Jeff Goldblum – who I actually like (but not on CI) – so I no longer watch it. I guess this doesn’t really come as a surprise.
Snowball – Ditto re: cable. For the most part, network TV sucks.
I wanted it to go on forever only because I practically grew up with it and its almost like a relative leaving you for good, but like they say-“ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END”
You have to admit 20 years is a damned good run these days
LMAO @ sam waterson in a kilt.
That show was over for me when Jerry Orbach left.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I must admit, I haven’t watched a lot of Law & Order ever since Lenny Briscoe retired (rest in peace Jerry Orbach, I miss you). But still, the very notion of Law & Order coming to an end…it’s almost unfathomable. I was four years old when the show started.
@snowball- claire died in the car accident. i’ve never seen the episode directly after it, or if i have i don’t remember, but carey lowell character brings it up to jack after setting him up with one of her friends.
Linus Roache is hot. That is all.
That mans eyebrows take on a life of their own!
What about Law & Order, UK? Started watching last summer. Loved it the characters were great. Is that coming back? Hope so.
How can all these insipid reality shows flourish while dramatic TV just withers away? Writers already get the short shrift on pay, and they’re doing the most difficult work in entertainment. RIP L&O. Please do not even consider another dancing with the has-beens as a suitable replacement. I can just see it now—bird watching with the stars. Low overhead costs and the dumb public will just eat it up. NOT.
i would have picked it up for one more season. bring back people from earlier season and give it a good bon voyage.
I wish they would have cancelled SVU instead – L&O is much better then SVU.
I didn’t like Roache at first but he grew on me. I kept hoping Cutter and Connie would get it on. The show had a good run but its time is up. And since Anita VanBuren is leaving, I don’t think I’d have the heart to watch it any more.
I only watch L&O when it’s reruns on TNT and USA. I don’t like the new das and cops on L&O. I stopped watching when Jesse left. I stopped watching SVU when Casey left. The cases have gotten so farfetched and bizarre.
No. No. No. Lie teller. I’m not listening.
*Engage FULL DENIAL MODE*
BTW, love the photo of Sam Waterston in the kilt. Sexay!
I notice he’s at an event with Glenfiddich as the main advertiser. Isn’t that the scotch Jack McCoy keeps in his desk? Ha ha ha!
I was worried when it became obvious that they were trying to make Linus Roache into Jack McCoy 2: Electric Boogaloo, and then came the news that S. Epatha was leaving. But I love me some Sisto and Anderson, and I really liked Alana de la Garza. Sadness.
Aw, rats, I love this show. It’s a shame to see that it has been cancelled but, alas, it was inevitable. I was always hoping that L&O would beat Gunsmoke but at least they tied! It deserves to be in the record books.
@ Cheyenne –
Yep, I think that S. Epatha Merkerson leaving the show was a big blow. Although her role seemed to be confined at times, she was an integral part of the the show.
Also, Alana de la Garza is pregnant so the likelihood of her returning next season would be slim. I don’t think they would have wanted to hire an ADA temp for that short a period of time.
It did take a while for me to like Linus Roache too. I got tired of the constant conflict between his character and McCoy.
Long live Jack McCoy!! There is nothing better than watching old episodes with Sam as the DA and he getting so passionate (sometimes angry) in courtroom scenes. Do they have a spot for Sam on SVU? 🙂
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I only watch the reruns on TNT, but I haven’t cared for the assistants after Angie Harmon or the detectives after Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin. I can’t stand SVU, or Jeff Goldblum who has always seemed to overact every part I’ve seen him in. I enjoyed Goren and Eames in CI.
Yeah, it was a great show back in its heyday, but definitely time to retire. There were some great old episodes of that show, I still watch the reruns if I’m home sick. RIP Law & Order, thanks for 20 years of entertainment when I needed it.
The first five years were great, and if we could skip Carey Lowell and go straight to Angie Harmon, there were a few good years after that. But the show has been declining for a long time, and it’s long past time that it was put out of its misery.
Blahhhhhhh.
What Bellaluna said. I stopped watching L&O when Jerry Orbach’s character retired. I stopped watching CI regularly when they started dropping Goren & Eames for Goldblum’s character. It really sucked the magic out of CI when they started splitting up the eps between the two teams of detectives.
I was a huge fan of L&O. I still watch reruns to this day. I prefer the older episodes. I thought the series officially jumped the shark when they brought in the character of Nina Cassady (Milena Govich), the first female detective. I was actually happy with the choice to bring a woman into that role until I saw her wardrobe. She was supposed to be a hard-boiled cop and every episode she was showing cleavage. Even in the winter! It was a cheap way to try to get ratings and was a sign the show was grasping at straws to reinvent itself.
I believe “reality” TV has helped in this process of good shows being canceled. People are so intrigued by the “reality” of everyone else’s life. I am sad, the demise of TV…
i actually never really liked the original L&O, i never quite bought into any of the chemistry between the main actors, and i just didn’t like them personally. however, when i was pregnant with my son, back in the summer&spring of 2004, i found myself suddenly not able to go out and wander the city nights every night of the week (or any night of the week for that matter) and we were young and poor and fabulous and placed absolutely no importance on tv so we didn’t have cable and i was left with about 5 channels to watch, the best one being NBC.
somehow i totally got hooked into SVU. i love that damn show, i don’t know why. i don’t keep up with it on Network TV anymore as i have finally moved up in the world and have cable tv and dont have to rely on NBC for my primetime TV viewing needs, thank god. but i’ll sit and watch through marathons of it on TBS or USA or whatever the heck network it comes on.
i have to say though, i was incredibly offended and incredibly turned off by the single mindedness and asinine-ness of an episode the other day and i just couldn’t believe it…it was SOOO stupid that i was just a stab in the heart and i knew that they were just desperate for ratings and for controversy and they were appealing to a whole other audience than me, and it broke my heart…damn SVU…
it was the episode about Vaccinations….does anyone know what episode i’m talking about. some mom (who was played by Hillary Duff) basically killed her kid and then buried her body somewhere and claimed (of course!) that the babysitter stole her. the search is on for the baby, they find the remains and they discover the baby died from complications of the measles……….now this is where i got pissed at the stupidity of it………. they track down with a crazy zealous police force all the kids that the little girl had come in contact with until they find one that had the measles. they interrogate the mother on the street and find out her child wasn’t vaccinated (her choice as a mother) and so they decide to arrest her and press criminal charges on her in the death of that other baby. their point was, had this mother chose to vaccinate her child then this other little girl would have never gotten sick and that she, in affect, was responsible for the health and the welfare of every child that she comes in contact with all because her son was sick and spread his germs at the playground by chance. now how stupid was that. they put her on trial for murder, nevermind that this other girl had refused to take care of her own daughter and then when she ignored her screams and cries, smacked her and then found her dead in the morning, buried her, and then led the police on a wild goose chase around the city looking for the baby… but you know, it’s the mother that didn’t vaccinate her kid who is at fault. good god. and the episode didn’t end there….. the mom that buried her kid and her mother launch and all out attack on this other woman, try to get a lawsuit against her, and then go to her house and attack her and throw things and whatever else saying that she murdered that baby. and then the girls’ dad commits suicide because of all the stress. i was like, wow. SERIOUSLY??? SERIOUSLY SVU? are we really doing this? it was one of the worst episodes i have ever seen in my life and i was insulted that they would think their viewers were stupid enough to not see through them trying to grab straws at the vaccination issue to get some ratings. it was just god awful. the only thing good about it was that Hillary Duff was actually really really good in her role as this crazy, trashy, angry young mother. i was pleasantly surprised. i vowed to never watch the show again, however when i hit the “Guide” button on my remote and saw the tv listings that another episode was on in 15 minutes you know my butt stayed right there….
I blame Jay
Gee, I guess I am in the minority but I LOVED L&Os “new” cast. I think Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto have great chemistry. I like Sam as the DA and, after about 2 episodes, I fell in love with Linus Roache. On Thursday, I read they were going to incorporate Alana’s pregnacy into the program and on Friday I learned they were canceling the show!
i forgot this show was even still on.
RIP Lenny!!! You were a fine man both on the stage and off. The show was never the same again.
Snowball – LOL. You said what I was thinking. Love Sam Waterson – but what’s going on with his eyebrows? I never noticed they were that bad on TV. They beg the question: Isn’t there a woman in his life? If so: What the heck is she thinking letting him out looking like that?
I do hate they are cancelling L and O. Another year or two and it would break the record. It’s been on so long the cast are like family members. I mourned the loss of Orbach. It is my comfort show. I will certainly miss it tho I am sure the reruns will live on – as will those eyebrows!
I watched Law and Order faithfully years ago, but recently lost interest with the change in actors. I think there is a life-span for television series and they should be cancelled when there is no longer any good material for the weekly show.
I LOVE the show, and can identify the whole plot of the earlier years from the first opening seconds — that’s how often I’ve watched them. The police parts, including that episode’s characters, were always interesting and surprising, and the legal side always featured fascinating moral dilemmas and issues of law vs. justice.
For me, the show jumped the shark around the time Carey Lowell left. Angie Harmon’s character, and then the heinous Fred Whatshisname as D.A., pretty much embodied the dumb simplistic worldview of the Bush years, with no moral/legal complexity, and therefore very unsatisfying, unrealistic, irritating plots.
The casting was pretty terrible after that, but the worst crimes were committed in the writer’s room. Perhaps as the franchise expanded, they diluted the writer talent across several shows. Anyway I stopped watching mid-the Harmon/Fred years. It’s always frustrating when the show’s creators/producers lose sight of what made their show appealing in the first place (see also: SATC).
Linus Roache suck. They should keep jack as ADA.