Law & Order may be cancelled- USA Today

[Don62]

The publication had a story on it in the front page of their entertainment section this a.m.

They said ratings have plummeted.

They said the show is close to tyiing the longevity of Gunsmoke, which is the longest-running prime-time TV drama.

I honestly hope L&O gets canned.

The shows during the past 7 years have been weak, with mediocre script writing.
The acting is okay, but nothing to brag about. Plus the cast changes so quickly it's hard to follow the series.

I stopped watching it years ago.

L&O's best years and strongest stories were its first 5-8 seasons. The writing was top-notch. The actors were sterling.

Just watch an episode from the first 3-5 seasons. The shows have a Hill Street Blues feel to it.
Today's episodes can't fill the early one's shoes.

How many of today's episodes would win an Enmy as did one of the earlier season's season's episodes did?

Dick Wolf seemed to water down the series by splitting it off so much.

Now, it's nothing special.

 

[genius]

I liked the early years of Law & Order. They used low lightning and it looked like the show was filmed with handheld cameras, making the show's atmosphere dark and gritty...the early casting was excellent...Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth made a great team, and Michael Moriarty's Ben Stone was fantastic as a prosecutor whoose conscience drove the storylines, and I loved Claire.

I think all the replacements started to kill to the show overtime. Sam Waterson and Carey Lowell were good replacements, and of course as Jerry Orbach became the gold standard, but for the most part others were just pathetic. Between casting Angie Harmon, Dianne Wiest, and Benjamin Bratt I tuned out...

 

[oldvnewschool]

I Agree, Law & Order's overun of just constantly replacing characters of the fly

made the show hard to follow. Also I think it's just out of date in comparison

with CSI and how they solve crimes with evidence and not letting the bad guys

get off scott free. I've felt that the spinoffs also killed the series as well because

that ment some real good stories that could have gone to the original went to

them instead. Maybe TNT can pick up the series and make it cable so it can still

chase down Gunsmoke. Heck even USA can have it because the spinoffs do

well on their network. Or this wild option: I think NBC has one chance to save the

original. Cancel the spinoffs and move the Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay

(Since they recently resign them to new deals) duo along with Chris Noth and

maybe Vincent D'Ofonorio to the flagship.

 

[FilmCritic3K]

I can't stand Law & Order or its spinoffs I like series in which you learn more about the characters and their lives, not perfunctory glances into their existence every now and then just to advance an episode's storyline. But what do I know? I can't stand any of the 7,000 CSI series or their copycats either.

 

[Don62]

I liked the early years of Law & Order. They used low lightning and it looked like the show was filmed with handheld cameras, making the show's atmosphere dark and gritty...the early casting was excellent...Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth made a great team, and Michael Moriarty's Ben Stone was fantastic as a prosecutor whoose conscience drove the storylines, and I loved Claire.

That's what I was getting at but you expressed it much better than my original post.

L&O's best years and strongest stories were its first 5-8 seasons. The writing was top-notch. The actors were sterling.

Just watch an episode from the first 3-5 seasons. The shows have a Hill Street Blues feel to it.
Today's episodes can't fill the early one's shoes.

The show has realy gone downhill.

"Ripped From the Headlines" has become trite. You always know it's supposedly based on a true incident but the writers go to take such liberties it bears no resemblance to anyone living or dead, or even anything interesting.

Take Martha Stewart or that WABC radio host Cutis Sliwa.
They put a murder in the plot of the first and tied Sliwa- long a mob-fighter with his Guardian Angels- to the mob. What a crappy plot.
I wish Sliwa would have won in his lawsuit against the series' mediocre writers.

 

[hootmon]

The first 5 years were the best. There were many times the bad guys got off--much like real life. In later years it turned into Perry Mason where Waterston never lost.

 

[Mediafrog+]

They should have pulled the plug after Orbach died. Everyone else is pretty much sleepwalking at this point.

I wouldn't mind trying a L&O franchise NOT based in NYC.

 

[Don62]

Adding that guy from the Sopranos didn't help either. Is he still there?

It's almost like ER, where no one there is an original cast member.

Fred Thompson, however, added a bright star to the ailing show.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Adding that guy from the Sopranos didn't help either. Is he still there?
It's almost like ER, where no one there is an original cast member.
Fred Thompson, however, added a bright star to the ailing show.

"the Peacock is determined to find a new generation of solid procedurals to replace warhorses like "Law & Order" and "Crossing Jordan."

and

"Another nail-biter will be whether to renew the original "Law & Order" and spinoff "Criminal Intent." Both have taken major ratings hits this season and carry high pricetags -- making it very possible one might not be back."

Found this interesting read in Variety.com: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963060.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

I wouldn't mind trying a L&O franchise NOT based in NYC.

MSNBC tried that with real life cases and trials in San Diego, CA. Didn't work.

Cheers

 

[kingbill]

I agree with Mediafrog. They should have pulled the plug on "Law & Order" when Orbach died. I would be fine if SVU stayed. If they were to cancel SVU, my one friend would be crushed, as they are a big fan of Miriska Hargitay.

-Kingbill

 

[Ultimajock]

Fred Thompson, however, added a bright star to the ailing show.

...bullspit. Thompson is the worst cast addition they've ever made. He's a crappy actor and if anything he's been helping to kill the show...

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Well, if sources are leading me to belive what I think they are, NBC may cancell *anything* that makes a woman cringe and/or look away from the tv. (or worse, change the channel)

So, the "Play it safe" side of NBC may get out of any drama that has blood, gory images, dead bodies, or body parts in general altogether just to attract more women to their viewing audience...or am I wrong in what I am saying?

I mean, could it be that there are enough women still to be loyal to *any* prime time drama, even if there's tons of blood and dead bodies on the scene?

I honestly don't know if this means a new tamed down version of *any* crime related drama series, or the end of them altogether on NBC...

 

[AKLes]

I honestly don't know if this means a new tamed down version of *any* crime related drama series, or the end of them altogether on NBC...

Good on NBC for providing "good for us" programming in place of that nasty popular stuff. Fox will easily grow into "The Big 3" when NBC fades away.

 

[weee]

I agree about Thompson...don't like him or the Branch character...I wish Dianne Wiest stayed on, IMO she was the best DA.

Briscoe was the best and all the partners he had were good. I do like Greene, but I think the show took a major hit putting Dennis Farina with Jessie Martin. Fontana was just not a likable character. And now I don't even know who Greene's partner is because I don't watch the new ones, I just watch all the reruns on the Law & Order channel a.k.a TNT

Best DA: Nora
Best ADA: (woman) Cross between Carmichael and Southerlyn (man) Of course McCoy
Best Det. team: Briscoe and Green
Best Lt. YOU GO ANITA VAN BUREN!!! Cragen doesn't hold a candle to her!

 

[Don62]

Best DA: Nora
Best ADA: (woman) Cross between Carmichael and Southerlyn (man) Of course McCoy
Best Det. team: Briscoe and Green
Best Lt. YOU GO ANITA VAN BUREN!!! Cragen doesn't hold a candle to her!

Nora was okay, but I didn't see anything special.
Branch wasn't any worse, and probably better, than her.
The best DA, by far, IMHO was the original.

Best Det. team: Briscoe and Logan. Followed by the first two seasons with Logan and his two partners in different opening seasons.

 

[genius]

"Ripped From the Headlines" has become trite. You always know it's supposedly based on a true incident but the writers go to take such liberties it bears no resemblance to anyone living or dead, or even anything interesting.

Oh dear lord I thought about this tonight when on Law & Order: Criminal Intent they aired an episode based on the Lisa Nowak story. Sometimes truth is better than fiction I suppose.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Law & Order is fine with one spinoff, but I've never liked Criminal Intent. That being said, the series has never been the same since Orbach died, but I still watch. As long as McCoy is there, I'll watch.

Now what I cannot stand recently is how much SVU is becoming more and more about Olivia Benson than about the crimes and solving them. These undercover episodes and the ones where she's chasing her long-lost brother this season are just awful.

I guess the plummet in ratings explains why WDIV in Detroit has often been pre-empting the L&O SVU repeat on Saturday nights this season though.

Oh well, up here we get daily reruns of all three series - L&O on Bravo! at 1 PM, L&O CI on OMNI.2 (CJMT) at 6 PM, and SVU on CJMT at 7 PM.

 

[Don62]

Oh well, up here we get daily reruns of all three series - L&O on Bravo! at 1 PM, L&O CI on OMNI.2 (CJMT) at 6 PM, and SVU on CJMT at 7 PM.

I wish a national cable network would run reruns of L&O the original series, for the first 5-8 years.
You hardly ever see these episodes, though many consider seasons 1-5 the best in terms of writing, acting and filmography.

TNT rarely runs any episodes before 2000, so many viewers are likely unfamiliar with the better earlier shows.

 

[stefanokills]

IA

I can't stand Law & Order or its spinoffs I like series in which you learn more about the characters and their lives, not perfunctory glances into their existence every now and then just to advance an episode's storyline. But what do I know? I can't stand any of the 7,000 CSI series or their copycats either.