As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, “Law & Order” (9 p.m. Mondays on NBC, with the series finale airing next week) has been canceled. A lot of the reports from entertainment news outlets use the unnecessary qualifier “It’s official.”
If I ever use “It’s official” in a story, I will be the first to admit that I should be fired on the spot, but I can see where this phrase comes from. “It’s official” is used whenever the news is somewhat surprising. It’s a stand-in for “This is no joke” — although if a news outlet regularly writes joke stories, I’m not sure we should be going there for news in the first place.
But I do admit that this story — “NBC cancels ‘Law & Order’ one year before it sets record as longest-running show, picks up ‘Law & Order: Los Angeles’ instead” — does have a ring of “What the hell!?” to it. It reminds me of TV.com’s April Fool’s headline that said “‘According to Jim’ gets new life on NBC.'” They were making a joke about stupid network decisions, but they fooled many readers because the joke was so close to something that might actually happen.
So let me use the dreaded phrase just this once: NBC’s decision to cancel “Law & Order” is officially asinine.
For one thing, next season (which would’ve been No. 21) should have been a celebration of “L&O” setting the record as the longest-running primetime drama in TV history, surpassing “Gunsmoke.” NBC hasn’t had many things to celebrate lately, and that should’ve been a cornerstone of next season.
If “L&O” was going through the motions and cranking out sub-par episodes just to set a record, I’d be the first to say it doesn’t deserve it. But that’s not the case. This current season has been excellent. The cast is the best ever, and the stories are as fresh as ever. It doesn’t feel like a 20th season, it feels like a third season, because that’s how long we’ve had the team of Bernard, Lupo, Van Buren, Cutter, Rubirosa and McCoy.
Apparently the ratings are so low that NBC would lose money by keeping it on the air, and “L&O: Los Angeles” is desirable because it costs less to shoot in Los Angeles than in New York.
And I admit that “L&O” isn’t a sexy show. I blogged about it once last fall, and my number of views dropped noticeably. On the other hand, the news outlets’ stories about the cancellation rank among the most-commented stories, so I have to think a respectable number of people watch “L&O.”
They can throw “official” at me all summer, but I’m not entirely convinced that “L&O” is dead. Creator Dick Wolf — who openly craves the record — saved the show a few seasons ago by cutting his budget, so I have to think he would aggressively shop it to other networks. TNT, which airs “L&O” reruns and recently picked up NBC castoff “Southland,” would be the obvious fit. Maybe Wolf would even be willing to spend his own money (he must have a fair amount of it by now) for one season so “L&O” can get the record it deserves.
And here’s another fun thing to think about. Although NBC has the power to cancel Wolf’s shows at any time (they canceled “L&O: Trial By Jury” — remember that one? — and moved “L&O: Criminal Intent” over to USA), Wolf holds most of the cards when it comes to the shows themselves.
“L&O: Los Angeles” hasn’t been cast yet, so why not bring over the core of the “L&O” cast? Imagine that the NYPD is going through a budget crunch, so Bernard gets laid off. He finds a job in L.A., and then another opening comes up. Lupo — being a single, mobile guy — joins his old partner in L.A. Meanwhile, Cutter is disgusted with how things are being run in New York, and he moves, too. That’s half the cast, and although I’d miss Sam Waterston, it would free up three other slots for hot young actors and actresses, presumably making NBC happy.
We would lose the gritty New York street scenes, but entertainment critics have probably always overrated that a bit, anyway. Los Angeles is just as much of a real place as New York is (even if its reality is built around fakery). Capture the actual city on film (rather than using backlots), and it could work. Plus, there are a lot of politically charged stories going on in California right now, and the “L&O” writers love those.
But like I say, I’m not sure the original “Law & Order” is dead just yet, officially or otherwise.