It's Official: NBC Cancels 'Law & Order' After 20 Seasons, But Spinoffs Continue
It’s official: NBC announced today that it is canceling the long-running Law & Order legal drama, following unconfirmed reports yesterday that it intended to do so.
The news was greeted with particular sadness in New York, where as many as 8,000 people are directly or indirectly employed by the series and its two spinoffs, according to the Media Decoder blog of the New York Times.
However, spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and a new series, Law & Order: Los Angeles, aka LOLA, will continue next season. Spinoff Law & Order: Criminal Intent aired on NBC for its first six seasons but moved to the USA Network in the fall of 2007.
Producer Dick Wolf was reportedly angry yesterday about what he saw as NBC reneging on an earlier agreement to keep the show going for a record-breaking 21st season, but today issued a written statement: “Never complain. Never explain,” Variety reported.
Variety says NBC plans to continue talking with Wolf about potential ways to bring “more closure” to the beloved series. One idea is to have Law & Order characters appear on the premiere LOLA program. Another is to transform the television series into a movie.
“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,” said Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal television, in a written statement. “The legacy of his original Law & Order series will continue to make an impact like no other series before.”
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “RIP ‘Law & Order’? NBC Said to Mull Killing Legal Drama After 20 Seasons”
Bloomberg: “NBC Cancels ‘Law & Order’ Before Show Can Top ‘Gunsmoke’ Record”
Popwatch (Entertainment Weekly): ” ‘Law & Order’ Cancelled: Farewell, Mothership”
Talk of the Day (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): “Poll: It’s over but who was your favorite on Law & Order?”
