First, there was “Law & Order.” Then there was the TV movie, “Law & Order: Exiled,” in 1998, starring Chris Noth, which proved branded “Law & Order” fare could score big ratings. The series “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” soon followed. “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” is on tap for January. Now comes word in Variety that still more is on the way.
NBC/Universal is developing three, two-hour movie sequels to “Law & Order: Exiled” starred Chris Noth… seven years after the original aired.
Chris Noth is ready to return to a familiar beat. Noth is in final talks to star in up to three “Law & Order””Law & Order”-branded telepics, reprising his role as Detective Mike Logan in a series of two-hour movies. Pics are being developed internally by NBC Universal Television Studio-based Wolf Films.
Last “L&O” pic with Noth, 1998’s “Exiled,” scored strong ratings, attracting roughly 28 million viewers to give NBC numbers that, at the time, repped the net’s best overnight Sunday numbers in three years.
“What ‘Exiled’ showed is that there’s an appetite for this franchise — and Chris was a huge part of that,” Wolf told the New York Post. Noth played Logan from 1990-1995.
How many more “Law & Order”-branded shows can NBC possibly air… and when will audiences reach their limit? Pretty soon, maybe even their sitcoms and news programs will have the “Law & Order” moniker, too.
That said… “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” remains, in my opinion, the best (and most critically under-rated) cop show on network television. This week’s episode was especially good.
I think the limit has been reached. All the L&O shows were once the first choice for viewing in their time slots, and I suspect they were popular enough that even strong competition wouldn’t have hurt them.
But now, we see ABC and CBS counterprogramming against the franchise, and it’s working. Desperate Housewives is demolishing Criminal Intent. And CSI:NY has knocked more than 20% off the ratings of the original. In both cases, the L&O shows are coming in a weak second.
The only one that remains strong is SVU. I suspect there are two reasons for that — one, you say it’s still the best of the lot. I’ll buy that, although I don’t watch the show (I find it too unpleasant to be entertaining). Besides, at this point, it wouldn’t be hard — CI always feels like warmed-over Quinn Martin to me, and the original is just exhausted. But I think equally important to SVU’s continued ratings dominance is the fact that it’s the only one of the three whose competition is every bit as old and tired as it is.
Halleluia, brother! Although I too think the spinoff situation is getting crazy (Criminal Intent and Special Victims Unit never did much for me) they might well pull it off with The Return of Mike Logan in any shape or form. He remains the best character the show ever had, despite the spectacular talents of Orbach, Waterson, and Merkerson.
The “Exiled” movie was pretty good, but they’d do well to stick to the formula of the original series, and perhaps bring in Lenny Briscoe or some of the other “old school” Law & Order actors to give old school fans the reunion we crave.
In any case, I’m looking forward to it.
As I recall, Briscoe and just about everybody else in the then-current cast of “Law & Order” made an appearance in “Law & Order: Exiled,” including Dann Florek Commander Kragen (this preceded Kragen’s assignment to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”)
I’m a huge fan of the L&O. The original doesn’t keep my interest as much. The formula is too obvious.
SVU is excellent though. My favorite right now is Criminal Intent. Detective Goren is a brilliantly drawn character.
I’m not sure if I’ll turn on the new one or not. I haven’t liked any of the non-fiction L&O.
PS–I enjoyed meeting you, Lee, at Bouchercon. Fun to see the real person behind this blog.
Law & Order SVU is no doubt the best police story ever. They hitreality at where it exists. This is the true real tv. The cast are by far the best, you can almost believe they are who they play. My wife and I watch relentlessly, and applaud the cast, crew and producers of the finest work on television. Most just throw gore and situations in the sitcom to keep you on edge. L&O SVU helps you realize how life can change in an instant by a stranger, close friend or even a family member. No one likes to talk about child molestation, and most programs stay away from it, but SVU brings it in your face to realize the trouble ours or anyone’s children are in without their own doing. Keep up the good work each and everyone one here at Law & Order SVU.
When did law and order:svu first show, like what year? how can you tell when there are new or old episodes on tv? when you figure it out get back to me. i am a huge fan of law and order;svu the marathon last sunday was great. Do you think that if i went into law and order special victims unit will it be exactly like it is on tv. how can you get on a show like that.