The story of Law & Order’s cancellation is becoming more complicated than a long, drawn out lawsuit.
It’s been presumed since January that NBC would pick up Law & Order for a 21st season. NBC’s President of Primetime Entertainment, Angela Bromstad, said I’m a Law & Order junkie… I wouldn’t want to be responsible for not having Law & Order break the [Gunsmoke] record.” Surprisingly, that didn’t happen because the network and studio couldn’t work out an acceptable financial deal with producer Dick Wolf.
TNT has expressed interest in taking over first-run episodes in the past and many thought this was a golden opportunity to do that. Not so. A statement from TNT said that the cable channel wasn’t in talks to pick up the series. Soonafter, NBC announced that the show was indeed cancelled.
Wolf subsequently said that he was still looking for other buyers. Variety reported that NBC execs had scheduled meetings with TNT to take another look at them taking on the show. The accountants were apparently looking at different ways to configure a financial deal that would make sense for both sides. NBC stopped referring to last Monday’s episode as the series finale and started calling it “the finale.”
Now, TNT has released a new statement with a familiar story. According to the LA Times, Turner Broadcasting execs said, “We are not in current talks, and we are not interested in a Season 21.”
It’s not clear if they still aren’t interested and the Variety report about meetings was incorrect or, if they weren’t interested, passed on the new NBC proposal and are, once again, not interested. Either way, the result is still the same. No season 21 of Law & Order on TNT.
Wolf could still be working on finding another home for the venerable cop drama but, because of their rerun licensing agreement, Turner would have to approve any new deal.
As before, if a new home for the series can’t be found, NBC has said they plan to film some sort of wrap up to give closure to the 20 year old TV show.
What do you think? Confused? Do you think this is all just public posturing and the show could still end up with TNT, NBC, or someplace else?
Image courtesy NBC.
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17 Comments on "Law & Order: TNT Not Interested in Season 21 — Again or Still?"
Law and Order the best police show on tv.Why punish us with this Mentalist crap every day.We are losing the Closer thats bad enough.Bring back Law and Order.
Well it goes to show it wasn’t just posturing. No Law and Order Season 21.
Why pick up Law & Order L.A. if they didn’t finish the series that started it all. I refuse to watch any more Law and Order Series let alone anything else produce by Dick Wolf. Why when he will only keep you in infinite suspense? (Criminal Intent, U.K., and now the original series.) Well at least we know that he isn’t the only Dick shooting blanks. LOL.
I’ve watched every Law & Order episode> I can’t believe that NBC & or TNT don’t care about what the people want. Law & Order was one of the only shows I watched on NBC will at least I can still watch Law & order svu I hope they don’t get rid of that one to.
I am extremely upset that they cancelled Law and Order. It was one of the few intelligent shows on TV. Don’t they care about what the fans think?
yes a place where i can let my rage out.. i cant believe they canceled this show and with not so much as an real warning… i soo agree with @lee it is so about the money, hence why if you dont have cable you cant get regular t.v anymore without purchasing a brand new expensive tv or some raggedy and i do mean raggedy converter boxes for the tvs you have in your home, or of course take on another bill(cable, sattelite) for you and your family to pay in this recession!!!!!
Please, someone pick up Law and Order, and run with it for next season. This show is too good to be left behind.
Ditto to most all that has been said. NBC is a joke – how can they be so harmful to themselves. And what’s up with Wolf? Isn’t he making enough money with this show and other spinoffs?
NBC, and its parent GE, apparently don’t care that they’re driving away viewers.
Perhaps, they feel that they will get a bail out in the coming years, and become “too big to fail”. The excrement that is foisted on us, because it makes money, is annoying, to say the least. I find myself watching less and less entertainment via TV.
The whole ‘show biz’ make-money-or-die quickly mantra is hurting the industry. I imagine that if L&O premiered now, it would be canceled after 13 episodes.
It’s all Jay Leno’s fault. Him & his damn 10 PM show that tanked. (I read that on another message board and found it to be as good an excuse as any, if not better.)
Shame on you NBC!!! I cannot believe that you cancelled this. Not only is it a awesome show that had enough followers to keep it around for many years to come, but everyone I know loves it and watches faithfully.
While I would love to see another season of L & O, I’m not really interested in a farewell movie. A farewell movie just seems anti-climatic, and would benefit NBC far more than either the viewers or the actors.
What I don’t get is why NBC would cancel the show without having a real contender to take its place. It’s not like NBC has a lot of good TV shows, as they did in the 80’s and early 90’s. As it stands now, NBC could end up in worse condition next year.