The peacock network has announced that they’re bringing back Law & Order: Los Angeles after a 19 week hiatus. As you may recall, the new series wasn’t performing very well in the ratings and averaged just a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 8.24 million viewers. As a result, executive producer Dick Wolf and NBC decided to do some retooling.

Cast members Skeet Ulrich, Regina Hall, and Megan Boone are now gone and Alfred Molina’s character, DA Ricardo Morales, is now a detective who works alongside TJ Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll). Terrence Howard remains as DDA Jonah Dekker. In addition, Alana De La Garza will reprise her role as ADA Connie Rubirosa from the original Law & Order which was cancelled last May.

Law & Order: Los Angeles will take over the Mondays at 10pm timeslot from Harry’s Law. The Kathy Bates freshman series is expected to have completed its 13 episode season by that time.

Here’s the press release from NBC…

NBC RE-LAUNCHES “LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES” WITH TWO-HOUR PREMIERE ON MONDAY, APRIL 11
Freshman Series Will Return to Regular Time Period (10-11 p.m. ET) on Monday, April 18

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March 7, 2011 – NBC’s freshman series “Law & Order: Los Angeles” will return to the regular lineup with a two-hour original premiere on Monday, April 11 (9-11 p.m. ET). The crime drama procedural will resume in its regular day and time on Monday, April 18 (10-11 p.m. ET).

The announcement was made by Bob Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.

“We are pleased to welcome ‘Law & Order: Los Angeles’ back to NBC’s regular lineup,” said Greenblatt. “Dick Wolf and his team have made some exciting creative changes and we can’t wait to re-introduce the show to audiences.”

“Law & Order: Los Angeles” follows Detectives Ricardo Morales (Alfred Molina, “An Education,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Spiderman 2”) and Tomas “TJ” Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll, “Midnight in Paris”) as they pursue cases through the diverse City of Angels. As members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite Robbery Homicide Division, Morales, a former Deputy District Attorney, has returned to the police force after he became frustrated with the system, while TJ, who grew up the son of an Oscar-winning Polish cinematographer, knows too well the dark underside that is behind-the-scenes Hollywood.

Protecting the detectives who serve under her is Lieutenant Arleen Gonzales, (Rachel Ticotin) who is driven, focused, and meticulous. She is a 20-year vet with a background in military intelligence who now oversees the Homicide 1 section of Robbery Homicide Division.

Deputy District Attorney Jonah “Joe” Dekker (Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”) is a white knight crusader whose political ambitions often bring him into conflict with his boss. He sincerely believes in fighting the good fight. At the same time, he has never been one to turn down a high-profile case.

At Dekker’s side is Deputy District Attorney Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza, “Law & Order”). Rubirosa served as Executive Assistant District Attorney in New York and she recently located to Los Angeles to help her ailing mother.

Earlier this season, “Law & Order: Los Angeles” averaged a 2.5 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 9.0 million viewers overall, to improve the show’s fourth-quarter time period, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET, by 56 percent in adults 18-49 versus the prior year (with a 2.5 rating vs. a 1.6) and by 64 percent in total viewers (9.0 million vs. 5.5 million). “Law & Order: Los Angeles” ranked #1 or tied for #1 versus regular programming in that slot with five of eight originals in the fourth quarter.

In addition, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” will broadcast encore episodes on Wednesdays beginning March 23 (9-10 p.m. ET).

“Law & Order: Los Angeles” is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Dick Wolf is creator and executive producer, Rene Balcer (“Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”), Blake Masters (“Brotherhood,” “Rubicon”), Christopher Misiano (“West Wing,” “ER”) and Peter Jankowski (“Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) are executive producers.

For “Law & Order: Los Angeles” embeddable clips and full episodes, visit NBC.com’s official show site: http://www.nbc.com/law-and-order-los-angeles/

What do you think? Are you interested in the new version of Law & Order: Los Angeles? Will you tune in?

Image courtesy NBC.