Law & Order: NBC determined to maintain TV series
By Gary Levin
USA Today
It's the newest "ripped from the headlines" plot for "Law & Order": The Case of the Missing Viewers.
"Law & Order: Trial By Jury," the parent show's third spinoff, is to debut in March in an attempt to breathe new life into the franchise.
As the 14th season draws to a close for the flagship Wednesday series tonight, ratings are a troubling piece of evidence; They were down more than 20 percent, the lowest level in six years, this month.
Newest spinoff "Criminal Intent" once dominated its Sunday time slot; it's down 11 percent. Yet Tuesday's "Special Victims Unit" remains healthy, up 12 percent this season and now more popular than the original, a sign viewers haven't tired of the formula.
Analysts say the falloff stems from twin factors: competition from two of this season's biggest new hits, "Desperate Housewives" and "CSI: NY," and the show's ubiquity on cable.
Still, "Law & Order" creator and mastermind Dick Wolf, who has supervised production of 535 episodes, downplays the significance of weekly ups and downs.
"Our brand exists on a lot different plane than other programs," he says.
Namely, it's a cash machine that has helped build cable networks, raked in ad revenue and has become the main structural support for NBC, whose new series have failed to take hold. The franchise's value over its 14-year history is well over $1 billion.
"Criminal Intent" reruns were recently sold to siblings USA and Bravo for a record $2 million an episode. "This is the most unparalleled revenue engine in the history of programming," Wolf says.
Yet the ratings downturn comes at the worst possible time for NBC, which also is suffering without "Friends." "It factors more heavily into the strength of the network than it did when there were other shows to support it," says Koerner.
NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly sees a glass half-full. He notes "CSI: NY" is the lowest-rated series in CBS' franchise, and its advantage over "Law & Order" has steadily eroded to just 200,000 viewers last week.
9 tonight NBC In the 14th-season finale, Detective Lenny Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) bows out after 12 seasons.
"As much as 'CSI' is impacting 'Law & Order,' we're impacting 'CSI: NY,' " he says. "The sounding of alarm bells is way premature."
'Law & Order'
Later this season, the "Law" franchise will account for 23 percent of NBC's schedule, with weekly episodes of the three series, one repeating on Saturday, and the third spinoff, "Trial by Jury," due in March.
So the show's continued health will be even more closely tied to the network's overall fortunes.
"It's the single most important asset of the network," Wolf says. "I don't think anybody would dispute that."
