# Law & Order Cancelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441 "2010-05-14T15:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/21 "2010-05-14T21:47:28Z")
This show was a blatant ripoff of: > **[Arrest and Trial (TV Series 1963–1964) ⭐ 7.7 | Crime, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056737/)** > > 1h 30m ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/22 "2010-05-14T21:49:38Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > She has cancer and her treatment has been a recurring theme during this season. > > What is \*wrong \*with NBC!? Why must they cancel the one good hour-long drama they have left? Well, yes. I think they have a “must-be-stupid” policy, and L&O doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/23 "2010-05-14T21:51:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Your OP is full of lies! > > SVU is not “more or less” crap. It’s simply crap. Sorry, I haven’t watched with any regularity in about two years and I didn’t know if it pulled a 180 from the shit episodes like Benson going under cover in prison and “Turn on the sun!” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/24 "2010-05-14T22:11:05Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > This show was a blatant ripoff of: > > [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056737/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056737/) I don’t think you know what the words _blatant ripoff_ mean. Did you even read your own link? Or was that to omuch trouble? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/25 "2010-05-14T23:57:37Z")
The one show that people actually watch NBC for is getting pulled off. Brilliant. Even Community and The Office are not quite pulling in ratings, but L&O was doing fine, or so I thought. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/26 "2010-05-15T02:17:39Z")
What. The. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/27 "2010-05-15T06:11:04Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > What is \*wrong \*with NBC!? Why must they cancel the one good hour-long drama they have left? Because they’re really good at fucking up a good thing, from as far back as I can remember (“Star Trek” cancelled after three years of a five year mission.). NBC Exec’s thoughts: _Jay Leno’s funny, so why don’t we move his show to prime time, so more people can see how funny he is? And let’s do that every night, so we’ll have one less hour of original programming to come up with._ ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/28 "2010-05-15T13:18:30Z")
My big question is (I’m mostly sad to see it go because its been around so long, not because L&O is anything great) without L&O what is NBC going to use as filler when the new shows in the fall lineup start to go down in flames. For years now you could chart canceled 9pm/10pm shows by how many days of the week they were showing Law & Order. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/29 "2010-05-15T13:36:57Z")
So much for the New York actors’ workfare program. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/30 "2010-05-15T15:20:39Z")
Again, good riddance. That show hasn’t been the same since Lenny left, and there are only SO MANY reasons somebody can get killed in this city, and lately they’ve been doing the “murder victim leads to something bigger which we’ll investigate instead” thing a lot more, which always annoyed me and usually leads to me turning off the episode. Besides, the special guest star will ALWAYS turn out to be the killer. Law & Order (and SVU, mostly for their sexy female lawyers) have given me plenty of years of entertainment, but enough is enough. ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/31 "2010-05-15T15:20:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I don’t think you know what the words _blatant ripoff_ mean. Did you even read your own link? Or was that to omuch trouble? By blatant ripoff, I meant he “used” an earlier idea and made another fake cop and lawyer show. (Although I admit I used to watch it regularly) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/32 "2010-05-15T18:50:26Z")
Since this cancellation was unexpected, we can surely be in for a 2 hour made for TV event next fall wrapping everything in a neat little package. I hate to see it go as well, but lately the plots were getting far fetched: “Let’s arrest 15 people for putting their cancer patient parents into holistic treatment and charge them with murder 2” or a fist fight in the park turns into a terrorism charge. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/33 "2010-05-15T19:04:39Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Since this cancellation was unexpected, we can surely be in for a 2 hour made for TV event next fall wrapping everything in a neat little package. > > I hate to see it go as well, but lately the plots were getting far fetched: “Let’s arrest 15 people for putting their cancer patient parents into holistic treatment and charge them with murder 2” or a fist fight in the park turns into a terrorism charge. I don’t watch the show regularly any more, but I don’t think a two-hour send-off is appropriate or necessary. L&O is about the situation and context more than any of the characters; none of them have an arc. The show I remember and used to love should just end, with the implication that, of course, there’s still people working at the 2-7 and in the homicide bureau of the DA’s office. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/34 "2010-05-16T00:41:21Z")
I think depending on what happens in the season finale for me determines the need for a follow-up. I can wish for a tv movie to wrap up loose ends all I want, but it also isn’t going to make it happen. The ratings were bad, but it was also a crap shoot as to when it was on. It was on Fridays, then on Mondays, not to mention having been on Wednesdays for so long. I am surprised that this was one of 4 hour-long dramas being canceled. With all the holes they already had in the schedule due to the Leno thing, you’d think that they’d leave well enough alone for a while. I hope things aren’t left hanging. It seems a shame after 20 years they don’t get a proper send off. In my head I was like “Maybe they can have a big case. Maybe McCoy can get shot and ALL the old surviving detectives and ADAs can come back and help solve it… wait, that was what they did with _Homicide_.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/35 "2010-05-16T05:42:15Z")
I think that cancelling this show was a mistake. They should get a new writer or two instead, and breathe some fresh life into it. Also, SVU needs to get rid of the female cop. I’m tired of seeing her EMPATHIZE with victims. Yeah, it’s part of her job, but she’s supposed to be a cop, not a damn social worker. She never seems to do cop stuff, it’s always EMPATHIZING. That character is capable of doing more, but the writers never let her. I don’t really watch the series much any more, just because I hate watching her. Also, I hate L&O: CI with a passion. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/36 "2010-05-16T06:16:50Z")
I find myself unreasonably ticked that the show wasn’t given the chance to beat _Gunsmoke_. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the fact that it was so close, and that it shows that no one at NBC thought it was worthwhile in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/37 "2010-05-16T13:41:08Z")
While Law and Order tied Gunsmoke for number of seasons (twenty each), it had a long way to go in beating it in total episode count. L&O has 453 episodes while Gunsmoke had 635. (And weirdly even though I was born in 1966 and Gunsmoke continued until 1975, I don’t remember ever watching an episode of it.) And honestly, I’m sure that Dick Wolfe can comfort himself with the piles and piles of money he’s made from the show. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/38 "2010-05-17T00:56:38Z")
They had a good run. I was not as interested in it anymore but watched it for many years. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/39 "2010-05-17T22:25:45Z")
Well, now maybe I can get the Comcast monkey off my back… It may be a blessing. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441/40 "2010-05-17T22:32:59Z")
And Dick Wolf wept, for there were no more headlines left to rip. (Except for all the other still extant L&O shows) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-order-cancelled/539441.md?page=3)