Have we heard the last Law & Order DUNN-DUNN sound? It looks like it — NBC has terminated the long-running series.
Deadline was the first to report the breakdown of talks between NBC and executive producer Dick Wolf on Thursday afternoon, and though the cast and crew received notice of the cancellation on Thursday, other industry insiders (including EW's Michael Ausiello) reported that negotiations were ongoing and that cancellation rumor could be a bluff by the network.
So much for that. Today, NBC confirmed that Law & Order will air its final episode on May 24, though the network renewed Law & Order: SVU and picked up new offshoot Law & Order: Los Angeles.
In the announcement, Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment said, "The full measure of the collective contributions made by Dick Wolf and his 'Law & Order' franchise over the last two decades to the success of NBC and Universal Media Studios cannot be overstated. The legacy of his original ‘Law & Order’ series will continue to make an impact like no other series before."
After 20 seasons, the series is tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running television show ever, though Wolf had hoped to break the record with a renewal.
What spelled doom for the procedural? Not a lack of viewers, but the wrong kind of viewers. Read: Old people. According to the Washington Post:
In its heyday, "Law & Order" was an important tentpole on NBC's primetime lineup, averaging about 19 million viewers each week. These days, it's averaging around 7.3 million viewers. More problematic: the show's audience is very old.
About 64 percent of the show's audience — 4.7 million people — are aged 50 and older. This is important because NBC executives have steadfastly maintained for years that they do all their ad sales business according to how many 18-49 year olds their shows can deliver to advertisers. The network does not include in its sales pitches any viewer who is over the age of 49. Which means the "sellable" audience of "Law & Order" amount to about 2.6 million viewers.
Early rumors that TNT would pick up the series (as they did last year after NBC cancelled the brilliant Southland) have dissipated.
But no worries, L&O fans. In addition to the three still-airing Law & Order spinoffs, USA and TNT will still be airing approximately 73 reruns of the show every day.
