NBC plans to bring back “Law & Order” next season, making the show the longest-running drama in TV history, [Angela Bromstad, NBC President of Primetime Programming] said.
“I’m a ‘Law & Order’ junkie,” Bromstad said. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for not having ‘Law & Order’ break the record.”
via BusinessWeek. Twitter hat tip to @clue_bat for the heads up.
I'd been skeptical of renewal early this season based on L&O's dreadful ratings, but they'd picked up recently to the "acceptable for Friday" levels of 1.5-1.7 for adults 18-49 suggesting another season on NBC was possible.
Terrific news. Happy New Year!!
Awesome!! Fan of the show and happy its getting a record-breaking season renewal! I wait to see what effect this will have on other “on the bubble shows”.
Last season- now that the record has been broken.
2010′s starting off on a good note!
Who didn’t expect this?
Come on people.
NBC might be dumber then dumb.
And they have added nothing good to the schedule except Community….
NBC could be replaced as a network by USA, this year
Open your eyes…
Some things are inevitable !!!!!!!!!!
Maybe change the name to Law and Order: LWP (Left Wing Propaganda). At least then the title would fit the show. They will have 1 less viewer if Dick Wolf keeps this up.
NBC couldn’t be a more appropriate place for Law & Order. Dick Wolf’s gonna push the station so far to the left that NBC will tip off the face of the earth and never come back. Good riddance.
Still, I’m glad it’s been renewed. Move it back to Tuesday nights. This will most likely be its last.
Jack McCoy is God.
Terrific. Love the show!
This show has the worst ratings on the entire network (according to the stats on this site). I don’t especially want it to be cancelled, but I don’t understand their reasoning behind NOT cancelling it. Why don’t they somehow combine this show with another Law & Order show if they want to keep the characters? They certainly don’t seem to have a problem cancelling other shows with much better ratings.
Simple. They can run 13 and break a record that’s stood for decades, and run that for massive publicity. Besides, this is NBC we’re talking about! What else have they got to replace it with?
Oh shit! Hate that show. It totally sucks.
@ BJB – a mash up of one L & O franchise with the main law and order would be a horrible idea…like marvel comics the multiple universes do not cross paths (superman’s metropolis will never be mapped onto peter parker’s new york city). while the show has lower numbers then last year it is still putting in (and building on) decent friday night numbers. the truth of the matter is that the Law and order fanbase is dedicated and thus a consistent money maker for NBC through revenue generation. i can’t imagine there’s something else you would want on from the NBC line up …. as it’s anemic (clearly NBC rested everything on the Leno switch): community while cute doesn’t evoke must see tv (or call your friends over to watch together tv like will & grace or friends), parks & recreation is such a one-off of the office that it’s not compelling (but the cast is starting to gel nicely) and again the numbers are floundering for the show and of course lastly the office has hit a plataeu and may have jumped the shark with the wedding – i expect the ubiquitious ‘kid’ to make an appeareance soon).
NBC is only renewing Law and Order because they have nothing else to fill the timeslots. NBC is running out of TV shows fast.
It was not surprising since I don’t think Law & Order, given the history, will not have a proper final season. It will end the way E.R did, a final season will be announced early on and NBC will hype the final season.
i love it when you guys are so very wrong….
With all due respect, comparing Law & Order to Gunsmoke is rediculous. Gunsmoke generated over 700 episodes in its time on the air (not mentioning how long it was on radio before that), and it had the same lead actor at the end that it had at the beginning. L&O doesn’t have a single cast member it began with. It is not the same thing, or the same achievement. I was a regular L&O viewer for a number of years, so I am not dismissing the program, or what it has accomplished. But, we are talking different eras, and different standards of success. Other than making Dickie Wolf feel good, I’m not sure this “historic” moment really matters much at all.
Sam Waterston looks like a muppet now.
Not a tough decision or a big surprise. “Law and Order: The Final Season” had a better chance of making the NBC 2010-11 lineup than the other bubble shows.
Happy New Year Everyone!! SO good to hear NBC breaking records. Season 22 perhaps? I think they should stop at 25.
Wooohoooo! That’s great news.