Posted on 01/29/2006 11:12:49 AM PST by LdSentinal
Nothing lasts forever, Lord knows, but multiply that little platitude by a billion and the history of prime-time TV suddenly comes into focus. Shows come. Shows go. Like puffy little clouds drifting on a nice summer day, they all eventually succumb to audience and especially network indifference, then - poof! - no more nice little summer cloud.
But come to think of it, there has been this one show that has flirted with immortality. Bound by an ironclad formula that has made it resistant to change, this formula has also made the show resistant to decay. One key actor decides to go off to pursue a career in opera? No problemo: Stick someone else in his place. Some other high-steppin' thespian decides the show could not possibly go on without him/her (and therefore he/she requires a huge raise)? Fire the blighter and - repeat after me - hire someone else.
Audiences? They've been slavishly loyal, season after season.
So, really, who can blame "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf for assuming that he was the Atlas of prime time, who needn't bother himself with the concerns of mere mortals. "Law & Order" would continue forever. Atlas shrugged Sunday, when confronted with the news that "L&O" will move to 9 p.m. opposite "Lost" on March 22: "It's like a long-term marriage," Wolf told The Associated Press during the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. "There are stresses and strains intermittently, but we are kind of stuck with each other."
But then, what else is he going to say? The move to 9 opposite "Lost" isn't like getting the divorce papers; it's like getting the death warrant. You can already see the cloud start to evaporate.
(Excerpt) Read more at nynewsday.com ...
Only in Hollywood would people feel it natural to add that adjective.
The charge of the L&O Brigade.
Well of course. People that watched it from the first in their mid 30s are now completely out of that bracket. Will be sad to see L&O go. As much as I hated watching it, I still found myself catching an episode now and again.
Don't worry TNT will still carry its reruns 20 hours a day until eternity
And USA Channel
I really liked the show in it's early days when they were doing good detective work and prosecution. Ever since it turned to liberal propaganda, I have stopped watching.
I remember watching this show on A&E in college when it was on re-runs...in '95!!
In an era of Tivo, I'd think placement would be becoming increasingly irrelevant. I don't even know when my favorite shows are televised these days, they just show up in Now Playing, and I watch them. It helps that I have a dual-tuner version, so that when network scheduling mavens try to pick fights with other popular shows, it doesn't matter because I can record them both.
My parents love the show. I considered buying them the series at one time. But then you realize there's like four or five of them (or so it seems...) and then some of them have been on 8-10 years. It would fill up a DVD collection in and of itself!!
Lost is almost unwatchable, I was "Lost" about the first 10 minutes of the first show of this season. The inordinate amount of "Naval Self-Examination" has ruined the show.
Ditto.
Swill would look good compared to L&O's liberal, PC agenda.
Yeah, a person can watch the newer episodes and see them rooting for Bloomberg, Kerry, etc. Subtle, it ain't.
They jumped the shark PR-wise when it was reported a year or so ago that Vincent D'Onofrio was crying on the set because of the Iraq war and they had to stop shooting.
this formula has also made the show resistant to decay
BS. Made it very boring. You could time your watch when cerain people would be on the show.
As mentioned, the liberalism that tsunamied in was the last barf.
That's how it worked when I was a detective. In fact I was hired specifically to be commentator #3. If someone called in sick it really threw our bantor off.
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