Tuesday, January 18, 2011

NBC Postpones Law & Order LA's Return


NBC announced today that Law & Order: Los Angeles, which was scheduled to return on Tuesday, February 8 at 10 PM, will now return on a later date yet to be determined. NBC will continue with new episodes of "Parenthood" on Tuesdays (10-11 p.m. ET) for the remainder of the season.

Considering the recent cast changes (see "Law & Order Los Angeles Overhaul – Ulrich, Boone, Hall Are Out" ) the delay is no surprise. Let’s hope that this extra time will help to make Law & Order Los Angeles ready for a strong return.






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18 comments:

Esaul said...

Yeah but they still had episodes filmed and what not, that they could've aired. I think postponing a return date will do more harm than good, even with the current state of the show. I'm afraid LOLA is on the verge of getting cancelled. I bet NBC wished they kept the mothership after all.

Anonymous said...

Agree with Esaul. This is a disaster. Never good to have your show off the air for so long. Of course, no one watches NBC, so it doesn't really matter I guess.

Cancelling the mothership is the worst decision in NBC history and has led to a cascade of events that they will be feeling for years. The mothership was still the staple of the network and the franchise itself, and if you take that out, everything crumbles.

Complete selfishness by the NBC brass.

By the way, if there was ever any doubt that they COULD bring back the mothership if they wanted to, let this "delay" eliminate all doubt. It wouldn't take much.

Anonymous said...

I think the stupidest things NBC has ever done would include canceling original Star Trek and Man from UNCLE, but for this regime of NBC, canceling Mothership might be their worst blunder. Which, considering their schedule for the last few years, is saying something. (Okay, probably not working harder for successors to hits like Friends and ER before those died were worse but not by much!)

xfool said...

I wonder if Law & Order LA will even return. But buying more time is a good move because is sounds like Dick Wolf and Rene Balcer have a mess on their hands.

It should have been Terrence Howard who got moved out of the DDA spot. He is awful in that role. The female DDAs who were cut were not great either but their characters were one-dimensional and came off as flat and lifeless. Molina was wonderful as the DDA and although he would work as a detective, the premise of him leaving the DA's office to go back to being a detective is not credible. Peter Coyote is window dressing and he plays the same character he always plays, meaning his presence adds ZIP.

I'm OK with Skeet leaving. Besides Molina, the only other person that was well cast was Corey Stoll. He's perfect for the role and he's the only one who shines on the show. Not to leave out Rachel Ticotin - here character adds nothing too.

The show needs a complete overhaul.

Joe S. Walker said...

I don't think this and other recent developments can be spun as anything other than a show in serious trouble. For all the nonsense of recent seasons SVU has strong characters and a distinctive style; what I've seen of LOLA has just been forgettable. The ratings aren't catastrophic, but NBC could spend less money and get better than not-catastrophic.

janethyland said...

This is good news for Wolf I should think, because it gives him time to consolidate changes.

It was only made possible by the fact that Harrys Law had reasonable ratings for its premiere on Monday,2.1 in key demo and just over 11million viewers. That’s not as good as LOLA premiere (3.2 in key demo and 10.6 million viewers, but its good enough For NBC to show all 13 episodes instead of the 6 they originally intended…..which means Parenthood has to stay where it is on Tuesday instead of taking over the Harrys Law slot…..which means LOLA can take a breather for a while. It leaves 6 weeks to play around with.

Im sure numbers for Harrys Law will drop but its still a good bet for NBC at the moment. This means LOLA is still NBCs best performing new drama so its worth the wait if it can deliver.

I suspect that suits everyone. Harrys Law gets full pick up, Parenthood keeps to a good slot, and LOLA gets the time it needs to forge its own identity.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm I don't think this bodes well. Viewers usually aren't patient and will go elsewhere. I think it was too rushed to get this on in the first place. They should have given the mothership at least one more year and then thought about starting LOLA next year when they had time to properly get it going. So far this show is nothing special for me and I still think the setting of Los Angeles was a big mistake.

gahks said...

Sounds to me like things are going from bad to worse. Obviously 'LOLA' is a sinking ship, so why can't NBC do the honourable thing and admit this is a failure, put the show and fans out of their misery and bring back the mothership?

Anonymous said...

Leave it to NBC to screw up both the mothership and the new LOLA in one fell swoop.

They could have kept the mothership and introduced LOLA in 2011 to great fanfare by having Ben Bratt as captain and a relocated serena Southerlyn as ADA but no.

gahks said...

@Anonymous: I would have loved that idea!

jj said...

Weren't the ratings for LOLA some of the best on their last place Network? Why mess with it? They should have given it a chance to grow -- PROMOTE it (novel concept) and have a normal intro with credits. They messed this up from the start and the actors had to make up for it. Howard should have been booted, Molina kept as sole DA and Regina was fine and just starting to find her stride. The pairing of Ulrich and Stoll was the only likable aspect to the show.

What a WASTE of my time.

And, no I will no be back even if they have Jesus H. Christ as a guest star.

Anonymous said...

so why can't NBC do the honourable thing and admit this is a failure, put the show and fans out of their misery and bring back the mothership?

1) It is their second highest rated show only behind SVU.

2) The mothership cost too much to produce, and Wolf refuses to make cut-backs.

3) The actors on the mothership have moved on to other projects.

4) They need time to work clean house.

5) This show did not kill the mothership, NBC did...

I don't want this show to die. SVU is losing its audience and has lost much quality this past season. Without LOLA the franchise is officially dead.

Better yet, get Benjamin Bratt's ass back here to replace Ulrich, and reprise Det. Rey Curtis. And get rid of Howard so we can have one DDA. It would be much cheaper than finding three new actors to replace Ulrich, Boone, and Hall.

Anonymous said...

1) It is their second highest rated show only behind SVU.

- Which isn't saying much, is it?

2) The mothership cost too much to produce, and Wolf refuses to make cut-backs.

- No, it didn't.

3) The actors on the mothership have moved on to other projects.

- No, they haven't. And the ones that have would come back or could easily be replaced.


4) They need time to work clean house.

- Huh?

5) This show did not kill the mothership, NBC did...

- yes, and NBC should realize that it made a mistake.

janethyland said...

Its unfortunate that the birth of LOLA got muddled up with the demise of Mothership. LOLA was greenlit and presumably formulated long before Mothership was axed, so there was a time when it had a clear identity of its own.Then it got muddied, which hasnt helped it.

There are alot of timely changes going on with the franchise. Wolf has a new pilot agreed on USA. LOCI is in its final season.SVU has a new showrunner and questions about the costliness of its stars.LOLA is having major overhaul.Wolf has recently changed his agent.

So its a time for new developments.

Anonymous said...

I'm hearing the pilot on USA might be a return of the mothership.

Anonymous said...

No, it didn't.
Actually, NBC asked Dick Wolf to reduce production costs on the mothership. Wolf did refuse, so NBC cancelled it.

No, they haven't. And the ones that have would come back or could easily be replaced.
The only ones still available are Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Andersen. The others have moved on.

Anonymous said...

I heard the USA Network pilot was, Law & Order: Miami (or some variation of a spinoff of CI).

They said that it was going to be 'spinned off' LOCI. All the crime that goes on in Miami, makes me wish he went there first instead of LA.

Anonymous said...

Just found out that Alana de le Garza will be joining LA. BEST NEWS YET!