The long-running NBC drama series Law & Order won’t be breaking the record for the longest-running prime time drama after all.  It’s being reported from various sources that NBC has canceled the show and that its 20th season will be its last.
That ties the record.  A 21st season would have broken it.
The western series Gunsmoke, which left the CBS schedule in 1975, had held the record solo until L&O reached its 20th season last fall.
I liked Law & Order for a while, but when Jerry Orbach left to star in a short-lived spinoff (and died just weeks into that show), I just couldn’t get into the new characters who kept coming.
What really sucks for the fans who’ve stayed with the show year after year is that the season finale, which airs on May 24th, was already filmed and in the can before the decision to end the series was made.  So unless reshooting and re-editing happens (and happens quickly), we already know that the series will end without any closure.
Maybe that’s a good thing.
But if I’d been watching a show for 20 years and it went out like it was just another episode, I’d be pretty ticked off.
That is a shame. I have to admit that the revolving door of actors in the show was at times infuriating, but I nevertheless continued to enjoy the show tremendously. I thought the writing was very high quality, and since I was familiar with the format, and didn’t really think it was a character-driven show to begin with, I could pretty easily get into the story each time even if I didn’t “know” the detectives. Familiar format and all that. Kind of like watching the news; I don’t really need to know the names of the newscasters or their personal histories – I just want the grim details.