Law and Order: Criminal Intent Not Officially Canceled Yet

Law and Order: Criminal Intent isn't canceled yet. However, now that its 10th season is over, USA either has cancel the show or bring it back for Season 11 at some point soon. Should the Law and Order spinoff end, however, the loss of Criminal Intent will leave the franchise on more life support than ever before.

The Law and Order empire has ruled over television for over two decades, but its time may soon be coming to an end. NBC canceled the original series out of nowhere two years ago, and its efforts to start over with a spinoff in Los Angeles failed this past year. This left Special Victims Unit and Criminal Intent as the last shows left for the franchise.

But the Season 10 finale of Intent may have well been the series finale, since there's been no word on whether the show will come back. Many assume that it won't, which would bring an end to a series that has survived both a change of networks and a change of leads. However, although Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe left after Season 9, they returned for the last eight episodes of this year, which further fueled cancellation rumors.

Yet according to the site TV Series Finale, executive producer Dick Wolf remained hopeful that Criminal Intent would come back. Still, USA may be in no rush to bring it back since the network has other original programming like Burn Notice, White Collar, Royal Pains and more to rely on. In addition, having a Law and Order series on the docket doesn't have the same boost tat it used to.

Further proof may come from what could be the final show left for the empire, as Special Victims Unit is undergoing a lot of changes. Christopher Meloni has left that series, while Mariska Hargitay has been on less and less over the years. If the show cannot move on without its star duo, its days could be numbered as well -- as would the entire franchise as a whole.

The original Law and Order survived losing lead actors time and again, yet that was back when the brand was at its peak. With either just one or two shows left for the franchise, things are a lot more fragile, especially in an era that might have passed it by.

In the past, Law and Order and CSI ruled the TV roost, along with their spinoffs. But now CSI is moving to a new night after losing Lawrence Fishburne and Wolf's shows appear to be dropping off the map. However, USA still has some wiggle room to keep Criminal Intent from being canceled, while NBC tries to find new stars to keep Special Victims Unit alive.

Sources

TV Series Finale- "Law and Order: Criminal Intent: not the last episode?"

MSNBC.com- "Report: SVU narrows down Meloni replacement"

Entertainment Weekly- "The Law and Order era ends tonight: Good night Goren, good night Eames"