NBC Renews Law & Order

On the eve of their 2007-08 schedule announcement, NBC has released the information that they have renewed the long-long-long-lived series Law & Order for an 18th season. The series, created by Dick Wolf, has been "on the bubble" since losing ratings points this season.

Law & Order is the flagship of one of the first and most successful tv "franchises" in existence. Telling the story of a crime through its investigation to its prosecution, the show has been an Emmy nominee and remained reasonably popular until this season when it was moved by NBC from its Wednesday spot to Fridays at 10PM.

Known for its NYC location, its 'ripped from the headlines' storylines and its rotating cast of characters (three cops, three lawyers), Law & Order's current cast includes Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkeson, Sam Waterston, and Fred Dalton Thompson, a potential Presidential candidate. Notable cast has also included Michael Moriarty, Jill Hennessey (Crossing Jordan), Angie Harmon, Steven Hill, Dennis Farina, Paul Sorvino, George Dzunda, and, as perhaps the ultimate L & O character Lennie Briscoe - the late Jerry Orbach.

Law & Order has also spawned two successful series- each using the Law & Order prefix - Special Victims Unit and Criminal Intent. SVU, still a ratings success, was renewed earlier this year. Starring Christopher Meloni and Emmy-winner Mariska Hargitay, SVU focuses on sex crimes and crimes involving kids. It currently airs on Tuesdays. The series also stars Dann Florek, Ice-T and Richard Belzer. Unlike it's parent show, SVU often brings the personal lives of the cops into play, with a tense and close partner relationship existing between the characters Stabler and Benson, played by Meloni and Hargitay respectively.

This season, SVU was joined on Tuesdays by former Sunday night series Criminal Intent. CI was on the bubble like its parent show, but a news report also says the show wil air this season on USA - with episodes sometimes appearing on NBC. CI stars Vincent D''Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe as sleuths for the NYPD's Major Case Squad.

In it's sixth season, the show added Christopher Noth last year to spilt the caseload as Mike Logan (late of L&O original...). He has been partnered with two female detectives - first a profiler played by Annabella Sciorra and this year with a new detective played by Julianne Nicholson. Courtney B. Vance and Jamey Sheridan also starred in the series until this season. Eric Begosian has since taken over the role as the new Major Case Captain.

The omin-presence of all three Law & Order series is such that fans joke about it- at any given time, a Law & Order is on. Currently, USA, TNT and Bravo air some piece of the franchise on their schedules. A fourth installment of the seris - Law & Order: Trial By Jury, aired briefly on NBC and starred BeBe Neuwirth and an ailing Jerry Orbach.

NBC wiil announce its full schedule Monday, May 14th in its network "upfronts".