For weeks, NBC has been keeping us on the edge of our seats when it comes to whether or not they were going to renew Law & Order for another season, or cancel it for a second time.
Today, the network made it official, announcing that it will be back for a 26th season, its fifth after an 11-year hiatus.
It is the second-longest-running live-action series on television. What is the longest? Its spinoff, Law & Order: SVU. Dick Wolf sure knows how to make shows that last and last.
Remember season 24 of Law & Order: SVU, when Benson and Stabler came close to giving the fans what they wanted and almost kissed? Well, it turns out, they did!
What??? Mariska Hargitay told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think we [she and Chris Meloni] felt that this moment was earned, that this thing could happen for a second — and so that’s how we shot it. [audience goes crazy] Don’t you wish you were there for that?! Yeah. We shot it a couple different ways. And then they [Wolf and others] had the choice in editing, and they [opted to use the near-kiss version rather than the kiss] … We [she and Meloni] disagreed. We disagreed because we thought that it was earned and the way it was dealt with was really complex and very beautiful and very human and showed the complexity of their relationship and all the different ways that they’re connected … [But] no matter what I want, Dick Wolf can totally just say, ‘Uh, no.’”
However, the Executive Producer said yes to her directing the 600th episode (Can you believe they have done that many episodes?), which will be the sixth episode next season. Maybe Wolf will also say yes to the former partners finally kissing?!?
Dick Wolf recently received two phone calls from NBCUniversal, one with good news and one with bad.
The good news is that Law & Order: SVU was renewed for a record-breaking 28th season. The bad news is that SVU OG Chris Meloni’s spinoff, which airs on Peacock, was not picked up for a sixth season.
Even though Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, FBI, and CIA will be back in the Fall, Wolf is still sitting by the phone waiting to hear if Law & Order: Mothership will be joining all of his other shows. Dun Dun.
Before Michael B. Jordan played a boxer in Creed, he had already done that in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He looks the same now as he did when he was 23 in that 2010 episode.
Tonight at 8p on NBC’s Chicago Med, Oliver Platt gives an Emmy-Worthy performance as Dr. Charles. It is the first of two episodes that are centered on him.
The episode starts off with him working at a suicide hotline and taking a call from a man who wants to end his life. After the call is over, he is left frazzled by the conversation. And that is just the beginning of his bad week.
Next up, he gets into a fight with his youngest daughter, Anna (Hannah Riley), and they both say things they don’t mean. The fight starts over something he learned about her personal life, and he won’t let it go. How far will he go to find out more about what she is hiding from him?
Maybe work will be easier for him? Not at all. There is a male patient who might have been raped, but won’t admit it. A woman comes demanding invasive surgery to find out what is causing her extreme stomach pain, even though there seems to be nothing showing up on any of the tests. Finally, there is a little girl who is acting like a cat and won’t act like herself.
It is a bad, bad, bad day. And when you have a day like that, it is enough to make even a psychiatrist go mad. Is that what happens to him? We will find out next week in the conclusion of The Book of Charles.
Platt is my favorite part of the medical drama because I am a long-time fan of his work. So maybe I am biased, but the performance he gives in this two-part storyline had me the most emotionally invested in the series’ run, and I have seen every episode. It is just that well-written, directed, and acted (Is this a word?)!
