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I don't think it's even a matter of technically. He had no plans to come back. Then they came along with an interesting pitch and a payday and he came back to the franchise. And as you said he didn't come back for the 20h season. Plus it's just wrong to say anything of Chris Meloni has not aged well...

I've seen how it's being promoted. Until I see otherwise I'm assuming that the "movie" will still be structured to allow it to be cut up into hours for the individual series' syndication packages and that the last hour is going to feature more of the Mothership's cast and all of the actual trial. Who knows though? Maybe it will be an actual seamless 3 hour movie. It would be nice since as we all know there has never been a Law & Order movie...

I'm assuming it is set up that way because it would make no narrative sense to prosecute the offender and only then investigate the crime? And the mothership is the only series with a full legal team and more than a couple writers who know how to write a courtroom scene. I am wondering if with the crossover and a new showrunner who doesn't have some sort of bizarre hatred of the DA's office we will see Carisi interact with Jack McCoy?

I think that the problem is too much time is spent on the soapy personal anguish stories to really get into the nuances. Add to that the reduction in recurring characters and the overall reduction in cast size and it becomes really hard to tell some of the stories you mention properly. It really is true that victims lying about being assaulted is rare. Victims lying about the circumstances is much more common. If they still regularly had psych experts, CSU, ME etc. and were willing to bring in more bit players and spend time chasing false leads that didn't have to come back as "a shocking twist" maybe they could do nuance. And yes it is a bit unrealistic for the police to be so sympathetic and skilled, but how can they not when there is always someone there who has been doing this for well over a decade? I mean most homicide units don't have that luxury... Yeah he really doesn't care about the content anymore. Or even pay much attention to what he's churning out. And hasn't for some time. It's been clear when he's been interviewed on the subject and instead of pointing out that he's been examining these issues for over 20 years and his police have never been perfect, nor have his prosecutors has simply shrugged it off. It's a shame that most of us here could mount a more eloquent and informed defense and seem more familiar with the last couple decades of the franchise than he does. Agreed on all counts. I do prefer my police procedurals to at least nod towards reality. Not every cop show needs to be The Wire. Or even The Shield. And it's possible for a series to get so wrapped up in the negative that the characters are no longer relatable or it goes too far into demonizing (Southland). There is plenty of copaganda out there. But there are also series like L&O or The Closer where the viewer is still supposed to root for the protagonists without forgetting about the problems in the real life institution or making everyone cardboard saints. There is room on television for good but flawed people in all professions. Every institution is flawed. But there is still room for stories about lawyers, doctors, soldiers, politicians, corporate executives, clergy, and even cops trying to do their best despite those flaws. Should we cancel Blue Bloods or Chicago PD? Yes. But not because of their effect on the culture which is minimal at best. Because they fail as art and don't really work lately even as mindless entertainment.

Interesting idea. Although I heard they were conisdering going a whole different direction and combining the classic writing formula with the SVU/CI/OC approach of building the cast around a big name with a much smaller supporting cast. Peacock execs really wanted it, but Dick Wolf had some concerns. Leaked footage online - Law and Order Audition

Who knows maybe they will pleasantly surprise us? I mean I'm sure they read my spec script where she is shot and killed and the bullet passes through her and hits Benson leaving Fin as CO for a multi-episode arc.... I think it will depend on if there is something going on beyond budgets. If for some reason somebody high up at NBC has gotten it on their head that KG is the problem and the reason the show feels stale she could end up being gone for awhile. As far as hurt feelings at this point any actor who signs on to a Dick Wolf show knows what they are in for and that if you roll with the punches there will usually be another payday down the line. KG had a good run and may very well end up with another leading role in a future series if she doesn't blast TPTB too publicly and can put aside the hard feelings for the sake of maintaining a working relationship.

Yes S10 was great. Because after years of network interference trying to turn the show into something else the mandate was to go back to the classic formula and give the fans what they wanted. It was nice that the show pretty much got to go out on it's own terms on a high note unlike the other 2 members of the Big 3 L&Overse series (and yes I know that we don't know how SVU will end, but can anyone here honestly see a scenario where everyone involved would choose doing the right thing for the show's legacy over their own short term financial best interest?

To be fair the rest of the stadium IS full. Of sewage.

Yes it was a joke. And no hard feelings. This was less "Rob Manfred" dense and more "Aaron Boone filling out a lineup card" dense!

I thought "Centerfield" was by J. Geils Band...

Where? There simply isn't much in the way to cut left, They have cut cast costs to the bone as well as other production costs. I mean yes Dick Wold could find the money, but as a matter of principle he refuses to front money and yes NBC could pay more per episode, but they are not going to lose money on the first run so the rest of the NBCU networks make more in syndication. I would be willing to bet that KG wasn't looking for any major pay bump. I am assuming her goal was simply to keep getting the same/very slightly more pay and more time off as has become SOP for veterans. I am assuming NBC has probably further cut the episode fee and/or has been pushing DIck Wolf to go younger so he cut her lose over the objections of the series' producers including Mariska. I also suspect that if MH had told them that she would give up part of her salary to keep whatever it cost to pay KG similar to what the Big Bang Theory stars did that the deal could have gotten done.

I agree up to a point. Perhaps I am reacting more to the fact that they told us (again) that they were going to solve what I see as the second biggest problem with the series - the lack of enough regular cast members, and instead have yanked away the football again. I do think there are more objective reasons for concern as every time they have let go of one of the longer tenured cast members we have gotten more focus on Benson. And the last time they tried to do a younger female detective to more directly appeal to their key demo it didn't go so well. Add in that all indications are that Mariska and the producers aren't entirely on board and I see no reason for much optimism. Although on the bright side at least they haven't made Noah main cast...

I'm sure the previously announced recurring character will be slotted in, but instead of being a welcomed addition when one of the regulars has the week off and filling things out during major event episodes, we're getting a partial replacement of Rollins' screen time and almost certainly more Benson. I agree with just about all your criticisms of Rollins, but she is still only a distanr second or third on the list of the show's problems and they are solving this problem my making the bigger problems worse.

I'm happy that Rollins is leaving. What I am not happy is about is what is signals for the show. If you told me Rollins was leaving and being replaced by a new regular I would be thrilled. If you told me they were going to go with multiple recurring actors instead and then reevaluate I would be happy. But replacing Giddish with a part-timer means that we will almost certainly end up with more Benson and more episodes where they try to hide the fact that there are only 3 regulars around that week. It's the equivalent of telling me your going to stop slapping me in the face. Because it's keeping you from putting your full weight and energy into constantly kicking me in the cojones...

The writing has been declining a lot longer than that! It's just that they used to have the budget to be bad in an entertaining way when the scripts sucked. Lest we forget -

Wow is right. I would say this is addition by subrtraction, but I am afraid this means even more Benson and more empty episodes with random filler characters because they don't want to pay for any regulars. Law & Order: SVU Shocker: Kelli Giddish Out as Rollins After 12 Seasons Law & Order: SVU's Kelli Giddish Is Turning in Her Badge After 12 Seasons as Rollins And not a shocker, but you would appear to be correct about the reasons for the change as well - ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Showrunner Responds To Complaints About Kelli Giddish Exit: “Things Are More Complex Than They Appear” I would guess that there were some sort of negotiations going on and the reason for bringing on someone new was to have a plan B if things couldn't be worked out. From what we can surmise (as none of us actually knows anyrhing) Ice-T probably does make more than anyone but Mariska. The reason he is still there is because he has made a deal where he is making the same amount of money he was 12 years ago, but working less and less each year so he can spend more time on all of his other projects. He can be both surprisingly affordable and a major concern in the budget if the budget is as small as it appears to be. Of course the biggest problem is not Ice-T, but the fact that Dick Wolf, NBC, and Mariska (in that order) cannot seem to make any sort of short term financial sacrifice for quality and long term gains.

I was going to say that I didn't seem to be experiencing these issues on my TV, but then Gleyber Torres just froze and was totally out of sync with the action....

They definitely won't cancel it. It has great viewer engagement, huge YouTube viewership (meaning another revenue stream), and is almost certainly quite a bit less expensive to produce than most of the high profile scripted programming while making more episodes. Basically it is a money maker. I would not be surprised to see them cut budgets, but I don't see them trying to change content - it's most likely more trouble than it is worth. If there is one thing reality TV execs know it;s that a little controversy is good for business and that as long as the majority of the audience and the press is on your side the occasional lawsuit is simply the cost of doing business.

I have heard they had that scene too, but don't recall any details. Without knowing anything about the reasoning I can't really cast any aspersions. Perhaps they simply felt that it would appear to be cashing in to bring it up on screen or they wanted to leave it up to the mothership to decide how and when to actually have Lennie transfer to the Squad Room In The Sky? Unless they recast the role there really isn't any unequivocally wrong or right choice. Personally I think the biggest problem was that it was too similar to regular Law & Order. The cast was fine. The writing was fine (not great, but not terrible either and better than many series that did get renewed.) But there really wasn't a unique angle except that we knew there would be a trial and we wouldn't see the original investigation, but the DAs squad following up. So basically it was more of the same except less compelling as they had already taken many of the possible options for outcomes off the board. I think that L&O LA suffered from much the same problem - it was the same basic concept just not as good. The spinoffs that have been successful all brought something new and unique. I'm sure Dick Wolf wishes that Law & Order was more of a CBS procedural that he could just take the concept, set it in a different city and find some decent actors - we'd probably be on the 3rd season of Law & Order: Atlanta right now...

Samantha Bee's cancellation hints at tough times for women and POC in late night TV

Most likely that was just one symptom of the larger problem that TBS didn't want to do quality scripted programming anymore. The musical guests were probably a way to cut costs and/or executive meddling. I don't think there was any problem coming up with material and they have some great pieces that drew a lot of traffic online (which as I said is probably why the show lasted while all the other original series) it was more that TBS wanted to do it as cheaply as possible and musical guests are much cheaper than field pieces.

Hopefully it will mean that when Ice-T or Kelli Giddish (or even Peter Scanavino) have the week off that they will use her to fill the gap instead of giving us more Benson. I'm guessing that whatever option/holding deals they had with the Hate Crimes cast have expired and they still want to leave Benson free to drag down Organized Crime instead of spending all her time dragging down SVU. Fair enough. If it means they are submarining Velasco the way they have their last new cast members I'm going to be pissed...

It was pretty much inevitable, but I was hoping that since the folks in charge seemed to see the show as valuable (probably some mix of viewership numbers, especially online, the diversity issues that have been mentioned previously, and that it was actually quality programming), enough so thatit was spared in the previous purges of original scripted programming, that there would be some sort of arrangement where the show moved somewhere else. Ideally they would announce that HBO was cancelling Bill Maher and picking up the show. You think the Twitter snark is fun now...

For Peacock to have standards of success it would need to have some sort of plan or strategy for programming. As far as I can tell there is none and it's just there so NBC has a presence in streaming until they either figure out what they are doing or somebody else does and buys them out. As far as getting another season I'm guessing it's probably less about viewership and more about keeping Mike Schur locked up and other intangibles like actually being pretty good, being able to point to it as an example of diversity, etc.