"It was a tentpole!!!" —Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock
The NBC comedy writers are trying to tell us something: Canceling NBC drama Law & Order was a chump move. Both 30 Rock and The Office had Law & Order-themed runners last night—vice president for television and microwave programming Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) couldn't believe it when he learned that someone had shut down landmark series Law & Order, and then when Michael Scott (Steve Carell) auditioned for a community-theater production of Sweeney Todd, he single-handedly reenacted an entire L&O episode.
We think these guys are on to something. L&O should come back, and here's why:
Law & Order: Los Angeles is not the same thing! In fact, LOLA is fairly awful so far, and not just because "change is hard." Plus, Criminal Intent is ending (sob), and Law & Order: UK, while being pretty darn entertaining, has that jarring "crown prosecutor" voice-over. That is change that we'll accept eventually, but we're pretty sure what ails LOLA can't be solved by the balm of time.
See, the genius of L&O: The Original Series was that it was modular television—all the pieces were replaceable—but as it turns out, the fact that the elements of the show could be swapped in and out didn't mean that one entire series could be substituted for another.
We want original flavor back, for Jeremy Sisto and S. Epatha Merkerson if nothing else. Do you agree? Or do you have a cool idea for L&O: The Next Generation?
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