Post by filmnoir5 on Feb 12, 2006 13:55:41 GMT -5
This article does not really provide any information about L&O:CI or even L&O:SVU but since some of the people who post on this board have said they watch the original. Here it is.
Article indicates there is a major cast change planned next season to keep things fresh. It is mentioned in the same paragraph with his wish for L&O the original to stay on the air for 5 more years. I hope Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkerson stay with the show or the viewers may change the channel for something "fresh".
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11298739/site/newsweek/
"The Wolf Pack
He revolutionized TV drama with 'Law & Order,' but recently megaproducer Dick Wolf has been a little less mega. He's back with a new formula and a new 'Conviction.'
#By Marc Peyser
Newsweek
Feb. 20, 2006 issue - Everyone knows that the TV industry is one big recycling center—full of reruns, knockoffs and an endlessly revolving cast of actors—but Dick Wolf takes it more literally than most. Last year he created the fourth installment in his "Law & Order" empire, "Trial by Jury." It lasted all of 12 episodes. "I was stunned," he says. "I had been told, 'Everyone loves it! It's coming back.' Then, the night before they announced the fall schedule—canceled. It still p—-es me off." Most producers would erase the whole ugly experience from their minds, not to mention their resumes. Not Wolf, the most successful repackager in TV history. When he pitched his next crime show, about assistant district attorneys in Manhattan, he suggested using the old sets from "Trial by Jury." "It was a unique opportunity," says Wolf. "If I come and say I've got an idea, they'll listen fairly carefully, but they'll especially listen when I've already got the sets to put the show in."
As it happens, "Conviction" has inherited not just sets but the very same time slot that "Trial by Jury" failed in last spring. Despite its secondhand real estate, however, "Conviction" is the most original show Wolf has created in years. It's still a crime drama, of course. But unlike the "Law & Order" franchise, "Conviction," which debuts March 3 on NBC, actually cares about developing its characters as much as their caseloads. There's also a fair amount of humor and sex, not to mention actors young enough to be Sam Waterston's grandchildren. One of the reasons NBC canceled "Trial by Jury" was that it—God forbid—attracted an older audience. No one in the cast of "Conviction" is older than 34. "I only have to get kicked in the head 18 times until I go 'Oh'," Wolf says.
It's nice to see that Wolf, 59, is willing to tinker with a formula that generates more than $1 billion in ad revenues every year. But he's not just changing for change's sake. The last few years have been tough on his empire. "Dragnet," the show he created just before "Trial by Jury," also failed. (In fact, it failed twice—ABC let Wolf try to revamp it, unsuccessfully.) The "Law & Order" shows aren't the unassailable behemoths they once were, either. Two years ago all three versions were in the top 20. Now "Special Victims Unit" is the highest rated at No. 13, though, to be fair, nothing on NBC is exactly hot. Still, in the era of "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," procedural shows aren't as sexy as they were when "Law & Order" revolutionized TV drama. Wolf knows he's got to adapt. "You know what the four stages of success in Hollywood are?" he says, reprising an old industry joke. " 'Who's Dick Wolf? Get me Dick Wolf! Get me the next Dick Wolf! Who's Dick Wolf?' I'm just trying to stay away from the fourth one."
Wolf isn't willing to give up on his old blueprint entirely. He calls "Conviction" a "charactercedural," an impressive name for the common practice of having the characters' personal lives evolve over the season while the legal cases they work on get resolved each week. The hybrid works well in the pilot—the show manages to make you care about the young lawyers while also delivering the classic Wolfian plot twists, including a D.A. who becomes a crime victim. It actually feels a bit like "Grey's Anatomy" with lawyers, or perhaps like "Hill Street Blues," where Wolf, a former advertising executive, got his start as a TV writer. "You can't escape your past," he says. Wolf is hedging his bets a little, too. The pilot features a guest shot with "Law & Order'" star Fred Dalton Thompson as the D.A., and the regular cast includes Stephanie March from "SVU." But they don't guarantee that "Law & Order" fans will be lured to this new cousin. "There are people who only like procedural shows, and they won't like this, there's no question about it," says Walon Green, executive producer of "Conviction." "But there are people who don't watch the 'Law & Order' shows because they want more engagement."
And what if this show fails, too? That could make Wolf's slump start to look like a drought, though not everyone would agree. "It's a business of failure, and most creators, if they get any success at all, are unable to re-create it," says NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "Wolf has created three hugely successful television shows under one brand. He has already defied the odds." Wolf himself is fairly philosophical. "The biggest thing is staying at the table and keeping these things on," he says. "I prefer seeing myself as someone who turns out a product that people still like."
Besides, he has plenty to keep him busy, from working on a slew of new pilots to tending to his main franchise. He'd like the original "Law & Order" to stick around for five more years, long enough to eclipse "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running drama in TV history. He's already planning another major cast change for next season —he won't say who's coming or going—to keep it fresh. "The secret of cast changes is not 'Tonight Hamlet will be played by X,' but coming up with Macbeth instead of Hamlet," he says. But even the "mother ship," as Wolf calls it, will fade to black some day. "The wonderful thing about television is, it's kind of like life," he says. "Everything dies—they just don't give you the date of execution." Can you imagine a world without "Law & Order"? That sounds like anarchy.
© 2006 Newsweek, Inc. | Subscribe to Newsweek"
Article indicates there is a major cast change planned next season to keep things fresh. It is mentioned in the same paragraph with his wish for L&O the original to stay on the air for 5 more years. I hope Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkerson stay with the show or the viewers may change the channel for something "fresh".
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11298739/site/newsweek/
"The Wolf Pack
He revolutionized TV drama with 'Law & Order,' but recently megaproducer Dick Wolf has been a little less mega. He's back with a new formula and a new 'Conviction.'
#By Marc Peyser
Newsweek
Feb. 20, 2006 issue - Everyone knows that the TV industry is one big recycling center—full of reruns, knockoffs and an endlessly revolving cast of actors—but Dick Wolf takes it more literally than most. Last year he created the fourth installment in his "Law & Order" empire, "Trial by Jury." It lasted all of 12 episodes. "I was stunned," he says. "I had been told, 'Everyone loves it! It's coming back.' Then, the night before they announced the fall schedule—canceled. It still p—-es me off." Most producers would erase the whole ugly experience from their minds, not to mention their resumes. Not Wolf, the most successful repackager in TV history. When he pitched his next crime show, about assistant district attorneys in Manhattan, he suggested using the old sets from "Trial by Jury." "It was a unique opportunity," says Wolf. "If I come and say I've got an idea, they'll listen fairly carefully, but they'll especially listen when I've already got the sets to put the show in."
As it happens, "Conviction" has inherited not just sets but the very same time slot that "Trial by Jury" failed in last spring. Despite its secondhand real estate, however, "Conviction" is the most original show Wolf has created in years. It's still a crime drama, of course. But unlike the "Law & Order" franchise, "Conviction," which debuts March 3 on NBC, actually cares about developing its characters as much as their caseloads. There's also a fair amount of humor and sex, not to mention actors young enough to be Sam Waterston's grandchildren. One of the reasons NBC canceled "Trial by Jury" was that it—God forbid—attracted an older audience. No one in the cast of "Conviction" is older than 34. "I only have to get kicked in the head 18 times until I go 'Oh'," Wolf says.
It's nice to see that Wolf, 59, is willing to tinker with a formula that generates more than $1 billion in ad revenues every year. But he's not just changing for change's sake. The last few years have been tough on his empire. "Dragnet," the show he created just before "Trial by Jury," also failed. (In fact, it failed twice—ABC let Wolf try to revamp it, unsuccessfully.) The "Law & Order" shows aren't the unassailable behemoths they once were, either. Two years ago all three versions were in the top 20. Now "Special Victims Unit" is the highest rated at No. 13, though, to be fair, nothing on NBC is exactly hot. Still, in the era of "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," procedural shows aren't as sexy as they were when "Law & Order" revolutionized TV drama. Wolf knows he's got to adapt. "You know what the four stages of success in Hollywood are?" he says, reprising an old industry joke. " 'Who's Dick Wolf? Get me Dick Wolf! Get me the next Dick Wolf! Who's Dick Wolf?' I'm just trying to stay away from the fourth one."
Wolf isn't willing to give up on his old blueprint entirely. He calls "Conviction" a "charactercedural," an impressive name for the common practice of having the characters' personal lives evolve over the season while the legal cases they work on get resolved each week. The hybrid works well in the pilot—the show manages to make you care about the young lawyers while also delivering the classic Wolfian plot twists, including a D.A. who becomes a crime victim. It actually feels a bit like "Grey's Anatomy" with lawyers, or perhaps like "Hill Street Blues," where Wolf, a former advertising executive, got his start as a TV writer. "You can't escape your past," he says. Wolf is hedging his bets a little, too. The pilot features a guest shot with "Law & Order'" star Fred Dalton Thompson as the D.A., and the regular cast includes Stephanie March from "SVU." But they don't guarantee that "Law & Order" fans will be lured to this new cousin. "There are people who only like procedural shows, and they won't like this, there's no question about it," says Walon Green, executive producer of "Conviction." "But there are people who don't watch the 'Law & Order' shows because they want more engagement."
And what if this show fails, too? That could make Wolf's slump start to look like a drought, though not everyone would agree. "It's a business of failure, and most creators, if they get any success at all, are unable to re-create it," says NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "Wolf has created three hugely successful television shows under one brand. He has already defied the odds." Wolf himself is fairly philosophical. "The biggest thing is staying at the table and keeping these things on," he says. "I prefer seeing myself as someone who turns out a product that people still like."
Besides, he has plenty to keep him busy, from working on a slew of new pilots to tending to his main franchise. He'd like the original "Law & Order" to stick around for five more years, long enough to eclipse "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running drama in TV history. He's already planning another major cast change for next season —he won't say who's coming or going—to keep it fresh. "The secret of cast changes is not 'Tonight Hamlet will be played by X,' but coming up with Macbeth instead of Hamlet," he says. But even the "mother ship," as Wolf calls it, will fade to black some day. "The wonderful thing about television is, it's kind of like life," he says. "Everything dies—they just don't give you the date of execution." Can you imagine a world without "Law & Order"? That sounds like anarchy.
© 2006 Newsweek, Inc. | Subscribe to Newsweek"
