Wednesday 19 January 2011

LAW & ORDER LA: CRIMINAL INTENT?

Law & Order: Los Angeles (aka LOLA), Dick Wolf’s most recent extension of the L & O franchise, is going on an indefinite hiatus.

NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles, which was scheduled to return on February 8, will now be held back, with its return date and slot to be determined. Earlier this month, Deadline broke the news that three actors of the show where leaving: Regina Hall, Megan Boone and Skeet Ulrich (1). D.D.A. Ricardo Morales, the character played by Brit thespian Alfred Molina will become a detective. Let's hope for Morales that they have better hairdressers at the LAPD.

Meanwhile, on Monday, NBC's new midseason superhero drama The Cape attracted just 6.2 million viewers and was down 31% from its two-hour premiere on Sunday, January 9. With The Cape, the Peacock channels the spirit of 90s syndication shows (NightMan, anyone?) (2) on what we can presume a bigger budget scale. The same night the network launched David E. Kelley's new (what else?) legal drama Harry's Law, starring Kathy Bates. Which almost gives regrets that NBC didn't pick up Rex is not your Lawyer - as bad as this pilot starring David Tennant looked (3).

And Fox picks up a drama pilot project from Tim Kring (Heroes). Touch is centered on a father who discovers that his autistic, mute son can actually predict events before they happen. Since a 2008 deal with ITV Studios, Fox has a British "second market" for that sort of things: on February starts Marchlands, the ITV1 remake of Fox's 2008 unpicked pilot The Oaks.

(1) http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/more-lola-shakeup-skeet-ulrich-out-too/
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuaK-gis9VQ
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4cqRsvu9t0

http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/nbc-tweaks-midseason-schedule-parenthood-stays-put-lola-benched/
http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/ratings-rat-race-harrys-law-debut-ok-cape-falls-cbs-sitcoms-hit-viewer-highs/
http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/fox-picks-up-tim-kring-drama-pilot/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2011/01/marchlands-itv1.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've seen the pilot and it was actually not bad at all--the clip that was released was just the biggest portion of dialogue given to the character of Sophia, and not David Tennant's strongest scene nor the strongest scene of the show. It's getting a LOT of badmouthing but "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer" would've been a good show for NBC to get back onto its feet with, and one that would've allowed supporting actors some great chances on network television. Instead, NBC went with Jimmy Smits' show... which they dropped after three episodes.