'Law & Order' in Trouble as Actress QuitsThings are pretty dicey over at "Law & Order," NBC's 16-year-old police series.
For one thing, the actress who plays the assistant district attorney just quit. For another, insiders from the show are "convinced" that their beloved employment is about to be terminated.
One of the many reasons is lower ratings thanks to being up against ABC's powerhouse "Lost" on Wednesdays in the 9 p.m. timeslot. In recent weeks, NBC finally moved "Law & Order" out of harm's way, to 10 p.m., but it may too little too late.
To make matters even more complicated, sources tell me that Annie Parisse, the talented brunette who had been playing the assistant district attorney on the main show, has quit.
The problem now is that creator and executive producer Dick Wolf can't cast a replacement because no one knows if the show is coming back.
There's a significant morale problem, too. Sources say that there have been "a lot" of firings, including a portion of the camera crew.
"None of the original writer-producers are there anymore," a source said. "They've all been replaced by people from L.A. who don't get the show."
And then there's the issue of Jerry Orbach. Everyone I spoke to said the same thing in one way or another: Without the late beloved actor, "Law & Order" isn't the same. "And people don't like Dennis Farina" is the comment I got about the actor who was hired to succeed Orbach even before he died.
If "Law & Order" does get cancelled, or renewed just long enough to do a finale season, it won't be a tremendous surprise. Sixteen years, after all, is twice the length of the run of a regular hit show. Still, insiders blame the constant reruns on TNT for over-saturating the brand.
I'm kind of suprprised at this news. I haven't watched it much over the past few years (I found it getting too formulaic) but I thought it was still a big hit.
