I’m aggravated by Peacock’s plan for Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 now that the gritty crime drama is premiering after almost a year-long delay. The Christopher Meloni-led sequel series to Law & Order: SVU has had a number of challenges throughout its run. While I firmly believe that Law & Order: Organized Crime is as good as SVU — if not better in some respects — it wasn’t clear that it would score a season 5 renewal. It would have been disappointing if the series was canceled, as it finally found its footing in Law & Order: Organized Crime season 4.
Thankfully, Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 was greenlit last May. However, Dick Wolf Entertainment announced that the new season would stream exclusively on Peacock. Although it was disappointing that Peacock only ordered 10 episodes, I was initially excited that Law & Order: Organized Crime would finally be on a platform where it could be as gritty and violent as a show about investigating criminal organizations should be. However, now I have new concerns about season 5’s release plan, as its format doesn’t seem well-suited for the series.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Will Drop Episodes Weekly
Despite the move to Peacock, Law & Order: Organized Crime’s schedule will be similar to a network TV show’s release plan. Currently, the streamer intends to release the first two episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 on April 17, 2025. Afterward, it will release one episode per week until it finishes the season, which consists of 10 episodes total. The episodes will drop on the same days that new episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU release on NBC. However, Peacock hasn’t announced what time the episodes will be available for streaming.
Streaming services have the option of dropping all episodes of a season at once, and many shows follow this pattern. However, it is not unheard of for streaming-only series to follow a similar release schedule to network TV shows. Only Murders in The Building season 4 released one episode per week when it debuted. Scheduling episodes this way ensures that the audience doesn’t binge-watch the season in one day and then lose interest. However, I’m convinced it’s the wrong move for Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Why Organized Crime’s Weekly Format Doesn’t Work
Law & Order: Organized Crime is more similar to gritty, complex dramas than it is to standard procedurals that have a different case each week. When it originally premiered, it took eight episodes to tell one story. This concept didn’t really fit what audiences expected from the Law & Order franchise, which has perfected the case-of-the-week formula. The series tried to resolve complaints that the stories were too slow by introducing mini-arcs, and some seasons tried standalone stories, but neither of these tweaks was in line with the show’s original concept.
That’s why streaming is a better option for Law & Order: Organized Crime. I expected the series to drop all 10 episodes at once so that people who don’t have the patience to sit through a season-long arc could binge-watch, while those who preferred a slow burn could w atch one episode at a time. This would keep both segments of the audience happy without trying to fit Law & Order: Organized Crime into the case-of-the-week formula, which simply doesn’t work for a show dedicated to long, arduous investigations into complex criminal organizations.
Organized Crime Moving To Peacock Only To Be Released Weekly Is An Insult To The Series
I was excited about Law & Order: Organized Crime moving to Peacock because streaming platforms are a better fit for the show. In addition to being able to tell longer-form stories, streamers have fewer restrictions on violence or language. Thus, I expected the series to get grittier and more realistic. However, this weekly release schedule suggests that the showrunners will continue to try to force Law & Order: Organized Crime into the case-of-the-week formula instead of allowing it to fully embrace its genre.
I was looking forward to new stories in which Stabler and his colleagues worked to take down violent crime families again.
While Law & Order: Organized Crime season 4 had some fantastic stories — the arc with the evil Bonner family was my favorite — many of them had little to do with the show’s original concept. I was looking forward to new stories in which Stabler and his colleagues worked to take down violent crime families again. Sadly, it does not appear this will happen, given the weekly release schedule. While I’m hopeful there will be some strong episodes, I doubt the series will reach its full potential until it fully embraces the freedom that comes with being a streaming-only show.
