RIP Law & Order: Organized Crime.
I can’t say I didn’t see this one coming, not when it’s been over a year since Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 premiered on Peacock.
Still, this hurts, especially since NBC and Peacock both wasted the show’s potential for so many years.
Organized Crime Was Brilliant, But Didn’t Fit Neatly Into a 45-Minute Procedural Slot
Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s brilliance came from being a different type of show than the rest of the Law & Order franchise — intense, complicated, psychological, and completely unsuited for the usual case-of-the-week format.
If only NBC and Peacock had leaned harder into the show they actually had instead of trying to make it into something it wasn’t, it might have been more successful.
Of course, part of the problem was that the series continually switched showrunners, so at times it felt like it didn’t even know what it wanted to be.
But some of those switches were undoubtedly because something wasn’t working, and NBC tried everything except doing more of what did work.
Moving to Peacock was probably a last-ditch effort to save the show, but treating it like a network show that happened to be on the streamer was an utter failure.
The only difference between Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 and the rest of the series (besides Jet’s unfortunate departure, which I hated) was that the characters were allowed to openly curse.
Peacock Should’ve Allowed Law & Order: Organized Crime to Become a Runaway Success
Half the network’s audience hated the serialized stories because they wanted something that wrapped up in one episode, but that was never realistic for Law & Order: Organized Crime.
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These types of cases take time to build, and the first two seasons demonstrated masterfully what the show could be. Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 was perfect, except it was shockingly violent for a network show.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 should have followed the blueprint of Season 2, with one key difference: now that it was on streaming, there was zero reason to limit releases to once per week.
Instead, all ten episodes should have been released at once.
That way, the part of the audience that was impatient with the slower pace of serialized storytelling could binge-watch, while those who wanted to savor it could set a limit for themselves: one episode at a time.
Honestly, the series would have fit in better on HBO than NBC to begin with, and once it got to Peacock, it should have been treated that way.
That would have attracted a whole new audience, the type of people who enjoyed shows like The Sopranos and movies like Goodfellas, making up for those people who couldn’t or didn’t want to follow it to Peacock.
No, Stabler Should Not Return to SVU Now
Law & Order: SVU was renewed at the same time as Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled, but that’s not great news for Stabler’s character.
As much as I love SVU, it hurts more that Law & Order: Organized Crime won’t be getting another season, too.
I didn’t love this show because I wanted Stabler and Benson to get together.
I loved it because it was the logical next step for Stabler — fighting for justice in a different way, putting a stop to the belief of some powerful criminals that they were above the law, and putting his life back together after his wife’s death.
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For that reason, I don’t get at all why some people think this cancellation clears the way for Stabler to return to SVU.
Back in the day, Stabler and Benson were partners. Now Benson would be his boss.
That would kill any hope of romance. We can’t have Benson dating a subordinate when her whole life is about ending the power imbalances that cause sexual coercion.
Besides, Stabler left SVU because he didn’t want to do those types of cases, so it would make no sense for him to go back to it now.
Plus, on a practical note, Law & Order: SVU Season 27 had to cut Fin from the majority of the season because the show’s budget didn’t support both Ice-T and Kelli Giddish appearing regularly.
There is no way that it could afford Christopher Meloni without making more cuts that people will object to.
Aside from appearing occasionally as someone who still works for the Organized Crime Unit off-screen, Stabler’s time in the franchise is probably over.
Sadly, So Is Bell’s, and That Sucks
Although Stabler was the lead character, he wasn’t my favorite. Bell and Jet were.
Jet is already gone, which is a shame, because I loved having a smart, talented female computer expert and episodes that actually focused on what she did instead of making the computer stuff a side note.
Ayanna Bell was also a special character.
She was tougher than other leaders in some ways because she had to be.
As a Black lesbian woman with power in the police department, she had no choice but to stand up to everyone who wanted to take it all from her because of who she was.
It was annoying that she disappeared from Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 for three episodes, a third of the shortened season. She deserved better.
But I will always be grateful that Law & Order: Organized Crime introduced me to this powerhouse of a character and the amazing Danielle Mone Truitt, who played her.
Will you miss Law & Order: Organized Crime? Do you think that NBC and Peacock did it dirty?
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