'Law & Order': Getting even
Dick Wolf may be down one of his four shows, but it appears to trouble him little. He's going global.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published July 26, 2005
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Sacre bleu! NBC's durable hit Law & Order makes the French connection.
Dick Wolf, the producer who delivered the Law & Order franchise announced Monday he is selling the Criminal Intent version to a French production company. The show has been dubbed into French and broadcast there for years, but the new version will be set in Paris with all French actors and reference the Napoleonic Code of laws.
Wolf - who also promised yet another show in the franchise for American audiences next spring - made the bottom line abundantly clear to critics at the Television Critics Association summer gathering.
He berated critics - who've generally liked his shows - for not recognizing the franchise's commercial success. Last year, he said, the shows generated more than $1-billion in first-run and rerun advertising revenue.
"There is no recognition on a business sense that, yes, we may get knocked around a bit, but it is still the most profitable brand in the history of the medium," Wolf said. "We're not looking to be the hot show. It's about longevity and profitability - I'm not saying television should be filled with just (police) procedurals, but look at the numbers, guys."
Wolf seemed touchy about his franchise's one slip, the quick cancellation of fourth installment Trial By Jury, this spring. He blamed NBC for failing to tell him the show was in danger, and denied speculation that the cancellation indicates viewers are getting tired of police procedural shows.
He is forging ahead in foreign deals, looking forward to his shows being produced around the globe, and is about to start production on another new show for American audiences, possibly ready this spring.
The new show - filmed on the New York set of Trial By Jury - likely won't carry the Law & Order tag, he said. Instead, it will focus on young assistant district attorneys and their personal lives. He said it would be more character driven, which is often a Hollywood code word for soap opera.
"We'd like to get five or six of the best looking, most talented actors under 30," he said.
In other developments Monday, NBC rolled out Friday night drama Inconceivable, a story about a fertility clinic, its customers and the surrogate mothers who bear children for childless couples.
Oliver Goldstick and Marco Pennette, the creators and executive producers, have children borne by surrogate mothers. Goldstick has a 2-1/2-year-old son, and Pennette has an 18-month-old daughter.
"This comes right out of our lives," Goldstick said.
The producers required stars Ming-Na (ER), Jonathan Cake (Empire) and Angie Harmon (Law & Order) to meet with about 20 surrogate moms and parents who are raising children borne by surrogates to get a sense of their experiences.
Goldstick said working with a big cast of extremely young babies, about 3 weeks old, was a challenge. At times, six infants were on stage, with twins or triplet siblings in the wings, because rules allow children so young to be filmed only 10 minutes at a time.
"We have real nurses holding the babies," Pennette assured reporters.