EXCLUSIVE: First in a series on broadcast network series renewals. NBC is well ahead of the game this season on the renewal-decision front, handing early pickups to freshman dramas Found and The Irrational as well as One Chicago, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU while canceling Quantum Leap, La Brea and Magnum PI.
That leaves just a headful of shows on the bubble, mostly on the comedy side. The one drama series still waiting to hear its fate is Law & Order: Organized Crime. It’s always been an outlier, a departure from the Dick Wolf procedural brand with its darker and serialized storytelling. Possibly as a result, the series starring Christopher Meloni has performed below the five other Wolf dramas on the linear NBC network, while it has reportedly done well on Peacock.
That last part may prove key to Organized Crime‘s future, which has fans so worried they are launching petitions to help get the show renewed. I hear that if NBC opts not to proceed with Season 5 of Organized Crime, the series could migrate to Peacock, giving the NBCUniversal streamer an original Wolf drama series to go with the Wolf library and next-day runs of the Wolf Entertainment NBC series that are among the platform’s most viewed titles.
According to sources, there are ongoing conversations about Organized Crime potentially moving to Peacock for Season 5. There is a blueprint for that — another series in the Law & Order franchise that started on NBC, Criminal Intent, made a successful transition to another platform, running on USA Network for four additional seasons after the initial six on NBC.
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Likely factoring into NBC’s decision on Organized Crime would be the internal reception and testing for network’s two drama pilots, Suits: LA and Grosse Pointe Garden Society.
Likely not factoring into the decision for now is the future of NBC’s 10 p.m. hour as there has been no further discussion of the network dropping the hour, a possibility that was explored two years ago. All three Chicago series, which air as a three-hour Wednesday lineup, have been renewed for next season.
Of NBC’s three existing comedy series, Night Court — the most watched and highest-rated one — is considered likely to get renewed. I hear conversations with series producer Warner Bros TV are ongoing and moving along, making a renewal in the near future a strong possibility.
Sophomore Lopez vs Lopez and freshman Extended Family are both on shakier ground and heavily on the bubble, but each is believed to have a path to renewal under the right circumstances.
NBC has on tap for 2024-25 Justin Spitzer’s new single-camera workplace comedy St. Denis Medical, with a multi-camera comedy pilot starring Reba McEntire in consideration. How strong that pilot comes in could determine whether one or more bubble comedies make it to next season.
Extended Family has a core cast of well known TV stars in Jon Cryer, Donald Faison and Abigail Spencer. It was not a breakout and had a relatively quiet run, but its ratings have been respectable and a little higher than those for Lopez vs Lopez.
However, the latter just launched its new season, so a decision on its future may not come until after the upfronts. The comedy, co-created by and starring veteran comedian George Lopez and his daughter Mayan Lopez, has held steady from the end of last season in the early going, so the direction of its ratings trajectory for the rest of its sophomore run would influence its renewal odds.