The Living Dead: Will "Law & Order" Rise Again at AMC?

Don't count on it, but who knows?

AMC has already shown its propensity for zombies with its upcoming thriller series The Walking Dead. And now comes word that the network has shown some interest in another stumbling corpse: Law & Order. Sources tell Vulture that the home to groundbreaking hours Mad Men and Breaking Bad has approached NBC Universal about the possibility of producing new episodes of Dick Wolf’s long-running and recently canceled drama. The high price associated with making Wolf's show means that any AMC deal is a long shot, but the fact that conversations have taken place at all is a sign that, even after two decades, the original L&O still might not be ready for burial.

When we last left the saga of L&O in late May, NBC had decided to cancel the so-called mother ship of the franchise, citing low ratings and (relatively) high production costs: According to sources familiar with the matter, the show costs around $3 million an episode. NBC was willing to keep it going, but only if Wolf agreed to reduce his per-episode producer fee from $350,000 per episode to around $150,000 per episode. Wolf, who'd already made other financial concessions to NBC, balked, and L&O was declared over. Refusing to concede defeat, Wolf issued a statement declaring that his show was "in a medically induced coma" and that he was "hoping for a cure." That led to buzz that TNT might step in to save the day, as they have first right of refusal to make new episodes for cable; that talk was quashed when the network issued a statement flatly saying it was "not interested in a Season 21."

(more at link here)

Or ... does it?

Maybe the reports of the demise of "Law & Order" were premature; TV Guide is saying this:

The New York Times reports that Law & Order creator Dick Wolf's production company informed select people involved with the series of its demise, including executive producer Fred Berner and former co-executive producer Ed Zuckerman.

However, the Times and Entertainment Weekly both report discussions were continuing late Thursday between Wolf and NBC.

Reps for NBC and for the show declined to comment. NBC is scheduled to officially announce its 2010-2011 schedule on Monday.

It will be a nail biting weekend!

Law & Order Ends

Or so it appears, based on this report from Deadline Hollywood:

EXCLUSIVE: This one is a shocker. Veteran crime drama Law & Order will not get its shot at history after all. I hear that after long deliberations, NBC has decided to cancel the long-running procedural, which will end its run at 20 seasons, tied with Gunsmoke. This is very surprising as NBC brass had indicated lately that they would bring L&O for a record-breaking 21^st season. But with strong development, especially on the drama side, and soft ratings for L&O, NBC apparently opted not to keep the aging series, which spawned several successful spinoffs. The latest, Law & Order: Los Angeles, will launch next season. L&O's renewal by NBC was also contingent on securing a sizable commitment from the series' cable home TNT whose off-network deal for the show was up at the end of this season.

I suppose on the plus side it's Los Angeles' turn now....